Boulevard of Verdant Dreams
Chishang, Taiwan
28 May 2015
For the erstwhile traveller, ChiShang is a gracenote along Taiwan‘s symphonic East Coast. The train from Taitung builds a movement from a prelude of open fields as the train swings inland from the coast, marching before soaring mountains. Green fields pass in a flurry of notes, before the train rolls to a stop.
Towns such as ChiShang are often one-street affairs, with unremarkable farmland radiating out from their necessary core. Yet, one particular street in this city gained notoriety when the Japanese movie star Takeshi Kaneshiro filmed an EVA Air ad here on Mr Brown Avenue. This is a long, glorious expanse of road flanked by padi fields, bisected by numerous byways that are perfect for a slow walk or a leisurely bicycle ride.
