It has taken me a couple of days to get to writing this blog post... It's just been "busy" since we arrived in Taipei, we have been out and about. Today was our first day out on our bicycles, on the road again! We have cycled from Taipei to Hsinchu, a good 87km. After a shower, a short stroll through town and a good meal, here is finally the story of the first 4 days in Taiwan!
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| It's not allowed to cycle on the roads around Taiwan airport. The best option, if you prefer riding from the airport that is, is to take the (free) shuttle bus to the cargo terminal, and start from there. We took the bus, got off at the right bus stop, and started assembling the bikes in the bus stop. Quite comfortable actually... Just had a small hickup when Ellen's tyre blew up - the tube had come out of the tyre after inflating and so it exploded... |
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| Shortly after departing on the bikes, we stopped at the very first 7 Eleven. Taiwan is full of these convenience stores, and they have a lot of options for (quick) meals. As it was already well past lunch, we really needed some food! |
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| Riding into town was not as easy as we had expected, although there were cycling lanes in many places. The first part of the ride was along rivers, like here, which was not too bad - although there was a lot of industry and traffic in places. |
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| However, you make very slow progress in these places. There are lots of changes of cycling lanes, traffic lights, pedestrians, and then these barriers to prevent other vehicles from using the lanes. Well intended, but a pain in the ... for a fully loaded tour bike as the panniers can't get through. |
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| Getting into Taipei, crossing the Crescent bridge. A beautifully lit bridge at night, pedestrian and bicycles only bridge. It had become dark indeed, as the ride was about 50km and the progress slow. It was about 7pm by the time we reached our hotel, the Cho Hotel - a very warm recommendation though!!! |
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| Walking around in Taipei, in the trendy Ximending area, we stumbled upon... Heverlee beer! Heverlee beer?! |
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| Taipei view |
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| Bopiliau, a historic street in Taipei |
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| Taipei street view |
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| Taipei street view |
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| Worshippers at the Lungshan temple |
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| More worshippers |
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| Lungshan temple and its more modern environment |
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| Another Taipei street view |
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| And oh yes, another street view. This is the Ximending area, pedestrian only, pleasant place to walk around. We have really liked to walk around in Taipei, traffic is not too bad, it's very pedestrian friendly with good side walks and crossings. We used the first day to do our required shopping: gas, provisions, a map, etc |
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| Quite a funny wall, don't you think? |
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| Another historic area, the Huashan 1914 Creative Park, in an old wine factory |
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| Yummy steamy hotpot! |
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| We had booked 2 nights and decided to add another one, as we liked Taipei but also as the weather didn't look so nice the next day. So we went to the National Palace Museum, recommended by many people and Lonely Planet. It was very quiet, tour groups have been banned currently due to the covid-19 fears - which by itself also means there are fewer tourists than usual. Good for us!... |
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| Covid-19 thus. Look at how everybody (really, very few exceptions) is wearing a face mask in the MRT - and more generally, around Taipei. Now we have arrived in Hsinchu and it seems here it's much less the case. |
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| After the museum it was time for outdoor action again (oh yes) and we visited Beitou hot springs. This is thermal valley, water of around 90C, so impressive for the steam but not suitable for bathing! |
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| Fertile grounds... |
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| We didn't go to any of the bathing houses, but walked to one of the foot baths you find around Beitou: Sulphur Springs Valley. Again, not too many people and a very pleasant place to spend some time. |
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| And here's Sulphur Springs Valley; it used to be a sulphur mine! It's like a lunar landscape... |
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| Taipei night street view |
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| It doesn't happen very often that were together in a picture... |
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| Ready to leave the Cho Hotel, for the first real ride on this Taiwan trip! Towards Hsinchu, although we did not know in advance where we would stop for the day. We did go all the way to Hsinchu eventually, 87km, and arrived around 6pm, just before it was dark again. It seems we will need to leave a bit earlier! |
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| Leaving Taipei in a beautiful bright spring sun, wonderful riding. For the attentive viewer: spot Taipei 101 in the distance... |
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| We followed Taiwan Cycling Route 1 today, the route that goes around the entire island. It starts in Taipei with a long way along the Dahan River. For a while, there are high walls along the river, basically a dam for high typhoon floods. During normal weather there is a lot of activity inside the wall, but once there is a threat of a flood the wall gates will be closed and nobody will be allowed in. The wall itself is nicely decorated - not talking about the Belgian cyclists in the picture though. |
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| Ahhh, there mid morning coffee breaks, that's what it's all about! We also used this occasion to do some quick maintenance to the bicycles, which we hadn't been able to do after the Langkawi trip (as we hadn't unpacked the bikes at home before leaving again) |
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| The route today was a mixed bag; there were the nice riverside tracks, some more traffic heavy parts, some climbs, and this: Sanxia old street. A historic neighbourhood, beautiful and pleasant to ride through. We also visited Daxi old street, which we liked even more - it's not just the street, it's a historic village with a pleasant atmosphere - and good food! |
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| Taiwan is not a flat country, and we already had quite a few good hills today. Very gradual, not too long, so definitely feasible, and with this kind of views as a bonus. |
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| Just a random view on our way, quite representative for some of the more rural areas we rode through. Traffic was very light in parts, so even though this is freeway no. 3 it's still good cycling. |
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| The highlight of the day, without any doubt, was a descent through a beautiful valley with small farms, mostly rice and also some tea fields. |
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| On the way down through the valley, a fantastic highlight |
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| And also here, hardly any traffic |
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| In a way, this picture sums it up nicely. Beautiful rice paddies, and even a little sunset although it had been a cloudy afternoon. The buildings in the back are a chemical plant, and that's why this picture sums it up well: it was a day with some beauty, small and quiet roads, nature, paddies, tea and so on, but also with industry, busy smelly roads and city riding. I guess that'll be the case for most of the Taiwan west coast, but we'll have to see about that in the next couple of days! |