Taiwan - Chenjean's Village, Walking to School

This was taken on the road going down the mountain (as opposed to up for all of our other hikes), toward Tsu-chi and the elementary school where Chenjean attended.  In fact we were on our way to her elementary school reunion when I stopped to capture this scene.

But it wasn't the pretty flowers that drew my attention...it was the orange and black stripes on the poles, my favorite color combination.  In Taiwan they do a lot in orange and black - signs, vehicles, telephone poles, you name it - which is something else I like about the country.  I took lots of pictures featuring this combination, but am not sure yet that enough are blogworthy to make a series by itself.

As we were walking down this narrow, windy road, it struck me that her parents required their kids to walk the half hour it took to get to school, even when they were as young as six in the first grade.  Not a thought about the rain, either - Chenjean said that she and her twin sister simply plucked a big banana leaf, like the one featured in this post, and held it over their heads, umbrella-style, until either it passed or they got home.