20101017 Day 01 - Joe's Cycling around Taiwan (Kaohsiung 高雄 to Sih-jhong-si Hot Springs 四重溪溫泉)

As some of you may have known for too long, I have been telling people for the last six months that I wanted to ride a bicycle around the island of Taiwan. Finally, today is the day.

I bought a Giant mountain bike a year ago to rekindle a childhood pastime. I rode around Los Angeles for a while and about 6 months ago I started to have the dream of cycling around Taiwan. After reading so many travelogues (in Chinese) by other cyclists who have done this, I realized that I could do it too. It should never be just a dream.

Once I decided to do it, I started to train myself. Cycling around LA was no longer an aimless leisure outing; instead, it had the purpose of preparing me for a big trip. I started to choose bike paths that went up and down hills. I was not physically fit so I needed to train myself to get into shape.

It didn’t take much effort to convince my wife that she should support me to do the cycling trip. As I have not been an overly ambitious person in any aspect of life and work, she was surprised that I would take cycling around Taiwan so seriously. Although she wasn’t encouraging at first, she did show a lot of understanding throughout, for which I am filled with gratitude and appreciation. I guess she didn’t want to be the one who stopped her husband from realizing a dream of a midlife crisis nature.

My plan was to start from Kaohsiung (高雄), a port city on the southwestern coast of Taiwan, going counter-clockwise around Taiwan. I will stay at a hotel or a hostel (民宿) every night, and never go camping outside. I will start early in the morning (about 7 am) and stop at 10 am or 11 am for lunch. Nap for a couple of hours and start at 2 pm again. I will never ride at night. On average, I shall be on the road for about 6 hours. If I keep a pace of 10 miles (16 kilometers) per hour, then I shall finish at least 80 kilometers every day.

Along the way, I have the following preferences:

1. For staying overnight, hot spring locations are much preferred.
2. Hotels are not to be too expensive (no five-star hotels unless I get a super deal), nor too cheap (need to have an en suite with in-room bath).
3. I prefer to stay in a hotel instead of a friend’s or relative’s house.
4. When staying overnight, it will be for one night only unless it is raining. Taipei will be a two-night stay.
5. No advanced reservation is made for hotels. I will look for a place to stay every night. This is advice from other cyclists because unexpected (rain, bike breakdown, etc) do occur when you are on the road. Advanced reservation forces you to ride at night, which is a no-no.
6. Food is important. I like to eat. I’ll attempt to try delicacies at each township I visit. Any famous night market (夜市) is a must-visit.
7. I would like to also ride on Suhwa Highway (蘇花公路), but not dead set about it. I can skip this section and take the train instead.

I flew from LA, via Hongkong, to arrive at my in-laws’ house in the city of Kaohsiung on 10/14. After 2 days’ rest to get over the jetlag, I started pedaling on 10/17/2010 Sunday.

The day started early at 5:50 AM and I needed to have an early pickup and energy. Here is a perfect drink for that: an instant coffee with ginseng extract.


In front of my in-laws’ house. It is conveniently located two blocks away from a major street that directly led me to today’s destination 90 kilometers away.


The major street leading toward my destination for today. The street was very quiet in the early hours. The billboard on the right is for the incumbent mayor running for reelection. She is a popular sitting mayor of the second-largest city in Taiwan.


Eighty-Five Sky Tower, an iconic building in Kaohsiung.


A big gathering at a subway station turned out to be a cyclist's event held by a local bicycle company, Merida. I stopped to ask a cyclist for directions and found him to have the same Chinese name as mine.


The building on the right is a department store, FE 21’ Mega (大遠百), in which my daughter enjoyed spending time when she was visiting last summer.


On the outskirts of the city, the southbound road was wide and empty. I would ride on Highway 17 (台17), a coastal highway along the western shore of Taiwan.


Kaohsiung International Airport (高雄小港機場)


Kaohsiung is a big city with major heavy industries. This road looks quiet and peaceful in the morning. But beyond the green tall trees on both sides of the road are gigantic complexes for high-polluting industries such as petrochemical, steel milling, ironworks, and shipbuilding.


Taiwan has the world’s largest bicycle manufacturing industry and cycling is a very popular sport in Taiwan. On any given weekend, you can run into many cycling clubs holding various events. Here in front of a 7-11 store, members of a cycling club were taking a break. Many of them took a keen interest in knowing me doing a solo act of cycling around the island, at my age, and from LA afar.


Highway 17, a coastal highway, is the fastest way to get to the southern tip of Taiwan from Kaohsiung. A major rainstorm two years ago severely damaged a good portion of a bridge on this highway. For almost two years, traffic had to be diverted through a detour that added 10 kilometers to the distance. Recently a temporary bridge was open and I was able to ride over this bridge to save some time.


Soon after the temporary bridge, a popular fishing town, Dong-Gang (東港), is in sight. Dong-Gang is famous for its seafood. I arrived at about 8:30 AM and it was too early to see any seafood restaurant open for business. Here is a picture of a commercial street at Dong-Gang.


The gilded archway in front of Dong-Long Temple (東隆宮)


Off the shore of Dong-Gang, and a 40-minute ferry ride over Taiwan Strait, is a small island called Little Liou-Ciou Island (小琉球). The island is popular with weekend tourists. Here is the busy ferry station at Dong-Gang.


Dong-Gang Fish Market is famous for Pacific bluefin tuna (黑鮪魚), of which the underbelly is known as toro, usually one of the most expensive items on the menu in sushi bars.


