Tour taiwan: to Hualien

Well Kenny has had his wish.  We decided to take the train from Taitung to Hulaien.  I booked an extra two nights accomodation at the Gallerie 6 B&B and booked a train at 2 PM. 

The train trip up the eastern Rift Valley was superb. I really regret not riding this. But reality hurts sometimes.  The 2 1/2 hour train ride was extremely relaxing and it pretty much followed the roads we would have ridden. 

Here's some photos

Kenny and his beloved TRA lunch box.  

Views from my room in Hualien

For dinner we went to  a local Jaanese restaurant.  Kenny had purchased a translation application from  ITunes  and it helped a little as the menu was all in Chinese.  Two women at the next tAble also helped us order.  Once again I have to say how nice and helpful the Taiwanese people are. In almost every situation where I have been stuck, someone notices and steps in to help.  It just makes me love this place even more.  

Kenny's application called Waygo was not perfect. It translated lemon iced tea to, and I kid you not, 'five women diced'. He took a screen shot of that so I will get him to send it to me and I will post it. From no on Lemon Iced tea is Five Women Diced.  Here it is

After dinner we realised we were within a few hundred metres of the night markets. Along the way we found the Doris Bike shop.  I hope you like it Doris. 

So we wandered around the markets. I bought some watermelon juice.  Delicious. Then it was back to the B&B for sleep.  

Tour Taiwan Day 10: Dawu to Taitung - 63 kms

We had dinner last night at a restaurant opposite our hotel. One of the ladies there was from the Philippines and that sure made it easy to order dinner. She is from Taclobban, the city that that has just been destroyed by the typhoon.  She had returned from a visit only days before Typhoon Haiyan had hit. 

Kenny eating dinner

The next morning we resumed our trek up the east coast towards Taitung. The scenery was remarkable, but to be honest the road was a bit narrow in places. On the four long climbs we had to get over it was a bit freaky.  There was not a lot of gap between us and the tour buses and trucks. Of course, as always they did their best to give us some room.  But I sure felt exposed.  Each of the four climbs were around 3-4 or more kms long and meant climbing 100 or so metres.  It doesn't sound like much but the headwinds (did I mention we had a 25-30 km headwind) and the feeling of being exposed made it seem harder than it was.  But the scenery from the top of each climb was worth the toil.  Here's some pictures at various points along the coast.

Coastal views

At the top of one climb- this lady had a motor scooter as support.  Great idea!

The railway line

 

Me riding through the tunnel 

It took us around 40 kms to get through the hills.  As always Kenny took off when a large hill presented itself and waited for me at the top or at the bottom of the climb after the descent.  On one drop he told me he tried getting over 60 kms an hour but the wind pushing on the panniers wouldn't let him. I descended more sedately at 40 kms an hour tucked in behind a tour bus. 

We stopped at a 7-Eleven about 15 kms out of Taidong for a light lunch.  It was only 1 PM and we did not want to arrive before 3 PM.  So we dawdled for about an hour surfing the free wifi each 7-Eleven has. The ride into Taitung was pretty uneventful.  It's a very pretty ride and I did intend to take some photos of the rice paddies that line the road. But before we knew it we were in the city. We then set about trying to find our hotel, which took us some time because the location on google maps was a bit out.  Luckily Kenny used another map system to locate it.  

The scenery today was absolutely stunning.  The east coast is certainly the pick of Taiwan.  It is so different from the bustle of the west coast.  You sure get the feeling of isolation over here, with. One road (highway 9) and one railway line connecting them to the rest of the nation.  

Along the east coast school children call out encouragement and in one town there wee policemen running a radar speed trap and they also started calling out encouragement.  A lage number of police stations actually run bike stations where they provide,water, track pump and other help.  You have to love Taiwan!!!

After we got in we had a bit of a snooze and then went out in search of dinner. Kenny has taken a liking to night markets so he quickly found out the the Taitung night markets were within a kilometre of our hotel. So at about 6.30 PM we wandered down for dinner.  The night markets are an incredible experience.  Often situated near university campuses and they cater for students and families. The Taidong night markets are much more relaxed than in Taichung or Kaohsiung. They had a nice feel about them.  And you can eat incredibly cheaply. Kenny of course found his smelly tofu.  I had noodles and fruit juice. And these custard tarts.

