Sunday, 1 December 2024

I usually wait a few days to write up this blog as I need to think about what we have enjoyed, what we didn’t like and whether the country met up to the expectations. Once we have stopped riding we can look back with more clarity. The last few days of riding in the rain did not help our view of the country. Which is why we can now look back and think about the whole country and not allow the last few days to cloud our view (sorry about the pun).

Taiwan has a population of 23.4 million people, in an area of approximately 36,197 square kilometres (13,976 square miles). The Province of Ontario has a population of 15,996,989. In an area of 1,076,395 square kilometres. This means Taiwan would fit into the Province of Ontario almost 30 times.  Taiwan is about half the size of Scotland that has a population of 5,490,110.

Although the population numbers are very high, I cannot say I felt overwhelmed by people. People tend to respect other people’s space. Even on the Metro in Taiwan, I didn’t feel crushed. Probably because the train runs every 5 to 10 minutes.

I had been looking forward to going to Taiwan for a number of years. I had read so much about Taiwan being amazing for cycling, the infrastructure, the people and the scenery. I can’t say I was disappointed, but I wasn’t overly impressed either.

The cycling infrastructure is amazing on the west coast. However, you HAVE to be comfortable riding in traffic and with scooters surrounding you at every intersection, traffic light and road crossing. Most traffic lights (and there are thousands of them) have a bike box. A bike box is an area in front of the cars where scooters and bicycles move to and are able to keep out of the way of cars turning. In most of Taiwan scooters and cyclists are not allowed to make a left turn at a traffic light. There is another bike box across the intersection that you move to so that you can ride straight through at the next light. For example: if as a two-wheeler you want to turn left at a traffic light; first you cycle through the intersection, then reposition yourself in the bike box and when this light turns green you can cycle straight through again. This makes things a little slower for the two-wheelers but makes it very safe as you do not have to deal with cars making left turns or coming straight through the intersection.

Most roads have a separate lane for two-wheelers, sometimes it is separated with a concrete barrier, other areas it is only a painted white line. We only saw two occasions where cars came into the two-wheeler lane. Although there are lanes for two-wheelers, there is also an extra paved shoulder that is about 1 metre wide, that we often cycled on. In Canada I would be happy with that extra paved shoulder on all roads.

On the east coast there wasn’t as many separated lanes and the traffic was very scary at times. The Districts (Counties or Provinces) are building separated cycle lanes, however because of the weather, these have been damaged by Typhoons and earthquakes. It would appear to be a constant battle against the elements on the east coast.

The main route around the Island of Taiwan is primarily Provincial Highways 1 and 3, on the west coast and Highway 9 on the east coast. We tried to avoid these highways and used google maps to take us through farm roads, rural roads and villages. Usually at the end of the day when we were coming into a City or large Town we joined Cycling Route 1 and the mayhem that is riding in city traffic.

Almost everyone owns a scooter! They may also have a car, however, they will use their scooter around Towns and Cities. We talked to our warmshowers hosts about the licenses and driving tests. They all agreed that the instruction and licensing for scooters and cars is not very good. Jean indicated that as a scooter driver, you do not have any real road experience before taking your test at a special test centre, that has the road lay-out, traffic lights and slight hills that you may encounter on the road. However, there are no real-world experiences and that is why I believe that scooter drivers think they are the only one on the road and do not need to take into consideration anyone else on the road. They are very single-minded.

Mark made us laugh by saying that anyone over 65 figured they didn’t need to follow any rules, as they had survived on this earth that long and everyone else needed to respect them. Wan Wei told us that a policeman friend of his stopped an old lady on her scooter that was riding erratically and had made an illegal U-Turn, he asked for her driver’s license. She produced her Taiwan ID card as she didn’t have a driver’s license and, in her opinion, didn’t need one.

Of course, you can always take quieter routes as we did using farm roads and small lanes. Eventually you have to come into a bigger city or large town and have to deal with the traffic. All of the rural roads were paved and well maintained. Ralf wanted to take a photograph of a pot-hole but couldn’t find one. Joyee was surprised that we commented on how well maintained the roads were, especially after the two typhoons. She said that is because it is the end of the budget year, so the roads department are spending their money. If we were there in June/July it would be a different story.

The west coast is very industrial with steel/aluminum manufacturers, factories and petro-chemical plants. There was a substantial amount of pollution in these areas. In the past the run-off from this industry went into the rivers and eventually the ocean. Taiwan implemented strict laws to stop this environmental damage and the rivers looked very clean. Taiwan has also promised that it will close all their coal-fired energy plants by 2034 and is working on transitioning to natural gas.

Taiwan is trying to clean up their act. However, there are so many single-use plastic bags I have no idea how they can eliminate them. Although the government implementation of eliminating single-use items in hotels such as shower cap, soap, razors, toothbrushes etc. has worked. Most hotels when you book indicate that they do not provide these items. However, every hotel we were in did have shampoo and body wash dispensers on the walls in the showers. When this law came into place the Taiwanese government provided grants to the hotels to install these dispensers. A small step, but one step in eliminating a lot of single-use plastics.

Mark (our warmshowers host) indicated that before covid most people did take use reusable shopping bags and a lot of people had reusable coffee mugs. All coffee/tea shops give a discount if you bring your own mug.

Taiwan is expanding their rail network and high-speed trains. We took the train and was impressed at the cleanliness of the train. The high-speed trains will not accept bikes unless they are in a bag. We could have folded our bikes and put them in the bags, but it was easier to roll them onto the train.

We were very impressed with the general cleanliness of the country. Of course, there were areas where garbage was dumped, but for the most part the country was very clean. Every village, town or city had workers sweeping the paths and roads. Garbage is picked up regularly by the musical garbage trucks. The musical garbage trucks are unique to Taiwan. At a certain time of day, (you are informed what time that will be), the garbage truck comes around playing music that sounds a little bit like the ice-cream vans that used to come around when we were kids. I remember rushing around shouting ice-cream, ice-cream sometimes we got one, other times no. I am not sure kids rush around shouting garbage truck. However, you must take your garbage to the truck and put it in the truck. If you are elderly or have a heavy bag, one of the two workers will help you (maybe). I cannot imagine anyone taking their garbage to the truck and putting it into the truck themselves. We asked what happens if you are working and cannot get to the garbage truck at the right time. There is usually one that comes around later in the day as well. Mark indicated that you get to meet your neighbours, when you are standing around waiting for the garbage truck. I cannot imagine anyone in Canada or the U.K. doing this. Joyee indicated that the musical garbage truck is relatively new and there was a lot of information beforehand.

