chih nan temple view

steps...the main recollection of the day, steps and the necessary missed signpost, but really steps... another section of the grand hike, discovering that the portion between this one and what i'd thought of as the next doesn't actually exist except within mind of someone skulking in the darkest corner of an office with an evil grin... up a load of steps to the chih nan temple, locally known as the divorce temple, and then off towards the tea plantations...more of a woodland walk again, passing by the same signpost which the blog i'm using for directions had missed, another detour, return to descend slippery steps into the valley, up again through sequences of unmarked paths, possibilities or certainties of getting lost, up again and then a period of level path through fields of bamboo, wondering where the first of the tea plantations is hidden, wishing it was coffee, the sight of mist higher up upon the suddenly visible hills and then more steps up to the first of the teahouses, lights glimmering in the murk of the afternoon, now certain that this would be another day where the path ended after nightfall...and then more steps up along an almost dry stream, wondering if i was lost, no one else around, no voices, engines above me beyond that wooden structure, and then not so far away the sight of the road, the path joining with it towards the cable car stop for the maokong tea plantations... suddenly busy, cars and buses, stalls selling food, more teahouses, wondering why i'm the only person here who looks like he swam up the hill... almost missing another sign, walking the weighted tones of the last of the daylight through orange groves along the camphor trail, a splendid way to almost end the walk, laughing at i realise little distance i'd come in a straight line... at the zhangshang temple for the, not really much of a, sunset obscured by a hillside to the west, 101 in the distance rising above murk lain upon the city, other lights beginning to twinkle below as spits of rain demand an answer to another question, descend the last set of stairs or take a bus down... it had to be the stairs, damp and slippy in the gloaming until the first unexpected streetlight flickered on... the last descent arriving at the most unwelcome sight of the day, a fence erected at the base of the steps ... another choice, climb the fence or walk back up to the temple, happily over the fence, a nondescript car park, another wrong turn, lost in the university grounds, then emerging in the middle of nowhere and wandering in a new part of the city looking for a you bike to get back to the metro...