That's it for today.  We rode 63 kms at an average of only 17.9 kms per hour.  My stomach is still giving me grief and one of the side effects is that I find it hard to sit on a bicycle seat.  I won't go into the details.  I am also finding it hard to eat food during the day.  At nights after a few hours off the bike it's a bit better.  So tonight and tomorrow morning we will need to reasses our plans.  We can continue to keep riding to Hualien or catch the train.  Kenny is in favour of the train option because that gives him the chance of hiring a motor scooter.  I prefer to ride but I am struggling with this 'bug'. So he may get his wish.

Tour Taiwan Day 9: Manzhou to Dawu

Well I woke up not feeling too good this morning. A headache and fuzzy feeling. Then after a very light breakfast my stomach started causing me grief again.  The winds were as my new friend Peter had predicted a little stronger than the day before.  There's no way I thought I can make it to Dawu in my condition over two major climbs. What to do?

I spoke to Peter and he suggested I see a doctor.  A good idea but I thought I would try and do that in a town like Taitung where there is more chance that I can deal with an English speaking doctor. Peter was not sure the doctor in Manzhou had good English.  I don't want to end up on a penicillin based antibiotic - I am allergic to penicillin.  

So I thought if we could get to Dawu I could reassess the situation.  We had booked accomodation so at least I could rest for the day and if improved we could continue the next day. If not then we could catch a train to Taitung and see a doctor or catch a train back to Taipei.  I asked if there was a bus to Dawu.  No buses.  He said he would take me but his wife's van was broken down and all he had was a small car the twobikes could not fit into.  So I asked about a taxi and he rang up and organised one for us.  We out our bikes into the bike bags and just as we finished that the taxi arrived.

The drive over was spectacular.  I would really have locked to have ridden it especially the 20 kms drop from the top of the last climb.   Of course the strong winds would have made it a tricky descent.  But on a nice clam and sunny day it would have been a great day on a bike.

An hour and 15 minutes later we arrived in Dawu. Really early at 10.30 am.  But we were able to check into our room. We are watching national geographic channel on TV and lying around.  So no riding today.  Maybe and hopefully tomorrow.  The best laid plans of mice and men.

Here's some pictures of the night markets in Kaohsiung. 

Smelly tofu

Tour Taiwan day 8: Fenggang to Manzhou - 66 kms

The cycling Gods sure got their revenge today.  We were lashed with winds all day.  It was still a spectacular day riding south through Kenting to Eluandi Lighthouse and then heading north.  The views across the ocean were amazing.  It was just that the winds were whirling around at 40 kms an hour but gusting to over 60 kms.  The change that has hit Taiwan sure has made our cycling all that more difficult.  As we are sitting in our unit here in Manzhou I can hear the winds gusting around and it has also started raining.  For the first time in nearly 3 weeks in Taiwan I am feeling cold.  

So how did the day progress?  Well after breakfast we hit the road at about 9.30. I confidently predicted tailwinds.  However after the first few kilometres it became clear that the winds were doing strange things.  My theory is that the northerlies were hitting the mountain range to the east of us and then creating strange vortices.  Just like happens along Lake George near Canberra on windy days.  The result was that the strong winds changed direction constantly.  It reminded me of a ride many years ago where I was riding with Steve Baker and the wind actually pushed me off the road.  That time the deep dish rims contributed.  Today it was much windier. One moment you could be riding at 30 kms an hour with a tailwind and then all of a sudden down to 15 kms per hour with a massive headwind or worse, a head to cross wind.  It sure made keeping the bike on the road a challenge. 

After about 25 kms we stopped in Hengcheng for a drink and food.   After Hengcheng we were inland for a while and hit the coast again a few kilometres north of Kenting. The scenery along the Kenting coast is spectacular. Here are some photos, including one of the nuclear power station.

Kenting photos

Crab crossing zone?