This also shows that the Taiwanese people are very compliant. If the government says this is what we are doing, then the people comply.

We saw a lot of new buildings going up, especially on the west coast. I wondered if the infrastructure was keeping pace with the building. I don’t think it is. Almost every toilet we went into we could not put toilet paper in the toilet. There was always a basket by the loo, and a sign on the doors indicating not to put anything in the toilet, including toilet paper.

While we were in Taiwan we had two typhoons and a tropical storm. Most Taiwanese seemed unconcerned about the increase in typhoons, even Kong Rey which was the biggest Typhoon to hit the Island in 30 years. Of course, because we are not used to Typhoons we were concerned about Kong Rey.  We were told that because we were on the west coast at the time Kong Rey arrived, the mountains in the centre of the Island often deflect typhoons and generally the west coast is not as badly affected as the east coast. This turned out to be the case, although we had high winds, we didn’t get the deluge of rain forecasted. By the time we left Beidou there was very little evidence that a large typhoon had hit the area. Taiwan is very prepared for all their natural disasters. The day after Kong Rey hit the island crews were out clearing branches, trees and cleaning roads of any debris. The river system has huge wide floodplains and large walls protecting the villages and cities from flooding. Due to the number of earthquakes that occur in Taiwan the building code is very strict. I think after the major earthquake in 1991 that destroyed a lot of infrastructure, Taiwan made changes to their building code to prevent loss of life and destruction of buildings.

Taiwan has an aging population. The general population aged 65 years and above reached around 18.35 percent of the total population. There is also a low birth rate. However, the population of Taiwan has increased due to an influx of foreign workers. Although the birth rate is low, we were amazed at how well behaved the children were. There were no tantrums or screaming kids. At one lunch stop we watched a little girl looking at the toys. She picked one from the hook and went to her mum with the toy. Mum said no, the little girl came back to the shelf and put it back where it belonged. She then picked another toy, back to mum. Mum said no again, back to the hook and returned the toy. She tried again with sweeties. No again. Then mum took her by the hand and did not let her wander off again. There was no screaming, no tantrums, maybe next time she will get a treat.

Mark told us that part of his job as a teacher is to teach the kids how to be good citizens, how to behave in public and be kind. At three years old they were being taught how to be good citizens!!

Mark told us that the general health of the population is deteriorating, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancers and dementia are all on the increase. I am not surprised about the diabetes as the food can be very sweet. When we asked for coffee without sugar, the servers repeated it in shock. No sugar?  Also, surprisingly a lot of people smoked. However, there was no smoking in trains, restaurants or hotels. There is also an increase in the use of betel nuts. We saw the tell-tale signs of red teeth and red spit on the sidewalk, while we were in Taipei. Betel nuts are chewed, like chewing tobacco. Many people chew betel nut for the energy boost it produces. This is likely due to the nut’s natural alkaloids, which release adrenaline. It may also result in feelings of euphoria and well-being. However, it is a carcinogen and can cause cancer of the mouth and esophagus.

The health care system works on a semi-private basis, the government subsidizes the medical costs.

In conclusion, we enjoyed Taiwan, the history, the city parks and green spaces, the bike paths, the people. We didn’t enjoy the weather, it was either too hot and humid or too wet. When I had checked the best time to go, I only looked at the temperature not the rainfall or the humidity.

Note to self; check all of the above before deciding the best time to visit a country.

If you are comfortable in riding in traffic Taiwan may be the place for you. If you like riding up long hills/mountains Taiwan may be the place for you. If you like history, and old streets Taiwan may be the place for you.

If none of the above apply to you, do not go to Taiwan for cycling. Go to Taiwan and take the train, it is a great place to visit.

Tuesday 26, November 2024

What a long day. We were up early (6:00 a.m.) so that we could have breakfast and pack the blue bag, which is what we use for our panniers. One of my panniers converts into a backpack, that is where I put my computer, Ralf’s iPad and all the other gadgets and various connectors we need, also our warm puffy jackets. It is going to be cold in Montreal.

At 7:25 a.m. we were in the lobby waiting for our taxi. Fingers crossed we would get a van. We didn’t get a van, the taxi was a Toyota SUV, just a little bit bigger than our Honda HRV. The bikes would fit, the blue bag was next to me in the back seat and Ralf sat in the front seat. When we asked at reception to book a taxi for us, they told us it would be 250 TWD ($10.80) and only take 15 minutes to get to the airport. The cost was 200 TWD, ($8.65) and it took 10 minutes. Woo hoo off to a good start.

We were early but we had the bikes, and we always like to be early. Once again, we were amazed at the efficiency of Taiwan and the airport. One of the baggage handlers took our bikes to the over-sized area and we were ready to line up for passport control and security. The pannier went through the x-ray, and we scanned our own passport and directed by the machine to stand still, and our photo was taken.

We were all done and dusted by 8:30. Boarding was at 10:30, flight at 11:10.  We had two-hours to kill and no money to spend. Mind you there were very few shops that we could afford to shop in – GUCCI, Barberry, Rolex, TAG Heuer etc. Ralf had already exchanged our remaining TWD to U.S dollars before we went through passport control.

The plane was ready to leave at 11:00 and it pushed back from the gate on time. The Captain informed us that we would hit some turbulence during the flight. We hit a lot of turbulence on the way out. Oh well, if the plane falls out of the sky at least we go together.

As we were lined up to board, a young Asian woman asked if we had cycled the Island. The bicycle helmets might have given it away. We got chatting to her, she had cycled the Island with an organized tour (Giant). She had rented their bikes and in her tour group there was about 12 people. She asked how long we had taken. We said we had been in Taiwan for five weeks and had taken about 25 days to cycle the whole Island including Kenting and the northern lighthouse. I wasn’t quite sure if she was impressed that we had cycled the whole island or surprised it had taken us so long. Most people cycle the Island in about 10 days, averaging 100 kms per day. We told her that we had wanted to see and enjoy the Island.

