This is a write up I prepared that appeared in a local cycling magazine Canberra Cyclist, here in Canberra, Australia.
In November 2011 my son (Kenny) and I travelled to Taiwan for a holiday. I was there in 2009 for a work trip and it struck me that this was a truly beautiful country with excellent cycling facilities.
Taiwan is a relatively small tear drop shaped island about 400 kms long and 150 kms wide. The Portuguese called it Formosa the ‘beautiful island’ and they were 100% spot on. Taiwan has a
sub-tropical climate with the coolest part of the year from October through to April. This is the best time of the year to visit. Taiwan is relatively flat on the western side (where most of the population is), has a big mountain range in the middle and is pretty darned hilly along the east coast. The population is about the same as Australia’s, some 23 million, and per capita GDP is also about the same.
sub-tropical climate with the coolest part of the year from October through to April. This is the best time of the year to visit. Taiwan is relatively flat on the western side (where most of the population is), has a big mountain range in the middle and is pretty darned hilly along the east coast. The population is about the same as Australia’s, some 23 million, and per capita GDP is also about the same.
Contrary to what you may believe Taiwan is a first world wealthy ‘country’. They have an excellent underground rail network in Taipei called the MRT and a High Speed Rail system that runs along the length of the west coast. Both are very easy to use. I say country in inverted commas because it is not recognised by most other nations (including Australia and the USA) as a nation. We recognise the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate Government of China. The PRC claims that Taiwan is a province. Over the past decade or so the two ‘Chinas’ have come to an accommodation. Taiwan does not push for independence and China does not adopt the aggressive approach as it used to. More recently tourists have started arriving from mainland China and there are now even direct flights between mainland China and Taiwan. But there are remnants of the tensions. Sitting at a local airport you will see fighter jets taking off for sorties over the China Strait.
Hotels are relatively cheap by Australian standards in Taipei and throughout Taiwan. But we were very lucky and thanks to my very good friend Lin we had an apartment right on the Keelung River about 16 kms to the Northeast of the centre of Taipei. I met Lin when she was in Australia in 2010 on a scholarship. Lin works for the equivalent of the Department I work for and we became very good friends.
From the front window of the apartment we could see the river and Taipei 101 – which used to be the tallest building in the world. The apartment, which was on the 9th floor, was within 500 metres of the cycle path that runs along the river. We spent a few days in Taipei with some commitments and sightseeing. One of these commitments was to give a lecture/seminar to Lin’s Social Policy class at Shih Chien University. This was an interesting experience with me doing the lecture and Lin doing the translation into Mandarin.
Some of the Social Policy Class
If you visit Taipei do not miss the National Palace Museum. In fact, if you do nothing else in Taipei visit this museum. There are artefacts that go back to 5000 BCE. Kenny was flabbergasted and that is not easy for a 20 year old. As he commented to me, civilisations have grown and fallen in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Europe, but China has had a constant civilisation throughout all this. And I thought all he cared about was bicycles, motorcycles and IPads. You could easily spend a week in the museum and still not see it all. We also visited all the sites like the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei 101, and many more places. All of them memorable and extremely interesting. This is a truly remarkable city and anyone visiting will enjoy it immensely.
After a few days, myself, Kenny, Lin and another friend headed by plane to a city called Taitung which is on the south eastern side of the island. We spent 2 nights and three days in Taitung staying at the Kindness Hotel. This hotel is excellent. The rooms are large and the restaurant caters to western and Chinese tastes. We visited local Aboriginal communities and had a great time driving up the coast to some very pretty sites. One experience I will never forget is being guided through a local forest and planting a tree with a local Aboriginal leader.
The Kindness Hotel has Giant folding bikes which are free for hotel guests and we all made the most of these. We rode each morning and evening taking in the sites. Taitung has a good network of cycle paths and cycle lanes on roads and the traffic which appears chaotic at first blush is actually very considerate. One of the best rides in Taitung is to ride around the Taitung Forest Park. This has at least 10 kms of cycle paths contained in a large park and was about 2 kms from our hotel. One evening we rode to a cafe near the City Hall where there is live music just about every night. The deal is that anyone can turn up and sing and the quality of both the music and performer was very high. Most were ballads but there was the occasional pop tune. Each song was greeted with enthusiastic applause, including from us.