On the southern outskirts of Kenting we stopped at a cafe for lunch. Kenny had a chicken burger and an iced coffee which he said was delicious.  I had a fish burger which was also nice.  Back on the road we battled the winds to reach the Eluandi Lighhouse.  The guard at the gate wouldn't let us take our bikes in we settled into the car park.  I took a picture of the lighthouse. It appeared there was a way down the the southern tip along another road but Kenny and I could not be bothered as we didn't know what other official might be there to stop us. Anyway we had reached the turning point on route 26 and that was good enough for me.

Eluandi Lighthouse

After the light house we had to ride up a 4 kilometre hill.   We were now officallly on the east coast.  I had thought the winds were bad up to now.  But I was to be surprised, yes it could get worse.  Riding up the hill I was reduced to speeds of 6-8 kms an hour. Not only that the wind was making it hard for me to keep a straight line.  I seriously considered walking because I was worried that the strong easterlies would knock me into a bus.  But I persevered.  Kenny had earlier decided to ride up the climb at a faster speed and he reached the top well before me.  As I peaked the climb I found Kenny sitting on his bike. The winds were gale force.  The lookout was again spectacular, but was difficult even trying to stand up.  Kenny said the climb was up to 7%, just near some military base that looked very much like a spying or electronic surveillance establishment. I reckon after adjusting for wind factor it was more like 10%. 

Onwards and northwards we rode.  At times we found ourselves sheltered from the gales.  But as soon as the shelter disappeared we were reduced to a crawl.  A few more climbs. On one the sand was blowing up from the beach below and it felt like I was in a sandblaster. At the top of that hill we saw a honda 4WD being blown backwards by the wind.  Amazing!!!

A few more kilometres down the road we stopped at a small town called Gengkou (I think).  This town seemed to be a bit of a surfing Mecca. There were surfing shops and surfing style hostels.  We still had 9 kms to ride so after a ice block and some milk tea we headed inland.  We benefited from a few kms of tailwind but mostly they were cross winds. Finally, we reached the township of Manzhou.  We stopped in at the 7-Eleven to buy some supplies just in case we could not get dinner or breakfast at our accomodation. We needn't have worried because Lin-Hui had arranged that we would have dinner and breakfast. The owner Peter greeted us showed us to our room.  For dinner Peter's wife prepared a really delicious meal.  It was one of the best I have had in my time in Taiwan.  Rice, vegetables, a type of tofu dumpling and some fried tofu.  There was so much to eat and as usual I could only get through half of it.  But my stomach is improving because today I ate the most I have eaten since Saturday.  

Peter told me his story. He was born in mainland China and came to Taiwan aged 3 years with his mother.  They came to follow his father. Peter is now 70 years old so that would have been in about 1946.  The plan was to return to China but the 1949 revolution changed all that.  I said he was lucky because he might have been caught up in the cultural revolution.  Peter and his wife were teachers at a local university and retired nearly 20 years ago to run this resort and farm.  Both his children now live in Taipei. He and his wife are genuinely nice people and I enjoyed sitting at the table talking.  

After dinner we washed our bike gear and I am now settled on the bed writing this blog.  One other thing, I said hopefully that maybe tomorrow won't be as windy. Peter responded,no tomorrow will be worse.  I hope he is wrong.  But he is a local and he will know best.  So the prognosis appears to be strong headwinds for the 70 km trip to Dawu.  We have two climbs to get over.  One is a 350 metre  climb that is supposed to be not too bad. The second is a 500 metre climb. Most of the cycling blogs on round Taiwan touring complain about the second climb. So expect me to be exhausted tomorrow night.  Not only will we have the climbs but we will have headwinds.  

Kenny has taken to watching Taiwanese soap operas. His current liking is for one that seems to involve lots of fighting with plastic swords and extremely wobbly spears.  It's replaced his previous favourite, a Japanese cartoon about two very naughty train conductors. He keeps on. Uttering how corny it is. Well then why doesn't he change the channel?

PS:  I tried posting this yesterday but this part of the east coast has poor internet connection.  

A Harley Davidson made by the Sayyong Corporation - probably goes much better than a real Harley.