The flight apart from the turbulence was good and I watched a couple of movies and had a catnap for about an hour. Ralf binged watched Deadpool 1 & 2 and Deadpool Wolverine. He said afterwards that there was several hours of his life he would never get back again.

My worst fear with this flight was that we would have to clear customs and get our bags, then check-in again at the Air Canada counter. We had two hours to do this. As we were ready to land the flight attendant confirmed that we would have to clear customs, passport control and pick up our bags. Baggage for connecting flights would have to be rechecked!!

By the time we got off the plane we had barely an hour before boarding started for the flight to Montreal.

We were waiting for passport control and the young Asian woman spotted us. We started chatting again, she was very interested in our trip. I told her about the blog. Immediately she went on-line and was checking it out. She asked, where else we had travelled and what was our favourite place. South Korea said I, New Zealand said Ralf. Back on to her phone and was checking out the blog from South Korea. I am notorious for chatting to people (Czech couple) and not introducing myself and finding out the names of who I am chatting to. This young woman was so nice I introduced myself and was about to say this is Ralf, when she said, “this is Ralf”. She had been reading the blog but didn’t know my name because of course I am writing the blog and do not mention my own name. Daisy and I shook hands, and she told me she lives in Vancouver and had a four-hour lay-over.

I wish we had a four hour lay-over. Eventually we got to the front of the line, and wouldn’t you know it we had a chatty customs officer. Usual questions, then, “You cycled in Taiwan, how was that? blah blah blah”. I am trying not to look at my watch as time was ticking, and we still had to get the bikes.

We got two carts, Ralf went to over-sized pick-up, and I went to pick up the blue bag. Then we waited and waited for our bikes. What to do, do we leave the bikes and get to the Air Canada flight, or do we miss the flight and wait for the bikes?

Eventually a fella came around and moved a surfboard that had been stopping the conveyor from moving and our bikes arrived. We ran to Terminal One!! It was the other side of the airport. We had about 15 minutes before the plane started to board.

The fella at the Air Canada counter was very calm. I was burbling about arriving from Taiwan and Customs, Passport control, the bikes etc. All while trying to hand in the etickets, passports and any other piece of paper I could find. He said very calmly as if we had all the time in the world, “let’s try and get you on that plane shall we”. One of the baggage handlers took our bikes, the blue bag was on the conveyor, and he gave us our boarding cards and we were off and running again.

Then we hit passport control and security. Hurry up and wait. We were third in-line to put our bags in the trays, I asked the guy in front if he would mind if we pushed in. “No problem and you can go in front of that guy as well we are together”. The guy who was now ahead of us couldn’t stand in the right position for the x-ray machine. It took him three attempts. Can anything else go wrong. Yep, the guy who was getting his passport checked ahead of us gave the border officer an expired passport. He slowly dug into his bag and got the right one out. Finally, she checked us through. Again, we were off and running to the gate. They had started boarding, but not our seats yet. We were going to get on the plane, whether our bikes and luggage would get on, is another question.

I didn’t even have time to go to the loo before getting on the plane. But we were on the plane and heading home.

“This is your Captain Speaking”. AAAAgh what next, we looked out of the window and there was the blue bag and the bikes sitting on the conveyor and the truck. “Unfortunately, we will be delayed pushing back from the gate as we have a couple of passengers who have not shown up for the flight, we have had to remove their bags.”

NO, we are here, please don’t remove our bags. Phew, they were taking other bags off, not ours. Of course, the baggage handlers now were really miffed as they had to do this in the rain, and we watched them throw our bikes back onto the conveyor.

A relatively short flight of 4.5 hours and we were landing in Montreal.  What joy and chaos will we have here.  As I turned my phone from Airplane mode to normal It pinged with a message from our taxi driver from Howard’s. “Hi, I am Francis your taxi driver. I am waiting at the Wal-Mart parking lot. When you are ready to be picked up text me and I will be there in 10 minutes.”

Yeah, we have a taxi.

Clear passport control – you do it yourself. There is a bank of machines where you scan in your own passport, answer the questions that a border control office would have asked you. the machine then takes a photo of you and prints a clearance sheet for you to hand into the border control officer, after you have picked up your bags. That was easy and quick.

O.k. luggage, last time we landed at Montreal it was a game of guess which carousel your baggage is going to. No, you guessed wrong we are putting it on a different carousel, even though we told you it was carousel 5, we have put it on carousel 8.

Not this time, because our blue bag was last on the plane it came out first. The bikes were also waiting for us at the over-sized carousel.

We were done and dusted in less than half an hour. We got to the pick-up/drop-off area and texted Francis. Less than 10 minutes later we were heading out of the airport.  Francis told us there was a bit of a traffic slow-down around Vaudreuil but then it should be plain sailing home. No slow-downs and we were home by 7:30 p.m.  We had been awake for over 24 hours. We still needed something to eat, although we had been fed on the first flight, on the second flight we only got a snack – two biscuits!!

Fortunately, we did have some pasta and home-made pesto in the freezer and our wonderful cat/house sitter had left us a bottle of white wine in the fridge.

We managed to stay awake for another hour and then it was off to bed. Hopefully, because of the time I thought we might be able to get on Canadian time and schedule quickly and will not suffer too much from jet-lag.

As you can see by the posting date of this blog. The optimistic me of not suffering from jet-lag didn’t work out. Jet-lag has really bothered me this time. By mid-afternoon I am fading, I am falling asleep at 7:00 to 8:00 at night and waking up at 4:00 in the morning.  Today I woke up at 6:30, I am still bright and chipper at 4:00 p.m. and hopefully I can stay awake until my usual bedtime.

The bikes did not arrive unscathed. My bike again was damaged. Nothing serious, both of our front fenders need replacing and my back rack was damaged. Probably due to being thrown around in San Francisco. We will contact Montague to get the replacement parts and then get them both serviced. Just in case we want a spring cycling vacation.

