Taiwan - West to East

9^th January    Leesing Hotel, Kaoshuing   - Ocean Apartments, Checheng/ Hengshun  104kms

Long day! Absolutely beautiful going out of Kaoshuing. Some cycleway and some busy bits. Very cool city. Stopped at a very cool bridge. Wound through a little cycleway through a neighbourhood – lots of old people out talking and playing board/table games – very interesting and cool. Flat once we were out of town. Stopped at a 7/11 every 20kms. Grateful to get out of the 30 degree heat and into air conditioning with food and drinks. Hot and exhausting. Better and more beautiful once we reached the coast and had a break at a Family mart with beachfront tables – total Pacific Island. Very windy after that and exhausted and a strong – very strong – wind blowing which was a little unpredictable and frightening. Pretty gale force. Arrived in Checheng and still had to get out to Hengshan and find where we were staying and limited daylight left and the huge wind still blowing – mostly behind us but not all the time. Also worried about getting food. 

So biked the 6kms out to the accommodation. Found it down a wee gravel road. Go there, the room was open so we went in, caught our breath and then Lucy and I biked along the village to look for food but there were only some scary growly dogs that chased us so biked back round the other way on the road in to get back to the villa. Took stock, had showers and then biked in the dark 3kms in a head wind into the 7/11 and had dinner there – microwaved pasta. It was the last straw when John’s turned out to be cold noodles but he didn’t mind that. Great to have the wind behind us going back and to get back and settled and actually the place was lovely. Big days and the thought of the hill hanging over us…

10^th January   Ocean Apartments, Checheng/ Hengshun  - San He Inn, Jinlun  86kms

Another huge day but awesome! Wow! Had breakfast at the Ocean Apartment at 8am – really lovely salad with bacon, egg, corn, tomatoes and cucumber club sandwiches followed by apple which Hugh devoured and orange as well. Lovely coffee. Sad to leave in the end. Gorgeous day and now a breeze rather than wind. Great relief. So we biked back into Checheng and then embarked on the 42km climb to Shouka! Some wind but that was good actually. More concerned about the army presence in town and the bombs going off to the south of us! Also many fighter planes. Apparently there is a lot of unrest between China and Taiwan just now!

So we began the climb in earnest – very hot up to Mudan. Stopped for a rest at 17kms at Mudan in a cool park. Very colourful and cool traditional town. Climbed a very steep and massive hill after that. Then wound up and up and a little bit of down and up again through cool jungle and saw a few monkeys which were great and heard some big-sounding frogs and it was quiet and gorgeous and lush and beautiful. Steady climbing, particularly in the last 9kms. Luckily it had clouded over after Mudan and actually fabulous riding conditions. The top was no highlight – almost went past the top station where there were just two cats and a dog. Still great to make it there. 

Massive descent for about 10kms – quite technically difficult with big buses, uneven cambres on the road and just a lot of steep braking. Got down to a 7/11 and collapsed into it and had hotdogs and iced coffee and just totally happy to make the East Coast. Ecstatic. Descended a little further before hitting the flat coast and heading through Dawu – just a few painted houses there. 

Big ride up the coast between about 3.30 and 6pm – raced along but hit a big hill of totally crazy and impressive roadworks – the biggest infrastructural project I have ever seen – building a high speed rail track as well as widening and rebuilding the road. It was truly massive. Had to stop at lights and sandwich ourselves between trucks and buses. Got onto another hill and bridge and halfway over the bridge decided maybe we were staying in the town earlier than Tamali – and indeed we were so descended into the wee town which didn’t look promising at all. It was just on sunset. 

Did find the hotel/inn. The lady tried to upsell us the room but that was fine – managed to resist that. Had a beer and chips which was great and then later went out for tea but could only get food at the 7/11 so it was microwaved pasta again! Not cold this time. It was all good and slept well after a mammoth effort. Later Lucy and I went to the hot pools for a very relaxing – and entertaining 30 minutes. It had all sorts of jets and fountains and a surprise waterfall! The man was funny and wanted to photograph us for the website!!

11^th January   San He Inn, Jinlun – Mido Hotel, Taitung   42kms

Sandwiches for breakfast at 8am and the usual 3-1 coffee. Hot day – super-charged humidity! Departed 9.30am. The lady made us pay $20 for the hot pools but that was all good. They were nice people. They also did laundry for us –offered- which was very kind. Very sweaty ride here – some hills between and dramatic coastal drop-offs and scenery. Long Ride into town and stopped at 7/11 for lunch. Found the hotel about 2pm and dropped off our bags and headed to three bike shops – the last one having the tyre we needed as our one at the back was very worn. Were lucky to find one. Then went to the Music Quarter/ Railway park which was very cool and sat and had beer and icecream in the park and looked around. Very lovely. Great to be relaxed after some full-on days. Back here to the hotel about 4.30pm and relaxed and showered and then went to a nice dumpling restaurant for dinner.