About a month ago I talked about KTV, which is a very upscale karaoke place. While families will go there together, seniors don't really go there so often. So where do seniors go to get their sing on? They go to mountain temples of course!
As soon as you get part way up any mountain in or around the city, you will start to hear singing. Most temples on the mountainside have some tv with speakers and a karaoke machine. Usually there is a group of old people sitting around talking, and waiting for their turn to sing.
Why the mountainside? I have no idea, but I can make some guesses. For decades a main hobby in Taiwan has been hiking so for many older Taiwanese it is still their number one recreational activity. Also there is a lot more space in the mountains to have large open karaoke areas. And in some way I feel like more and more the city is built for the pleasure of young people, so the older generation is basically cast off into the mountains.
Whatever the reason, it's always a humbling experience when you are sweating and out of breath and come across a group of seventy year olds who not only had the energy to hike up the mountain, but also to sing their hearts out.
Today's picture is of one of these gathering areas for karaoke. You may be thinking "you said it's so popular but there are only two people here." This is true, but this temple actually has two of these karaoke areas, the other one being just above this one. The one above was full of people, so i'm guessing these two were just the start of the spill over, or just wanted to not wait so long. Also there are three more karaoke areas in places less than 300 meters from here. So yes, when you are hiking it does sound like battle of the bands.