One more post – Thoughts on Taiwan.

Monday 25, November 2024

What an excellent last ride in Taiwan. The weather was good, sunny but not too hot and hardly any humidity. No tail wind, but you can’t have everything.

We left the hotel at just after 9:00, the streets were fairly quiet, and we headed towards the river. If you read Thursday’s blog you know the nightmare we had trying to find our hotel from the river, it looked as though history was going to repeat itself. We knew the river was behind a large wall that we were cycling along. We couldn’t find a way to get on the trail. Until Ralf spotted an elevator that took us up to an overpass, over the road and the wall that protected Taipei from the river. We took the elevator and low and behold we were on the Taipei River front cycle paths.

We were only a few kilometres out of our way, but we were now going in the right direction. We spent 25 kms on a wonderful off-road cycle path. We could barely see any traffic, let alone hear it. It was wonderful.

We had to watch out for dragons.

As we got closer to Taoyuan we were along side a road but well separated from the traffic

As we neared Taoyuan I thought we were going to be on the scooter lane/hard shoulder of Highway 2 for the remaining 25 kms to the hotel near the airport. Google did us proud, we headed through the small city of Yingge and onto an old rail trail. This was a narrow-gauge train track that carried coal to the coast. We were on this lovely rail trail for about 15 kms, out-skirting Taoyuan.

Of course, we eventually had to get on a highway for a brief period. The scooter/cycle path was separated by a solid concrete barrier. Although there was the occasional delivery truck that had to use this road as well.

Then we made our right turn towards our hotel 2.5 kms to go.  Construction and lots of it and diversions, which we could not follow, because the signs were not in English. They are building a new raised rail system from the airport. The way we wanted to go was blocked off by construction vehicles and major infrastructure works. By the time they finish this, I am sure they will put in a bike-path underneath the rail system. It seems to go hand in hand. Build better transit and build for scooters/bicycles.

We had to cycle another 4.5 kms to find the right road to connect to our hotel.

We arrived at 2:30. Ralf went to check-in and asked where we could clean the bikes. Around the back, we cleaned the bikes and discovered a mountain of cardboard boxes. We must add cardboard to our bags for added protection for the bikes.

After cleaning the bikes, I suggested to Ralf that we pack them. We checked out our room first and discovered we would not be able to fit our bikes in the elevator. We went back to our bikes and packed them ready for the flight. It only took us an hour to have both bikes folded and in their bags. Ralf got some boxes and we put them in the bags, surrounding the bikes.

We left the bikes/bags in the lobby and arranged a taxi for tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed we will get a big taxi.

Dinner was at the hotel, buffet style. The food was very good. Tomorrow breakfast is included and we will be on our way home.

A great way to end our tour of Taiwan.

Two more posts – our flight home and Thoughts on Taiwan.

Sunday 24, November 2024

Today, I was going to clean the bikes before our last day of riding and because I haven’t cleaned them since riding into the City of Taipei on Friday. Ralf suggested we wait until we get to the last hotel and clean them before packing them into their bags. I agreed as I wanted to do some retail therapy and see if I could find a Taiwan cycling jersey. I had googled cycling clothing and there were four chances of finding a nice jersey. As it is Sunday, a lot of the shops didn’t open until noon.

The other odd thing I wanted to check out was a steamer insert for our Le Creuset pot. When we were in Taitung, we spotted a new Le Creuset pot, which would be cheaper than buying it in Canada. This pot had a steamer insert. Ralf wanted one, but I persuaded him that we should wait until we got to Taipei and see if we could get it here. When I googled Le Creuset, there were outlets in most of the big department stores.

After breakfast, we headed to the Metro and to QSquare shopping mall. As we came out of the Metro in that area there was another shopping mall opposite the Metro. I knew they would have a Le Creuset store. I found the housewares etc. on the 7^th floor and spotted the Creuset store straight away. The poor assistant thought she was going to get a good sale from us, until we translated that we only wanted the insert. We tried to pay with Ralf’s visa, it wouldn’t work, we tried mine, it still wouldn’t work. We had to go upstairs and pay and get the GST/VAT Tax refunded and then it worked. We got 112 TWD refund which works out to be about $4.80 Cdn. It was a bit of a faff, but we have our insert and are happy.

After that we walked to Bike Works. This is a small independent bike shop, that rents bikes and panniers to cyclists who don’t bring their own bikes to cycle the Island. The owner was kitting out a young Israeli cyclist. He had recently arrived in Taiwan after spending 50 days in Vietnam. We got chatting to him as he was putting his clothes into the two panniers and was wondering how he was going to fit it all in. I asked how many days he was taking and told him he only needed three changes of clothing. One on, one washing and one spare. He repacked his clothes and was happy that it all fit. He was allowed to leave the rest of his clothes and backpack at the bike store. We continued to chat to him and told him about the cycle route we had taken. The owner had already advised him to take the train down the east coast. He said to us, that he had heard some people cycled it. We said yes, and then told him of our experience with the amount of truck drivers, the narrow roads and the tunnels. Take the train, we advised. The owner said she should take a video of us giving advice as we were so experienced and everything we said was really helpful and encouraging. The Israeli said he was a little nervous, we told him it takes a few days to get into the routine of cycle touring, but once you do it is a great way to travel. I told him to take his time, enjoy the scenery and be open to meeting new people and enjoy himself. I wish I had told him that there is nothing wrong with taking the train, or a lift or pushing your bike. You are supposed to enjoy the ride not endure the ride.

I couldn’t find a jersey, but we had a nice chat with the owner as well.

From there we got back on the Metro and headed to our next bike shop: Velo City Flagship store. Another independent store, with a huge array of bicycles even a wooden one which he said was very comfortable to ride. We chatted to Nelson (the owner) for quite a while. He told me that there were no Taiwan jerseys, because there isn’t the market for them. He showed me a website where I might be able to get one from, but he wasn’t impressed with the material that these jerseys were made from. I am going to have to wait until I get home. Nelson also gave us some great advice with regards to adding Ergon handle grips to our touring bikes. Both of us have suffered a little with hand-pain, due to the grips. We are used to having multiple hand positions. We will either go with butterfly bars or the Ergon grips. We must see if the butterfly bars work with the fold of these touring bikes.

