My wife has two uncles and several cousins residing at Fengyuan. It will take me the whole day to visit them all. An uncle, who is known to get up early, will be a good representative for me to visit before hitting the road.
The uncle and his wife were surprised to see me in a full cycling outfit and embarking on a seemingly daunting task of cycling around Taiwan. Their two daughters, whom I’d met many years prior in Osaka Japan by chance, were asked to come out to greet me. None of them remembered our chance encounter, but clearly, I could. It was another reminder of my rapid aging: can’t remember the present, and can’t forget the past (新事記不牢, 舊事忘不了).
My wife’s paternal grandfather was a founder of a bus company in Kaohsiung County during Japan Occupation. After his company got bought out to convert the private bus company into public transport, he turned the proceeds into a sizable landholding. When the Nationalist government came, he was forced to sell his landholding to free up the capital and to invest them in non-agriculture industries. He set up a paper mill in Fengyuan producing toilet paper. Its main product, White Light Toilet Paper (白光衛生紙), was once a common household staple in many townships in central and southern Taiwan. In the 70s, American paper companies came to the island with better manufacturing know-how and sophisticated marketing savvy. The toilet paper market was taken over swiftly, and local paper mills struggled until their slow and excruciating demises. The site for grandfather’s paper mill is now occupied by a Women League building (white building on right), a fire station (middle yellow building), and a hospital (the tallest building on far left).
Fengyuan has a bike path that was voted as the best in Taiwan. An abandoned railway was turned into a tree-lined bike path with rest areas and bike rental shops.
The bike path goes over a truss bridge to reach a tunnel.
Inside the tunnel, the bike path is wide and well lit.
A group of elementary school kids was on a field trip. These kids came from a small village that was devastated by a flood last year. I hope the field trip was a good healing experience for everyone.
It is the election season in Taiwan. Billboards with candidates for various races are frequently seen on the roadside. I don’t follow Taiwan politics and don’t usually recognize names or faces on any of these billboards. But one name on this billboard caught my eyes. My wife’s cousin 徐中雄, a long sitting senator, is lending his name to a candidate campaigning for Taichung City Assembly.
My ride for today will mainly be on Highway 13 (台 13) going north. This mountain with one side lay bare is Flaming Mountain (火焰山), named after the mountain inferno depicted in the Chinese classic novel “Journey to the West” (西遊記).
A multi-deck overpass is the start of a very steep uphill, a rise of 200 meters within a distance of 4 kilometers. The wind at this overpass was unbearably ferocious. I struggled along and resisted getting off the bicycle to walk. I was getting only 4 kilometers per hour on the bicycle, the same speed as walking.
This car manufacturing plant, Yulong Sanyi (裕隆三義), indicates that the climb is about to be over.
Sanyi (三義), a town renowned for its wood carving, sits at the end of the uphill climb. The major thoroughfare is lined with wood carving shops.
Teriyaki beef from a fast food place was my lunch.
Highway 13 passes by National United University (國立聯合大學). Not to be disrespectful and pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard of this school before today.
The city gymnasium of Miaoli City (苗栗).
The wind was still very strong today. I’ve been fighting with the wind for four days and I was getting exhausted and frustrated. Every sensory receptor of my body started to feel numb and my brain blanked out too often. At an intersection outside Miaoli, I made a wrong turn and wandered into a detour that added many kilometers to my journey. The map below shows the correct route in blue highlight. The detour is in yellow highlight.
This intersection with too many poles and thus confusing, I believe, is the culprit for the wrong turn. Notice a series of Nationalist’s flags posted on the side of the road. I think they were there to greet tourists from mainland China.
A senior citizen center looks very well furnished for a small town Touwu (頭屋).
Amidst haze and mist of a fast passing drizzle,
I meekly battled against the merciless wind blow.
My cataract-impaired vision could barely focus
on an earth-filled dam – the distant and blurry Mingder Reservoir.
(明德水庫)
Although it was a long detour, the scenery on this highway was very beautiful. It was a nice change from the insipid scenes of the last three days.
It was getting cold so I stopped by a 7-11 to get nourished.
By late afternoon, I arrived at Zhunan (竹南). The railroad on the west coast of Taiwan has a coastal branch (海線) and a mountain branch (山線) going north and south. These two branches converge at Zhunan. It is a major hub for train travelers and as such there are many old hotels scattered around the train station. I found one, Lotus Hotel (水紗蓮商務旅館), located inside an office building that looked newer from the outside. The rate was NTD $1200 (USD $40) for the night. It was basic, nothing fancy, and overpriced.
Dinner was at a shabu-shabu place near the hotel. It was cold outside so a hot pot was a fitting choice.
The first map shows the full island of Taiwan. My bike ride for the day was from 10 o’clock position to 11 o’clock position. The second map gives a closer view of my ride.
Vertical profile of today’s ride. The bottom of the sharp drop at distance 10 was where I saw the billboard with my wife’s cousin. The tip at distance 19 is Sanyi, the wood carving center of Taiwan.
Summary of today’s ride. I spent some time this morning visiting a relative so the moving time for today is less than 6 hours. The max speed of 714.8 kilometers per hour was a GPS mistake.
-Joe
Next: 20101029 Day 10 - Joe's Cycling around Taiwan (Zhunan 竹南 to Taoyuan 桃園)
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