Tour Taiwan Day 7: Kaohsiung to Fenggang - 76 kms

This morning after breakfast Kenny and I put our bikes back together.  This involved fitting a new bike rack to Kenny's bike and retightening the bar end shifter of my bike. Forty minutes later everything was rideable and we put the bikes into the luggage storage space at the wonderful Kaohsiung Kindness Hotel. Here's a picture of Kenys bike fully assembled. Note the Giant brand 700x32 tyres on a Trek Cyclocross bike.  My bike remains in the bag.  Kenny actually admitted later in the day that the tyres were (and I quote) "not too bad". It's only a matter of time before he starts liking Cannondales.

I was trying to pump up Kenny's tyres with my small frame pump when a guy from the hotel came out and gave us a track pump to use.  That saved some time and effort i can tell you.  Thirty minutes later we were ready to hit the road.  Here's Kenny with fully loaded bike.

We started off looking for a bike shop to buy a few tubes and a new pump that can take CO2 canisters.  Apparently my pump is so last century.  Yeah, tell that to the security guards at Taoyuan airport on the way home when you try to board a plane with potentially dangerous gas canisters.  After 11/2 kms towards the city I gave up and turned back.  Then I found a shop one block from our hotel. Kenny gave me a hard time over that.  I did not include the addtional 3 kms in today's total because I reset my computer.   

The ride out of Kaohsiung was long and it seemed to take forever to get out of the city.  I could tell from the first few pedal strokes I was not going to have a great ride today.  My stomach was still a bit 'iffy' and my legs felt lethargic.  A week or more off the bike had not helped.  I held out hope that maybe I would come good later in the day but it was not to be.  So today I watched the world go by at 20 kms an hour. The traffic out of town was pretty heavy and it seemed like we had to stop at an intersection every couple of hundred metres.  The pollution was pretty bad today too.  The Taiwanese say it comes over from the mainland.  But Kaohsiung has some serious industry and at least some of it must be locally produced.

Intersection in Kaohsiung

After 20 kms we stopped for an early lunch.  At a 7-Eleven of course.  Kenny had a sandwich and some sushi. I had some fruit cake and some sprite. I was still not able to take on much food.  Darned tummy bug.  Another 20 kms down the road, another stop. More food (at least for Kenny) and lots of fluids.  It was nearly 30 degrees and humidity high.

At last we hit the coast. Kenny took this following me.  Then we chanced upon a great coffee shop and ordered iced coffee.  The view across the Taiwan strait was beautiful.

Pictures from coffee shop

Twelve kms down the road we rolled into Fenggang and into the Long An Hotel.  The owner took great care of us and showed us where to go for dinner.  He personally took us to the restarant and helped us order dinner.  It was a great meal of soup, noodles and green vegetables. We couldn't eat it all and the ladies running the restaurant looked worried. We assured them it was lovely food and that we were just full.  My stomach must be on the mend because I was able to eat about a third of the meal. The Taiwanese  people are amazing. The bill was $340 but they refused to take more than $300. That's about $20 Australian. A guy sitting in the restaurant told me his wife, one of the ladies, owns it and I told him he was a very lucky man to have such a nice wife. He agreed enthusiastically.  I am soooo smooth.  

Pictures from dinner

Then it was over to the 7-Eleven.  I wanted a can of beer and Kenny wanted desert.

Tomorrow we are headed for the southern tip of Taiwan. It's 35 kms south of here and then we start north. Final destination the township of Manzhou.  

Summary of today: 76 kms at an average of 20.7 kms an hour.  No tailwinds today and some cross winds.  

Back to Kaohsiung

Kenny and I took the midday HSR to Kaohsiung today. I said farewell to my friend Lin-Hui and we caught the taxi into the a Taipei Main Train Station.  The boy, Kenny, is getting spoilt as he insisted on travelling business class.  I told him that was reserved for me as a Qantas Club Gold member.  But he threatened me with sabotage on my bike.  So I had to relent. 

This evening we went to two night markets. The first was the  Rueifeng Night Market where we just walked around as we were too early to get any food. This is the market of choice for the locals. Kenny bought a warmer top for the coming days as a cool change is forecast on Thursday. Then we went to the Liouhe Tourist Night Market which was more lively.  Here we bought our dinner from the various food stalls.  And we just mingled with the crowd which appeared to be comprised of large numbers of mainland Chinese tourists.  You can tell because they are much more noisier and pushy than the Taiwanese- who are more reserved and polite. But it was still a great experience. Kenny ate some smelly tofu. Smelly tofu smells terrible but tastes lovely. It's hard to explain the taste but those of you have tried it will know what I mean.  I like it too but I have had a bit of an upset stomach for the last few days and I am keeping the food simple. I had some corn, potato cake with cheese and some ice cream.  Oh, and watermelon juice which was delightful.  