Finally, we went to a Giant (LIV) store. By this time, I was getting tired and achy. It is so much easier riding a bike, than walking a city. We saw the Ergon grips again and Ralf was able to see the different sizes and which size would fit him better. Again, no jersey, or new waterproof jacket.

Although I didn’t get a jersey, it was nice to chat to the owners of independent bike stores and see what they had to offer.

We got on the Metro and headed back to our hotel. Both of us are a little achy and tired.

The weather forecast is good for tomorrow, so we will be cycling to our last hotel before flying home on Tuesday.

Saturday 23, November 2024

Another excellent day being tourists in a large and bustling city. We hadn’t got any plans for today. We googled things to see in Taipei and surprisingly a lot of them were outside the City: Jiufen (our wonderful Old street adventure); Beitou (a hotspring on the north end of New Taipei). Google even recommended Taroko Gorge. Hardly inside the City of Taipei. We decided to go to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. Also in the grounds are the National Theatre and the National Concert Hall.

We are old pros at taking the Metro and hopped on and off with ease. Although, if we stopped and looked at the map or looked at which level we should be on someone came up and asked if we needed help. This happened twice today at the Metro stations.

As we came out of the Metro, the architecture of the gateway was outstanding.

We followed the signs to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and was struck by the stunning architecture of the National Theatre and the National Concert Hall, both built in 1987. They were built in the Chinese Palace style with distinctive yellow tiled roofs and red pillars.  The grounds were laid out in beautiful gardens and finally the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall stood at the east end of Memorial Square.

We slowly walked up to the Memorial Hall. There were a lot of people around, they were quiet which surprised me as usually there is a lot of noise. When we got closer, we saw that there was a Changing of the Guard parade. The guards were precise in their movements and the whole event took about 10 minutes.

We headed inside the hall and there was Chiang Kai Shek in bronze.  As we went further into the hall there were two permanent exhibitions. One documented the “Road to Freedom of Speech” the other was Chiang Kai Shek’s life and his rule of Taiwan.

We were able to use a headphone set which translated the information in the exhibition. The headphone set was free as was the entrance to the two exhibitions. The main hall documented Chiang’s time from when he arrived in Taiwan in 1949. and was ‘elected’ as President. Shortly afterwards Taiwan came under authoritarian rule. Although Chiang bought in major changes that were beneficial to the Taiwanese people: economically and socially. He implemented rules for education, all children will spend nine years in school. He implemented economic and tax reforms to combat inflation and promote employment and growth.

However, he also implemented Marshall law, he curtailed freedom of speech and arrested most journalist and owners of independent newspapers that would write articles against Chiang and his government. He also arrested students and anyone who may have communist or socialist tendencies. This time was known as the White Terror, thousands were arrested, killed or disappeared.

This paper mache head was created by a newspaper owner who was arrested for his articles against the regime. The paper used represented his arrest papers and subsequent trial transcripts and how he felt suffocated by the regime.

Prior to coming to Taiwan, I had read a book called Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan. This book gave me some knowledge of this era. It was a really interesting book, and I gained a little bit of knowledge about Taiwan and this time in its history.

The Memorial Hall pulled no punches with regards to this time in its history. The final part of the audio tour was to remind people of the importance of freedom of speech and to warn people of misinformation and to be aware of the influence of social media.

After leaving the Memorial Hall we wandered the gardens and looked at the two concert hall buildings. There was a performance happening in the National Theatre. At the beginning of December the German Bavarian Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle as conductor are playing here. I said to Ralf it would be awesome to be able to hear a symphony played in this theatre.

For my Mum and Dad.

At about 4:30 we wandered down to the Nahmen Market. This is an indoor market with food stalls and a food court. We were both feeling a bit peckish and decided on an early dinner. As we were looking for something to eat a lovely young woman came and asked if I needed any of the Chinese translating as it could be a bit confusing. I said we hadn’t decided what to eat but thanked her for her offer.

Friday 22, November 2024

I knew the forecast for the time we were in Taipei was going to be cloudy with a slim chance of rain. Today is the first day of not riding the bikes and no rain.

After breakfast we got the necessary laundry done and then headed out to see Taipei 101.

We took the Metro (underground/Subway) to Taipei 101. The transit system was amazing. The total cost for the return journey was 120 NTW about $5.15 Cdn for two tickets – The trip was about 15 kms one way. We bought the tickets from the counter, but you could easily purchase them from a ticket machine. The person at the counter gave us a copy of the transit map, which came in very handy. The Metro was really easy to use and on our first trip to Taipei 101, we got of one train and crossed the platform to connect to the next train. All the announcements were in Chinese and English.

On our way back in the evening, there was an older Taiwanese lady who was giving the three young people who were sitting, the evil eye trying to get them to give up their seats for her. They kept their eyes glued to their cell phones. When we both sat down, because two of them had left the train, she complained about the young people of today not respecting us oldies. Or at least, I think that was what she was saying.

We had an awesome time at Taipei 101.

We took the elevator to Floor 89 and had a wander around. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go outside at Floor 91, as it had rained and they close the outside viewing platform when it is wet. While we were wandering around there was an announcement that we could go to Floor 101. The highest point with an indoor garden. Of course, we had to pay extra for this privilege.

As Ralf said we are only here once. We were 508 metres high (1,666.67 feet). The views from the top of Taipei 101 were pretty amazing but the engineering of this building and the Tuned Mass Damper was incredible.

The density of this City is incredible. A population of 7.66 million in Taipei and New Taipei. The first picture shows a new building that has 27 floors, we were way above that construction.

On the outside of the tower are these Ruyi shapes. The ruyi is a talisman of ancient origin associated in art with heavenly clouds. It represents healing, protection and fulfillment.

