Taiwan, Hong Kong (2)

(2) From Taipei to the east coast

Finally, all set to ride

Riding out of the city, along the river Dan Shui （淡水河， freshwater river).  This beautiful bike path was very lightly used. We started to wonder aloud Taiwan's claim to be "bicycle kingdom" was grossly exaggerated. 

We stopped for lunch when we saw the long line

For me, that was our best meal in Taiwan. The minced meat rice 魯肉飯 sauce was a little heavy handed, but the 虱目魚 fish belly soup was absolutely delicious. 

This restaurant was also the turning point of our bike trip, the couple we shared the table with started to put ideas in our heads, they managed to convinced us that the east coast of Taiwan was worth visiting.

Highest point on our way to Tao Yuan (桃園，peach garden), almost all downhill riding from here to the airport city. 

We were surprised how rural Taiwan looked. (I think this was taken on Wan Shuo Road 萬壽路）

Motel

We were 20 Km from our destination Xin Shu (新竹, new bamboo), with much trepidation, we checked in to this motel.  At this point we had ridden 50-60 Km and it started to get dark. W had to walk some hilly parts, but held up okay otherwise. 

The motel was in a town called Yang Mei (楊梅， bayberry), the room (including the ground floor garage) was relatively inexpensive  (about 35 USD) and looked like a love nest sort of place. Despite the jacuzzi with neon lights, everything turned out to be decent. I particularly enjoyed their simple breakfast. 

Outside of major cities, Taiwan is still very Taiwan, few people speak Mandarin and there are betel nut (檳榔）stores everywhere, working class people chew betel nuts all the time (because of the narcotic effects). I paid about 2 USD for a bag, chewed the heck out of them that night and felt nothing.  

Car

We tried to board a train to the south but decided to check out some rental cars in the town of Zhong Li (中壢, middle lowland). We ended up getting this spacious white Toyota (偷油的) for 10,000 (about 300 USD) for a week. The rental company required us to have a temporary Taiwan driving license so most of the day was wasted biking around to get the paper work done. That's when I discovered Hong Kongers are becoming Singaporeans, W was complaining constantly how inefficient Taiwan was and how superior Hong Kong was in everything... 

The long side of this map is only 2 miles

With the car, we changed our plan completely, we decided to make seeing as much Taiwan as possible our primary goal

 At around 4PM when the painful paperwork was finally done, we set out to drive to the east coast via Northern East West Highway 北橫公路.  Up to that time, everyday had been overcast and drizzly, through the fog the scenery was spectacular. The reason I didn't take pictures was the road was so treacherous that it demandeded all our attention. You can see from the Google maps (check the scale on the bottom)  how tight the switchbacks are, the switchbacks are usually single lane meaning you must look at the convex mirror installed at the apex to know whether to proceed or wait in an area wide enough for both cars to pass.
As dusk fell, visibility became nil, we got to Yi Lan （宜蘭，suitable for orchids) late in the evening, probably at an average speed of 20 Km per hour or less on the "highway". 

Hotel in Yi Lan

Checked into the first decent hotel we saw,  so cool to park right on the sidewalk, inches from the lobby door.

Gentleman Framers

I saw many giant tractors, and a Range Rover and other SUVs parked on this dirt road, I'm guessing the produce is not their only livelihood. (I heard country people got rich from the land.)

Near the ocean

At mile 0 of the bike trail

I was up so early that when I rode back to the hotel, the nearby market was just getting ready to open, W was just getting up. 

The Market

Truth be told, food in Taiwan was not great. But it turned out the market was staggeringly good, so much so that at we were asking strangers if we could borrow a kitchen to cook the food ourselves.

Fashionista

A shopkeeper gave us some advice on where to eat.

Many different kinds of chickens

  I could only imagine how good a home cooked meal could be. I could think of no reason for people to go to the supermarket where the selection was very poor. 

Friendly Photogs

A section of the bicycle trail I rode earlier was now blocked by SUVs and photographers.

Dedicated birdwatchers

Local birdwatchers had been monitoring the water around the clock both electronically and personally. I could only see the bird through a huge 800mm telephoto lens.

Serious Hobbyists

I had not seen so much top-end photo equipment used by amateurs in one place. 

Some of the photographers were decked out in waxed cotton jackets and Wellington boots, properly attired to go skeet shooting with QE2 and Prince Philip. 

The star bird was a stork

Strangely, I would see the same kind of bird later in downtown Hong Kong, a giant bird perched on a tree in Central!

Su Hua Highway

We took it easy the rest of the day in Yi Lan. The only project left was to visit a famous hot spring in Jiao Xi (礁溪, fish rock brook) 10 miles away. We wisely chose the (town owned ?) Japanese styled bathhouse, the other option was private bathtubs in by-the-hour resort hotels. 

Japanese style is befittingly called 裸湯, naked soup, people share soups of different temperatures in several pools. Thankfully, male and female patrons are segregated these days. 

On to Hua Lian (花蓮, flower lotus) the next day via Su Hua Highway (蘇花公路).  All of a sudden, the  sun came out and we were too dsitracted by the breathtaking view to take pictures. Running out of road, we stopped to look at the sea, this was a popular spot with mainland China tourists and the parking lot was full of yellow taxis.

Priceless beach with coarse charcoal colored sand

This is by no means extraordinary, cliffs and turquoise sea was everywhere. 