Highway 17 is wide and usually not too busy. In each direction, 2 lanes are reserved for cars, and a narrower lane on the side is clearly marked for motorcycles and bicycles. It is safe to bike on this narrow lane.

Along Highway 17 there suddenly appeared many roadside stands selling water caltrop (菱角).



The train running along the west coast of Taiwan (縦貫線) used to end southernmost at a small fishing village called Fang-Liao (枋寮). When I was in elementary school, I once told my dad that the nature class at school had taught me about the ocean but I’d never seen one. My dad then took me on a train ride to Fang-Liao to experience the ocean. I still remember my first encounter with the thundering roar of ocean waves when I stepped off the train and onto the platform. I was in awe and totally fascinated.  Back then, out of the train station, there was no building, nothing, but a wide and empty land between the tiny wooden station house and the beach.  I was able to feel the mist and the smell of seawater.  Since then, I have always felt an ardor and affinity for the ocean and the beach, no matter where I live.

On this trip, I wanted to revisit the station and see if I could still feel the magic.  Of course, I was disappointed.  The tiny wooden station house is now a big concrete building, and the empty land is a very populated commercial area shielded from the ocean by a levee.


The coastal area close to the southern tip of Taiwan has been developed into a tourist destination. Riding south on Highway 1 (台1) I could start to feel like being in a tropical resort area.  Palm trees, coconut trees, betel nut trees, lush green, sandy beaches with crashing waves dotted the landscape.  In this picture, many roadside coffee carts set up tents with beach chairs and hammocks for an easy afternoon siesta.


A roadside rest area.  A once-glorious structure but now looked neglected and damaged by the last storm.


Miles after miles of this kind of scenery.


A fork showed up for either going directly to the east coast via Highway 9 (台9南迴公路) on the right lanes or directly to the southern tip of Taiwan via Highway 1 on the left lanes.  For bicycles, it is the rightmost narrow lane for either destination. My destination for today required me to continue heading south on Highway 1.


Highway 1 ended in front of this heavily patronized 7-11.  The next highway to go further south is Highway 26 (台26).


This massive building is on the side of Highway 26. A farm co-op (農會) has funded the construction of this white elephant without verifying the existence of any building permit.  The building was eventually constructed but it could never get a business license to operate as a resort hotel.  Many heads of the farm co-op have rolled but the standstill continued to this day, and the building sat empty still.  My dad was a member of that farm co-op some 50 years ago when he was still alive.


Highway 26 circles around the outer rim of Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), which straddles the southern tip of Taiwan.  The majority of the peninsula is designated as Kenting National Park (墾丁國家公園).  White-sand beaches, grassy meadows, and low-lying hills are the scenery along Highway 26.  The far-right lane in between two solid white lines was for motorcycles and bicycles.  There were many rental scooters roaming on the peninsula.


For 200 New Taiwan dollars, NTD $200 (less than 7 US dollars), you can ride a sand buggy on the sandy beach for 20 minutes.


A stainless steel sculpture in front of a local elementary school (車城國小) depicts the wind gust of Luo-Shan-Feng (落山風), a northeast seasonal wind (東北季風) commonly occurs in the winter on the peninsula.


Not far after the elementary school, I turned into County Road 199 (屏199) heading east toward inland.  On this stretch of the country road, the fierce force of Luo-Shan-Feng started to show its ugly face.  I had to pedal very hard and the bike barely inched forward.  I then realized why the sculpture in front of the elementary school is made of stainless steel.  Any other materials will not be able to stand against the wind blow.


Other than bearing down my head, pedaling hard, and wishing the wind would go away, there was really nothing to distract me on this country road.  But suddenly a humongous structure appeared at a distance.  On closer look, it was a statue of a local deity god Guan-Gong (關公) sitting on top of a pagoda.  It must be due to the divine force that the statue could stand atop against the strong wind gust.


Finally, today’s destination, Sih-Jhong-Si Hot Springs (四重溪溫泉), was in sight.  The clear water from this hot spring village is sodium carbonate water and is renowned for its therapeutic effects.  After a long day of riding my bicycle for more than 100 kilometers, I needed to soak in hot spring water and feel its restorative effect.


In front of tonight’s hotel, Clear Spring Hotel (清泉日式溫泉館).


Before WWII, Taiwan was a Japanese colony for 50 years.  A Japanese prince, a brother of the Japanese emperor, visited this hotel during his honeymoon.  The two-story building was built to accommodate the prince and his new bride.


Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sleep in the building for royalty.  Instead, my room was in a wing aptly named “60s’ Nostalgia Suites”.  It was from the 60s all right, and I had to tell myself that I was there for the hot spring and not the lodging.  The cost for a room with a full-sized bed, bath, and breakfast: is NTD $1750 (about USD $58).


There wasn’t much of any selection of restaurants in this town of hot springs.  Dinner was at a small restaurant near the hotel that seemed to attract most of the out-of-towners for the night.  A lamb hot pot, enough for two to share, costs NTD $300 (about USD $10).


The first map shows the full island of Taiwan.  My bike ride for the day is from 7 o’clock position to 6 o’clock position.  The second map gives a closer view of my ride.


Vertical profile of today’s ride. It was mostly on flat land except for the last 10 kilometers.


Summary of today’s ride. Note the distance of 109 kilometers and calories burnt of 3415. I did deserve to eat a lamb hot pot.


-Joe

Next:  20101018 Day 02 - Joe's Cycling around Taiwan (Sih-jhong-si 四重溪 to Jin-lun 金崙)