The Taipei 101 Tower was opened in December 2004. The planning started in 1997, the building began in 2000 and the roof was completed in 2003. It  was briefly the tallest skyscraper in the world until the Burh Khalifa Tower in Dubai surpassed it in 2010. Taipei 101 is now the 11^th Tallest building in the world. The Taipei Tower is designed to withstand typhoon winds and earthquake tremors.  Evergreen Consulting Engineering designed Taipei 101 to withstand gale force winds of 216 kph (134 mph) as well as the strongest earthquake in a 2,500-year cycle. One of the marvels of this incredible design is the tuned mass damper. The damper is the only one in the world that is visible to the public. It can reduce up to 40% of the tower’s movements.  Its ball, the largest damper ball in the world, consists of 41 circular steel plates of varying diameters, each 125 mm (4.92 in) thick, welded together to form a 5.5-meter-diameter (18 ft) ball. Two additional tuned mass dampers, each weighing 6 metric tons, are installed at the tip of the spire which help prevent damage to the structure due to strong wind loads. On 8 August 2015, strong winds from Typhoon Soudelor swayed the main damper by 1 meter (39 in)—the largest movement ever recorded by the damper. I think I would have liked to see it move, but then again that would mean that either there was a serious earthquake or a typhoon happening. Uhm maybe not move.

Taipei 101 has the fastest elevator in the world. It takes passengers from the 5^th to the 89^th floor in 37 seconds,  it travels at 60.6 km/h (37.7 mph). Yes your ears do pop.

We spent about 3 hours wandering around the tower. We also spotted another sculpture from the same artist that we had seen in Kenting.

When we came down we had a quick wander around 101 Mall – too rich for our pockets. There were some names I didn’t even recognize.

We had a nice dinner at a sizzling Steak house (they had fish as well) and then back to the hotel to relax and look at our options to get to the airport on Monday.

Option 1: stay here and take a taxi – past problems with taxis. On other trips, we have almost always had problems with taxis. Either the company sent a car instead of a van so they were too small for the bikes, they were late, or we had to take two taxis because of the bikes.

 Option 2: Cycle to Novotel – closest to airport, most expensive, pay extra for breakfast and possibly a free shuttle to airport;

Option 3: Cycle to City Suites Airport hotel, it has a free breakfast and if you need an early departure they will give you a boxed breakfast!;

Option 4: If it is raining we can take the train to a hotel near the airport.

We chose Option 3 – Cycle to City Suites Airport Hotel. If it is raining then we can catch the train and stay at City Suites as the train station is only a few kilometres from the hotel. In the past they were able to arrange a taxi to the airport for other guests. It is only 5 kms from the airport and should cost about 350 NTW to take a taxi.

We will see, at the moment the weather is looking good for Monday for us to ride to our last hotel.

Thursday 21, November 2024

Another rain day and it was an interesting day. I was feeling quite positive as we set out. Maybe because I was determined not to let the rain and the insane Taiwanese drivers get to me today. It was our last day of cycling the Huandao (Around the island) and I was going to try and enjoy it despite the weather.

Of course, it was pouring rain when we left the hotel at 10:00. We had an excellent breakfast and a good sleep. There was a bit of a shoulder for the first part. Then wouldn’t you know it we missed the turn for the lighthouse! Although we could see it, just through the rain, before we knew it, we had passed the little road to take us there. As we crossed a bridge, I noticed there was a sign that said lighthouse 2.3 kms back where we came from. I shouted to Ralf, we missed the turn. He shouted back I know, I couldn’t see it on Garmin/google. Why were we shouting? Because the wind, the rain, the roar of the surf and the cars were so loud!

We carried on, I muttered something underneath my breath, we cycled all this way in the rain so that we could say we had been to the most southern AND northern point of Taiwan and we didn’t get there. Mutter, mutter, mutter.  Never mind, stay positive.

The roads were very wet and streaming with water. It was difficult to ride near the edge of the road because of the amount of water that was on the road. We were getting wet not just from the rain but from the water on the road and the cars spraying us with water. However, the temperature wasn’t too cold, stay positive.

As we entered Sanzhi the traffic got busier, but Google had found us a quieter path. Google eventually routed us around Sanzhi and Tamsui. Tamsui is a large city on the outskirts of Taipei.

Looking back at Tamsui

The rain had almost stopped and we were on a nice cycle path along the river. We crossed the red bridge which had a separated bicycle path.

We then continued on various cycle routes towards our hotel. This was going to be a great ride into Taipei. I had read about the cycle routes along the river coming into Taipei and was really enjoying them. There was one problem with the cycle paths, at every road crossing there was a barrier to stop scooters using the bike paths. These were not the same height or design. Sometimes you could get a touring bike through them very easily other times you had to angle the bike thorough the “gate” or lift them over the barrier. If you were on a road bike with no panniers these obstacles would be easy to get through. However, with panniers on, they became a bit of a pain. However, I did appreciate the fact that their were cycle ways all the way into downtown Taipei and into New Taipei.

We knew we were in Taipei when we spotted Taipei 101 Tower. Woo hoo, we have almost finished cycling around Taiwan.

We came off the bicycle routes and into the Shonsang District where we are staying. That is when this happened.

Trying to find the hotel!!

Google and the phone glitched and for the next one and a half hours we were going around in circles. Ralf was frustrated but was trying his best to find the hotel. We changed the google setting to walking, that made it worse, we went down every back alley you could think of, sometimes twice. Then Ralf switched it to car. That didn’t help much but we seemed to be heading in the right direction, until we weren’t. We stood there both of us almost in tears, not knowing what to do. We were within 250 metres or 500 metres depending on which way google sent us next. Ralf had gone into an optician and a pharmacy for directions. They couldn’t help. We stood there bewildered, then our road angel arrived. An elderly gentleman asked us if we needed help. Oh hell, did we need help. I showed him the address on my little piece of paper. It was written in English and therein lies the problem. Some of the hotels we have booked have English names, but when you get to them, they advertise their Chinese name. He looked up the street and down the street. Then he said go to the next set of traffic lights, wait until they are green, cross over the road. Go left and I believe it will be on your left.  I could have hugged him. He just smiled and said “sometimes not many people can speak English in Taiwan, so they may want to help but can’t”. I was so grateful that this gentleman spoke English and choose to help us.