When we returned to Taipei we arranged to hire two mountain bikes so we could ride around the city for a few days. You do not need to take a bike with you as many bike shops have a bike hire service. We highly recommend Alan’s Mountain Bike Shop. This shop is run by Alan and his wife Yen. Both are very friendly and helpful. Alan even chaperoned us to get from his shop to the bike path as he was worried we might get lost. Kenny had a Giant MTB and I had a brand I had never heard of called ‘Performance’. Both were high quality frames with good components. We just took our own pedals. Of course you could also buy a bike there and take it home with you. A bike typically costs at least half what you would pay in Australia. For example, I saw a Surly tourer for T$40,000 or A$1,500 complete with front and rear pannier racks. It was very tempting.
After picking up the bikes at around 11 am our first ride was a 110 km ride around Taipei. Taipei has an extremely impressive network of cycle paths. All are in pristine condition. In fact in nearly 300 kms of riding on Taiwanese cycle paths and bike lanes, not once did I see any broken glass. We rode around the river from Gongshuan to Danshui where we had a late lunch and then back past the outskirts of central Taipei and finally Sijhih. We got lost a couple of times but that was part of the experience. It was a remarkable ride. I was wearing Canberra Cycling Club knicks and Kenny was wearing TLC Bike shop kit and everywhere we rode local cyclists stopped us and asked us where we were from and what we were doing. And we were continuously stopping to take photos and check whether we were on track. And so it was not until after 7 pm we arrived back at the apartment. Over the next few days we did some shorter rides, but for me the highlight was that 110 km ride in Taipei.
Temple near cycle path along Keelung River in New Taipei City
Temple near cycle path along Keelung River in New Taipei City
Cemetery along cycle path
Our last trip was to Sun Moon Lake which is right in the centre of Taiwan. In my opinion Sun Moon Lake is one of the top two places to visit in Taiwan. It is one massive sink hole – about half the size of Sydney Harbour (I could be exaggerating). The other place is Toroko Gorge (which I visited in 2009). Unfortunately it was raining quite heavily for most of the time we were at Sun Moon Lake and so cycling opportunities were limited. Instead we did the touristy things like visiting temples, ferry trips on the lakes and the newly built cable car to the top of the mountain.
A view of the beautiful Sun Moon Lake - unfortunately very cloudy and wet
A view of the beautiful Sun Moon Lake - unfortunately very cloudy and wet
I now this short piece cannot do justice to the wonderful two weeks we spent in Taiwan. Maybe in two years or so I will return to Taiwan and attempt the around island cycle tour. They are developing a Taiwan Cycle route around the island and this consists of cycle paths and cycle lanes. There remain a few gaps but according to my friends the whole island should be good to ride around in the next year or so.
Would I recommend Taiwan as a cycling destination? Absolutely! Taiwan is safe. Not once while we were in Taiwan did we ever feel threatened by any car driver, scooter rider or anyone for that matter. The Taiwanese people are really friendly and almost everyone speaks English (at least in Taipei). Plus you can always get by with a smile and just being nice to people. Off and on the bike Taiwan and Taipei is easy to get around. We used the MRT and taxis by ourselves and never once felt overwhelmed. Most signs are in both English and Mandarin. You can get by with no knowledge of Mandarin. I know only 6 words, but people were genuinely appreciative that I tried to use them – even if my pronunciation was terrible.
The quality of food is wonderful and it’s all very healthy. Vegetarians are well catered for with every restaurant having vegetarian options and there are lots of vegetarian restaurants. Of course if you want a break from Chinese food then there are also western restaurants and menus around. I found I did not miss western food. While Taiwan is not as cheap as some Asian destinations, it is good value for money for an Australian traveller and cyclo-tourist.
So, if you want something different to do, visit the beautiful island of Taiwan. You will find it a wonderful place to cycle around and you will meet lots of interesting and friendly people.
Websites to get you started:
Alan’s mountain bike shop: http://www.alansmountainbike.com.tw
National Palace Museum: http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/home.htm
Taipei Cycle Path network: http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2005/12/taipei-bike-paths/
A really good website on bike rides and touring in Taiwan: http://www.bikingintaiwan.com/
Taiwan tourism website: http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/
And lastly, a great weekly podcast on Chinese History by Laszlo Montgomery called the China History Podcast (you can also download it from I-Tunes): http://chinahistorypodcast.com/
