Wow, it's been a couple of days since the last post. We've had three long, quite challenging but wonderful cycling days, and no more time or motivation to write. So this post has a lot of pictures from 3 great days!
Also, a short Covid-19 update to start with this time. Many people have been asking us what the virus situation does to our plans. In a way, it hasn't had any impact so far. The only impact is: uncertainty. Should we continue, go back to Malaysia, go to Belgium? Will we even be able to go to Japan, and is it an OK thing to do? So far we have been really good here in Taiwan. Numbers are very low, and it's mostly "imported" and quarantined people. There are no strict measures in place within Taiwan to counter the spread of the virus as it is not required. So we have been able to travel around freely and without concerns. As our Taiwan tour is coming to a close we have started to look for our options however, more about that later in this post!
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| Heading north from Taitung there are 2 options: either follow the coastline, or go through the East Rift Valley. We decided to go through the valley, which looked lush and with many options for smaller roads. Also, we had planned to cut through the mountains from the valley back to the coast around midway, so we had a bit of both. |
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| The scenery in the East Rift Valley did not disappoint! It was just stunning mostly. The first 20km out of Taitung were just fine, after that it was great with magnificent mountains, fresh green rice paddies and a lot of small scale farming, mostly fruit. |
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| From Taitung it was a gradual climb for 20km, afterwards it became even more gentle. But the wind had foreseen some extra challenge for us, and thanks to the slight incline and constant headwind, it felt as if someone was pulling our brakes constantly, With the beautiful scenery not really a problem! |
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| Around lunch we had a little technical problem: Ellen's chain broke! It was quickly repaired (with a quick chain link), and a good reason for a lunch break in the paddies - in the shadow. |
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| A very popular tourist attraction in this valley, Mr Brown avenue - apparently after it was used in a commercial with a famous Japanese actor. |
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| While the Cycling Route No 1 follows main road N9, we hardly cycled on that road for most of the day. We went on several beautiful bikeways, like this one near Chinshang, but also the Luye and Yuemei bikeways (indicated on the Google map below this post). Fantastic cycling! |
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| As mentioned above, it was nearly constantly very slight uphill with headwind, and as it was a hot and humid day (up to 31C) we did need some breaks to cool down and have a drink. |
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| Reward after a longer and tougher day than expected: a beautiful campsite in Luoshan, with impressive mountain scenery and magic evening light. |
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| In Luoshan we visited a traditional house in the mornng; it's not terribly old (around 100 years) but you don't see these houses around. The reason: they were build from clay and rice husks! That doesn't sound very durable, especially not in this demanding climate... Nice to see however. |
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| The mountain scenery as we continued in the valley became even more dramatic at times, punctuated by the misty clouds. |
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| WOW |
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| Me stopping for yet another picture, Ellen patiently waiting... |
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| We got onto the Yuli Bikeway, which is a converted old train line. Very well done, nice to have kept the station and platforms intact. |
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| Perfect cycling! With less wind and nearly flat terrain (even slightly downhill now), easy cycling too! |
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| Yep, that's another dramatic view! A little rain was forecast for this morning, but we didn't have any except for a minimal drizzle for a short while. |
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| Later on we cycled on country road 193, not a bikeway but still very pleasant. |
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| Once in Ruisui we decided to go ahead with our plan to cross the mountains via road 64 and join the coastal road again. It meant quite a bit of hilly cycling, but it was worth every single meter! This is a view back to the valley we had just come from, after the first climb. |
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| No cars, mostly good road, not too hot (as opposed to the day before) and magnificent scenery. Equals: happy people and a fantastic ride! |
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| View over the impressive canyon. |
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| And even more impressive. We just couldn't get enough of the views! |
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| Apparently, this road is also called the Monkey Mountain Road; there were indeed a lot of monkeys on our way, although always well hidden in the forest. We did see them (and certainly hear them), though not well enough to take any pictures. Nevertheless, this road was one of the best stretches of cycling we have done in Taiwan! |
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| We got through the day with no rain, despite again the rainy forecast, until we were nearly back at the coast. It started with a drizzle, became more a gentle rain shower, and lasted eventually for hours. |
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| We continued a few more kms to the Shitiping Campground, which luckily had these covered camp places. It rained the whole evening, but thanks to the roof we could just enjoy sitting outside and watching the spectacular scenery. Apart from us, there was 1 young couple, 1 man next to us who came for fishing (for 5 days!) and spontaneously, generously gave us a beer in the evening, and later (after darkness) another couple arrived on bicycles. |
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| The camp scenery just before packing: an explosion to get organised. Don't worry about any of the plastic you see: this is all reuse for weeks already! |
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| Same here: our own drinking bottles, and 1 plastic bottle added (and reused) because otherwise we simply don't have enough to get through a day of cycling. Tap water in Taiwan is mostly not safe for drinking, surprisingly enough. It's because of the seismic activity in the country; the safety of the water going through the piping can not be guaranteed. In many places (in the guest houses, campsites and even at police stations or rest stops) we can find water dispensers and fill up there, and otherwise we use our good old water filter - as used here at the campsite. |
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| View around the Shitiping Campground |
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| Leaving Shitiping in the morning, with a view over the fishing harbour and the coastline - which we cycled through later. Isn't this amazing!? |
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| Cycling the coast does not necessarily mean flat cycling. We had a lot of hilly cycling on this day, but it was again worth it - and presented a lot of wonderful views. |
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| At some point we saw these rice paddies, dropping of towards the sea. Like an infinity pool, but then with rice. |
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| The coastal route between Taitung and Hualien is probably the most popular cycling route in Taiwan. We did not see many other cyclists nonetheless, just mostly one group travelling together and the couple at the campsite. There are many pleasant places to stop along the way however - like this one for our coffee break! |
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| View from the (almost) summit of the longest climb, at the Baqi rest stop |
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| Again, a really well done, very pleasant rest stop |
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| I loved this view: two generations of roads, the very old and old, down in the valley along the cliffs... |
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| and the new road, a bit higher up, going through these tunnels (pictures taken from the same spot). The tunnels here were wide and well lit, so as a cycling you could feel pretty safe riding through them. We did switch on our lights however. |
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| Finally, cycling into Hualien on a bikeway, after another wonderful day. While our experience on the west coast was not so nice, the south and the east coast have been incredible! |
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| Coming into Hualien we had cycled 6 consecutive days, with a lot of hills, with the last 3 days each above 70km cycling, all of it great yet a bit challenging cycling. It was time for a break however: for our legs, but also... for our laundry. A true rest day: we got up a bit later, did some (not much) essential shopping, had a good coffee, strolled around and most of all: took it easy. And oh yes: investigated our next destination - see below! |
So, what happens from here? Going back "home" to Malaysia is still no option, foreigners can't come in - even for people like us with valid permits - at least until mid April. Going to Belgium is also not the best move at this moment, it would have all kinds of unpractical consequences. So remaining options: staying in Taiwan, or flying to Japan as we originally planned. We have seen a lot of Taiwan now and have no urge to stay much longer, so... Japan it is! When looking for tickets, we found that there are only very few flights currently, and we also found there are even less options available from April 1 onward. Result: we just booked a flight to Nagoya, on Sunday March 29 early morning! It means we have only 3 more days left in Taiwan suddenly, suddenly shorter than we had in mind but the best solution it seems... Surely looking forward to Japan again!
