Photos coming soon...
28th December Taipei G7 Hotel to Happy Dream States
Daxi 52kms
Biked in Taiwan for the first time! Lots of photos with
Eddie at the hotel first and then made our was down the road to the Taipei
Bridge. Absolutely frightening at first with the scooter madness and just
getting back into it. Found the cycleway directly off the bridge and descended
towards New Taipei City. Gorgeous ride. Struggled to find somewhere for lunch
so branched off into a tiny town. All quite an education. Also a little bit of
drizzle. Some roaming dogs but not threatening. Cool murals all along the
cycleway. Passed through Sanxia and then rose over a very big 200m hill to Daxi.
Stopped at a temple at the top where they were serving coffee – it was a bit
cold and windy and quite an experience all round. Descended the through Daxi
and on to the Happy Dream States accommodation. Turned out to be quite a
complex and we said we would have dinner there. Had a shower and went for
dinner about 7pm and it was a banquet – an organic, vegetarian actual banquet
of ten courses with amazing dumplings and tea and berry drinks, stir fry, sushi
rolls, marinated tofu, sesame date dessert, purple rice, white rice, soup, all
amazing and the lady was great. Returned to our room very satisfied and
grateful for such an amazing experience. All cost around $100 for all of us.
29th December Happy Dream States Daxi – Shimen Reservoir – Chief Hotel, Hsinchu 45kms
Departed Daxi and rode to the Shimen Reservoir. Very windy and extremely hilly up to the reservoir. Walked along the top – very spectacular but extremely windy. Climbed up to the pergola. Had a coffee on the way back down the hill which was fun. Talked to a few people which was nice. Trying hard to communicate. A long descent followed down through padi fields and farmland. Very beautiful. Then a huge new temple which we visited. Carried on and stopped in a town at an 85 degree café which was really great. Took ages to get through the city to our hotel and only arrived about 5pm at the Chief Hotel. Great to find it and get in. Went to a great Japanese restaurant for dinner. Had miso soup which was very restorative.
30th December Chief Hotel, Hsinchu – Hermit Crab Inn, Wuqi 90kms
Big day! Had Macdonalds for breakfast which was delivered to the hotel as breakfast! Very weird. Then got away on the road out of Hsinchu. Made quick progress in the tail wind. All pretty flat, easy going. Dramatic scenery at the coast with windmills and fishing nets – very cool. Had a good day. Came to an amazing temple with dramatic sculptures out on the water and a cave behind. Had a hilly part just before arriving around the corner to a very welcome 7/11 where we had pre-prepared past take-out for lunch. Met lots of other cyclists there. Had also met an Australian cyclist and his Chinese wife and our paths crossed again later in the day. Lunch was great and then carried on for miles and miles. Kept crossing with a family out cycling also for a big day. Reached – finally – Wuqi and the Hermit Crab B and B just on dark – 5pm. Checked in and then just then the Australian tandem riders appeared again! – desperate for somewhere to stay. Ironic when he had been giving advice earlier about just rocking up to accommodation. They found somewhere eventually – we had offered to share our room with them – which turned out to have two single beds and tatami mats! Felt very grateful to have a place as it had been very hard to find anywhere for the New Year weekend. We paid $270 the first night! Then $150 the next. We didn’t care as were so grateful to have a roof over our heads.
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