We waited until the traffic lights had turned green and saw the address on the side of the building 10F. As we looked down the little side street, we saw in English – Giant Rich Hotel (10F). Finally, we were at the hotel. This hotel is similar to the first hotel we stayed at in Taiwan. There is no grand street entrance, you take the lift to the hotel and then you have the grand entrance at the floor you are staying at – 10F. Check-in was easy as we were well past the 3:00 check-in time.

After a hot shower, we went out to eat and to get Ralf’s phone an extended plan. As tourists we could only get a 30-day plan. We needed another five days to get us to the end of the trip. The young man at the Taiwan Mobile store was really helpful and it was all done and dusted in about 15 minutes.

Dinner was excellent, a little restaurant that looked like a takeaway, but had seating upstairs. Then cake for dessert at a rather expensive coffee house. We were going to get the laundry done, but it was raining again so into 7/11 for some beers to take to the room. We caught up on three days of the blog and Facebook. Tomorrow we will have a semi-relaxing day, I think.

Ooh, the other thing that didn’t work today was my Garmin. It recorded my stats, time on bike, speed, heart rate but not the distance or elevation. It couldn’t find a satellite!! Fortunately, Ralf’s did and I have the map and elevation from him.

This is the end of the Round the Island Ride. We have cycled 1,069 kms in 27 days. Ralf is talking about cycling to our last hotel near the airport. The weather on Monday is not looking good, in which case we will take the train. We will see!!

Wednesday 20, November 2024

Another rain day and it was another hell of a day. By the time we got to Keelung I was ready to quit. We passed three train stations and Ralf wouldn’t stop at any of them. All I wanted to do was get on a train to Taipei, I had enough of the traffic, the weather and cycling. Ralf was determined to keep going. He wanted to see the north lighthouse. Good luck with that my love it was raining so hard you couldn’t see anything. What was the point in riding in the rain, just to say that you had cycled completely around the Island. As you can tell it was not a good day.

Both of us got pissed off at each other and even now after settling into our nice hotel, and having a good meal the internet is so bad, neither of us can post anything, we are still grumpy people. Tomorrow is our last day of cycling the Island, we may do some cycling in Taipei but there is an excellent Light Rail Train (LRT) and Metro (Underground/tube) system, I am not sure I will get on the bike until I get home. We will see maybe we just need to see some sun and warmer weather.

Ralf managed to take a few photos.

There were a few sections of bike path, that we took to get off the road. They were too short and we had to get back on the road. I must say that Shimen District is creating new cycle paths, but are using large pavers instead of paved bike paths (tarmac). The pavers can become very slippy when wet, whereas tarmac or concrete doesn’t.

There were a few positives today. We met the Czech couple again. They had taken a rest day in Keelung and had taken a bus tour to the waterfall that we had cycled past. She had wanted to take a train to the west coast as it is sunny on that side, but they couldn’t get their bikes on the fast train. The slow train would take 5-6 hours. He wanted to keep cycling to do the north!! We both agreed that the east coast is far more dangerous than the west coast.

The second positive was when it briefly stopped raining and we stopped to take photos of the Arch. A couple commented on how wet and cold it was, we had a little chat and they wished us well. Sometimes it is just a little bit of encouragement from strangers that keeps you going.

The Arch is a natural geological feature formed from lava that had flowed into the ocean from the nearby (extinct) volcano Da-tung. The Arch was created through persistent erosion of the sea combined with rising movements of the earth’s crust, leaving an arch straddling the seashore.

The third positive was that we thought we had reached our hotel, but it looked like somebody’s house/business. That wasn’t a surprise because some of the ‘hotels’ have exaggerated their facilities. Ralf asked a fella if he knew if this was the hotel. He told us to follow him and he would take us to the hotel. Off he went on his scooter like a bat out of hell and then stopped about 500 metres down the road and waited for us to catch up. This was the hotel. The Ferry Love Hotel. The hotel is clad in steel to make it look like a ship (the Love Boat maybe). The room continued with the nautical theme, with small portholes in the bathroom door. The floor to ceiling windows looked out onto the ocean which was crashing onto the beach below. They even provided a condom, just in case we were in the mood after an horrendous day of cycling.

The fella on duty said we could not check in until 3:00 – it was 2:20! But we could do the paperwork. We asked if we could clean our bikes, and he showed us where we could use a hose. We cleaned the bikes and dried them. He then let us check in to our room early – at 2:50.!!

We had a lovely meal and a couple of beers at the hotel.

Tuesday 19, November 2024

What a hell of a ride/walk today was. We left Jiaoxi in the rain, at some stage during the day it stopped raining and then it started again and by the evening it was pouring down.

Today’s ride up the east coast was probably one of the worst days I have ever ridden while bike touring. We were on Highway 2 following the coast towards Keelung. The route was supposed to be really nice. However, we had trucks thundering by us every few minutes. The road was also probably the worst we have ridden on in Taiwan, sometimes there was no shoulder at all. Add to that the rain, the wind and the tunnels. Just an absolutely joyous ride (NOT).

We did manage to stop a few times to get photos of the amazing rock formations.

There was only one brief respite when the route took us through a bike tunnel. A 2 km long tunnel away from the noise and traffic. The Caoling Bike tunnel was originally part of a Japanese built railway, completed in 1924. In 1986 it was abandoned as it was too small to run train traffic through it. The tunnel was reopened in 2009 as a bikeway, with lights and music.

One of the places I did want to see on this trip was Jiufen Old Street. I knew it was up hill, but my god I didn’t think I would be pushing my bike uphill for 3.4 kms. 

As we made the left turn to go up to Jiufen, we both noticed the old buildings. These were old gold processing plants. One of them is now a museum.

The waterfalls around this area are called golden waterfalls, due to the colour of the rocks, the water flows over.

Ralf took a photo of these musicians and then started to push his bike, he said no point killing ourselves, but I don’t think he realised we still had 3.4 kms to go.

Google maps ironically bought us through a cemetery and up and down stairs to our homestay, which had advertised that it was only 350 metres from Jiufen Old Street. Just before we got to the homestay, we had to unload our bikes to be able to get them up the last flight of steps. Jiufen Old Street was only 350 metres from the homestay but downhill and down stairs. I have no idea how we are going to get down from this mountain tomorrow.