I neglected to take any photos today. Kenny took lots so I will get him to send them to me and maybe post tomorrow. However as most of the photos were of me in embarrassing situations I may have to be very selective.  He needs to remember that it is me who decides who inherits the vast estate in Upper Charnwood.  And right now he ain't getting nothing. Alfred will get it all and my cycling mate Steve Baker may be getting more than the special multi- tool I have bequeathed to him.  By the way Steve, I left that at home.  

Tomorrow we head south on the bikes toward the southern tip of the island.  Our destination is a small town called Fangshang some 70-75 kms south.  I have decided to remain true to the original plan to ride around the beautiful island of Taiwan from Taipei to Hualien. If I don't do it now and I don't get another chance I know I will regret it. 

The scenery will start to get very pretty over the next few days.  So until tomorrow night's post goodnight.  

Happy birthday to my friend in Tokyo, Saori and also to my dad back in Australia.  

 

Taipei Today

Yesterday I travelled from Kaohsiung back to Taipei on the High Speed Rail (HSR). Kaohsiung is a big city but I found it very friendly and accommodating.  The previous evening I walked around the city near Kaohsiung Arena and found a small dumpling place where I had dinner. 

The next morning I went for another walk and found a bargain shop where I bought an Allen key set to help me take my pedals off the bike. I returned to the hotel, pulled the bike apart and got it in the bag.  As I was doing that a man, probably in his late 60s, living in the house next door came up and offered me some gloves to keep my hands clean. He told me to keep them when I tried to return them.

Then I went out in search of breakfast.  I found a nice cosy cafe where I had some eggs, toast (with peanut butter on it) and some milk tea.  Then I went to the 7-eleven and bought a six pack of Heineken which I presented to my very helpfulneighbor.  He was one very happy man I can tell you.  He couldn't stop shaking my hand and almost had tears in his eyes. When I left to go to the HSR station about 30 minutes later he waved me goodbye.  If I had have been able to stay a little longer I would have liked to have spent some time sitting with this guy just having a quiet beer.  

It was a great ride on the HSR. Taking the advice from 'Taiwan in Cycles' website I booked a business class seat.  There is much more storage room for a bike in a bag in business and at a cost of only A$75 it's not expensive.

The trip on the HSR was not to be missed.  Travelling at speeds near 300 km an hour it took only 90 minutes to reach Taipei.  To think it took me 6 days to ride it!!  A fitter me could do it in 3 days but 90 minutes!!!!

Here are some photos of the trip.

Bike bagged and ready to go

I did take short video but I can't figure out how to import it into the blog.  

Arriving at Taipei Main Station I jumped in a taxi and headed back to Xizhi. Next week I will coninue riding , but with Kenny.  The plan is to ride from Kaohsiung to Hualien.  However, on the way back on the train another option occurred to me.  That involves spending a few days exploring Kaohsiung by bike and then catching the train to Taidong and spending some days there doing the same and finally riding the eastern Rift Valley fromTaidong to Hualien. My friend Linhui thinks this is the best option.  Well I will think about it for a day or two before deciding.  

Today I am going to walk down to the supermarket to buy some groceries. I am going to cook dinner tonight.  I will also,visit my friends in the street market.  

Finally, check out the excellent China Hisory Podcast by the incredible Mr Laszlo Montgomery.  Laszlo really knows his Chinese history and politics.  He has worked in China for over two decades and speaks fluent Mandarin. As you listen you will learn to understand topics like how the cultural revolution got crazy,  what made Deng tick, the story of the Silk Road and more recently the story of shipping tycoon YK Pao.  Laszlo covers the whole canvas of Chinese history spanning 5500 years. Here is the link and you can also download the podcast from iTunes.

http://chinahistorypodcast.com

Taipei today