Big waves

My foot with Achilles tendon problem flared up after Jiao Xi hot spring, managed to hike down to the beach and feel the water nevertheless.

Ocean of youth

Sister W lost 90% of her age playing with pebbles. She took a 5 pound bag of rocks home. 

Most of the visitors were properly dressed for cold weather except these two

We were soaking wet and about to enter Tarako National Park (太魯閣, a name I first thought was Japanese, it's actually indigenous.)

Taiwan, Hong Kong

昔日齷齪不足誇，今朝放蕩思無涯。
春風得意馬蹄疾，一日看盡長安花。

以上是唐代孟郊的名詩”登科後“， 詩人年四十六中舉， 其後士途也是一般。字面看， 孟郊的確是趾高氣揚， 洋洋得意。 再看他寫的"慈母吟"：

慈母手中線，遊子身上衣。

臨行密密縫，意恐遲遲歸。

原來孟郊屢考不中，中時已幾近知命之年，孟媽媽複雜的心情可想而知。再者, 京師豈容不善騎馬的南人（我們大同鄉浙江人）來”馬蹄疾“？想當然孟老漢是”打了個的“，讓馬車在長安走馬看花蹓躂一回。猜想”一日看盡長安花“ 不過是詩人時不我予之自譏也。

兩周前和妹自行車遊臺灣，青春小鳥早無蹤影，老妹說這樣玩下次可能無期了。聞畢漠然，無病呻吟，良有以也。

If you don't read Chinese, you don't miss anything. The above narcissistic preamble is just saying my sister W and I felt we might be running out of time (in life) when we started our bike trip in Taiwan two weeks ago.   

I didn't bring a serious camera on this trip,  but the compact and the cell phone were adequate for my purpose.  First installment of pictures:

（1）臺北市 － Taipei City

Sister W near the Taipei Train Station. 

Our hotel was only 2 block from the train station, when we got off the bus, it was obvious that the driver thought we were from Mainland China. Soon, we would not bother to explain because virtually all the Chinese speaking tourists were from there.  

  Xi Meng Ding 西門丁

The Time Square of the old Taipei City, it is now dated.

Our first meal in Taiwan

These are very typical local Taiwanese dishes. The USD exchange rate is about 1 to 30, food is quite reasonable anywhere in Taiwan. 

The establishment

The food

Nothing fancy, about 10-15 USD.

Another patron enjoying his minced meat rice.

All kinds of street vendors everywhere, this one was selling dumplings.

Grilled squid

Stinky Tofu

Stinky tofu was a disappointment. Sister W advised not to buy anything from youngish vendors, that advice turned out to be not as dumb as it sounded. 

The vendors running from the police

The police was a young man on scooter, driving around at walking speed trying very hard not to catch anyone. Ten minutes later, everyone returned to the same spot again. Some lady from the second floor apartment came down to complain about the stinky tofu stench was making her flat a living hell, apparently it had been going on for more than a few days. 

These scooter riders, male or female, would do well in Genghis Kan's cavalry. 

Even this demure looking young girl would ride aggressively in traffic. 

There are tutor (cramp) schools everywhere.

High schools students get additional after school classes there. The names of the top students, their scores, the schools they got accepted to, are posted outside to entice new customers. Talk about pressure!

 The Presidential Ofice  （總統府）

The two mornings I was in Taipei, I was up before 4AM, either walked or rode around on my bicycle. I Will always remember the feeling of having the city all to myself. 

Sitting here, looking at the Presidential Office Building, I thought about how the make-believe ruler of all China （小朝廷）here. How the very arrogant KMT learned their lesson (十年生聚，十年教训). How all the street names seem to yearn for a new beginning, and sadly, the futility of it all.

 Another early riser, a foot long rat that's not at all afraid of me.

February 28 Memorial Peace Park

February 28 Incident was also called 2-28 Massacre of 1947. An unspeakable taboo until recently. Today, this big city park is named after it. I was moved by the fact in some way Taiwan and KMT own up to its past. While waiting for daybreak in the park, I saw this homeless man meticulously going through his worldly possessions stashed in 4 shopping bags. I smiled thinking no matter how little or how much or how little we possess, we're all the same inside. 

I would meet him again on my last day in Taiwan.

 There is also a monument for the victims of White Terror following 228, incredible!

 We rented a U-Bike while waiting for W's rental bike in Taipei.

Rode to the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物館）. The museum has a collection of Chinese treasures unrivaled anywhere. Most of the tourists were either from China or Japan. Here's a group of Japanese.

 Looking down from the museum building. 

It's not as popular as I expected, the collection so vast that they could go for decades without repeating what they exhibit. I found the exhibits to be overly showy and not very stimulating.

 If it ain't broke, break it

While waiting for the Giant bike shop to open, we walked by a stadium call Little Giant Egg (臺北小巨蛋, there was a recreational area next to it. W wanted to walk to loosen up  and I saw these guys running track and ran 5 or 6 laps with them. I felt OK afterward, but my bad foot would act up after the hot spring 2 days later and hobbled me for the rest of the trip.  

 Buddhist nun  

 Street scene from our room. The yellow sign says "National Remedial Classes", another name for cramp schools parents would send their kids to after regular classes. The green signs is Starbucks coffee.

Once the rental bicycle was secured, we were reading to leave Taipei City.