View from the Homestay

We were so wet and cold, I couldn’t even be bothered to dry and clean the bikes. As far as I was concerned at that point, I would not have been sad if someone stole them.

Sometimes the homestays do not make it easy to check-in. Once you get to the homestay and sometimes before you arrive, the owners will send you a code. We searched everywhere for the key code panel, eventually one of the young cleaners showed us where it was and we were able to get into the room. We were settling into our room and heard people outside trying to get in.  We let the family from Singapore into the building and then tried to help them find their room. There was only three other rooms available and their code didn’t work on any of them. Eventually the owners responded to their inquiries and they realized that they were booked into the building next door. Same name, same address, same front door code, just a different entrance door for the family room.

After we had showered and relaxed a little, we headed down to Jiufen Old Street. After the day we had I was hoping and praying that it was worth the effort of getting here. Fortunately it was definitely worth the visit.  Although there are easier ways to get here. You can take the train to Riufen and get a taxi from there, you can also take a bus or a tour bus. We saw quite a few tour guides with their flags telling people about the stores and where to stop and buy gifts/souvenirs.

Jiufen Old Street is one of the oldest streets in Taiwan. The Village originally had nine families but expanded to a Town after gold was discovered in the hills around 1903. After the gold mine closed in 1971, the town quickly went into decline and was almost forgotten.

Jiufen Old Street is primarily four streets that are very narrow and each store is quite small. The largest store was the tea tasting house. It covered three floors and had great views of the valley (if you could see them through the rain and fog). I was looking at some of the high mountain oolong tea for sale ranging from 600 to 6000 TWD ($25.00 to $257 Cdn). It is definitely a tourist attraction and you could pay for a tea tasting that was quite expensive as well. We did watch a video on how to make oolong tea. Of course you have to heat the pot and the cups.

I was just enjoying the atmosphere of the old building. One of the assistants chatted to me he told me that the building was very old over 100 years old and it was previously owned by a gold merchant. His store was in the front of the building and the back of the building was his personal residence.

The rain really started to pour down about 7:30, there were streams of water running down the middle of the small streets and a few of the stores were closing. We had spotted a 7/11 and a Family Mart, we stopped in at the Family Mart and bought two rain ponchos which kept us dry for the walk up the stairs back to our room.

Monday 18, November 2024

We left our warmshowers host in the rain. Not many photos today because it was a wet and dreary ride.

At about the 14 kms mark we stopped for a second breakfast and then headed to Jiaoxi. This was a short day because I wanted to go to a hot spring while we are in Taiwan. On arrival in Jiaoxi we didn’t get a very good impression of a hot springs town. There were a lot of hotels and restaurants, but not very glamorous.  When we got to our hotel it was only 12:00. There was no-one about, so we went to the back of the hotel and Ralf found a hose to rinse of our dirty bikes. While we were there a fella came to the backdoor and let us check-in. How nice was that? Three hours early. We quickly showered and headed out to discover the hot spring park. In the downtown area there is a hot stream that runs through this park area. There are places that are covered, and they are seating areas where you can sit down and put your feet in a hot spring stream.

I was laughing because, it reminded me of my Aunty Nen holding her dress up to paddle at the beach in Lincolnshire. Here I am doing the same thing, probably at the same age, only in a very different place.

There were quite a few people doing it, even on a cool and drizzly day. There were also fishy areas where you can put your feet in a tub with fishes and they nibble at your feet. We did this once before when we were in Cambodia, so we had to do it again.

I did get into trouble in one area. There was a covered area, and we went to investigate. An old man came out and started pointing at the Taiwan lettering and telling me in no uncertain times that I couldn’t be in that area. I had absolutely no idea what he was saying or why he was so upset. Another man came and said only men. No Women, only men. Ralf went to investigate; it was a public bath for men only. oops

At about 4:00 I said to Ralf let’s go back to the hotel, get our swimming gear and find the forest hot spring. He didn’t seem to be too enthusiastic about it but came along for the ride.  We found the Forest Hot Spring Park, very easily and walked through a lovely park area. We arrived at a Japanese style building and checked on the price. There was a young girl on duty and an older person supervising. He asked if we were over 65 and when I said yes, he asked for identification. I had my passport and he saw I was born in 1957 and I told him Ralf 1959. We got the senior rate! Bonus. He told us it was segregated, men to the left women to the right. Ralf and I agreed we would be there for one hour.

It was absolutely wonderful. You leave your clothes in a locker, then shower and then you can go into 7 different pools. Everyone was naked, all manner of shape and sizes. The temperatures were from 39 degrees to 44.5 degrees and a cold pool. I headed for the biggest pool first, there was no temperature guide near it. I dipped my toe, oh that was cold. I decided to try the 39 degree pool and gradually move up to 43 degrees, and then into the cold pool and then go around again. The pools are not smelly as there is a low sulphur rate. Hot Springs in the Jiaoxi area are alkaline, it is crystal-clear, odorless, yet contains a considerable amount of minerals like Potassium chloride, Sodium sulphide, Potassium hydrogen carbonate, Technical Granular, as well as rich organisms. It was a wonderful relaxing one hour and only cost 100 NTW which is about $4.33 Cdn each.

After dinner Ralf had a second ice-cream. Some of these ice-creams had peppers in them. While Ralf was eating his spicy ice-cream, ice-cream with chilli peppers in it! A young couple asked Ralf if the spicy ice-cream was really spicy. He told them that this was his second for the day. The Swiss-chocolate was good, and the melon spicy ice-cream was good. They got the Swiss-chocolate and a really spicy one as well. Then they started chatting to us. Where were we from, did we like Taiwan. We told them we were cycling around Taiwan. Their parents were amazed and asked how old I was. Then we were having our photo taken and thumbs up and good wishes for the rest of our trip.

What an excellent end to a wet and dreary day. I spotted the windmill: Jacky 4, Ralf 4.

We came back to our room and had to decide if we were going to continue cycling or head into Taipei.

The weather for the next few days is not good but what the heck. We choose to continue cycling, we will play it by ear. We really want to get to the northernmost tip of Taiwan and then head into Taipei.