Monthly Archives: April 2017

Allister

Day 74 – Kaohsiung City

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Started the day getting the tandems out of storage under the hotel. Access was via a thin alleyway, only just wide enough for the handlebars. Even though we rode all around Kaohsiung on our rest days we didn’t need the tandems because the public rental bikes were so good and free for the first 30 minutes. 

The boys loved having the freedom of their own bike’s that they began today’s ride with the rental bikes. You can drop the bikes at any of over 200 bike stations,  so we found one further along our route. 

The below photo has been cropped from the above photo. Check out the English translation on the sign. I don’t think it helps sell the product.

During the ride out of Kaohsiung we decided to catch the train to the east coast rather than continuing south. However, the train that takes bikes wasn’t leaving until 5pm, so Robert and I headed to an outdoor climbing location near the coast. A great way to spend the afternoon in a place with hundreds of different climbs. Without climbing gear we weren’t able to take full advantage of them, but had a great time bouldering. 

We weren’t the only cyclists taking advantage of the train. The cargo carriage was full of bikes. I got distracted talking to all the other cyclists so I forgot to take a picture. Would have been a great shot, because they were all jammed in together fully laden with panniers. It was great not having to adjust the bikes or even having to unpack them, just ride up and put them on.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/930191664/

Robert

Science museum!

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Today we went to a cool science museum. We were there for ages, I think we were there for five hours, because there was a lot of awesome exhibits.

There was even a massive slide what was 8 stores high. It would have been awesome but it was too much money so we did not go on it.

My favourite exhibit was a train exhibit. It had lots of cool simulators. My favorite was a plane simulator. It was funny because Patrick kept on crashing the plane.

Patrick

Weird bike

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Yesterday we went into a camping store and out the front there was this bike on display but it didn’t look like it was for sale.  We went inside the shop and found the bike for sale. I don’t know how you would ride it.

There was also a CAT phone and there was a video of how tough the phone was. They leaned the phone on a rock and drove a steam roller over it 5 times but it did break a little bit.

Allister

Day 73 – Tainan City to Kaohsiung City

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Early morning start because a large group of people mingled just outside our tent before the start to their Tai chi class at 5:30am.

The ride today was between two large cities, so mostly on highway and very built up. However, there were a few highlights. The first stop was via the Tainan Metro Park. There was an amazing looking playground, but it was closed for maintenance.

The Tainan Metro Park has the Chi Mei Museum as part of the precinct. It is a privately funded museum with amazing collections and exhibitions from all reviews. However, being a public holiday it was very packed and the security wouldn’t let us park our bikes somewhere safe, so we decided to give it a miss. As you can see below the building is very stately and impressive.

The highway between the two cities is a popular cycle way because it has very wide cycle lanes. We chatted to the below cyclists for more than 10kms. Philip, the guy in red below, is a keen cyclist who has lived in the US, so spoke perfect English. He has a young family and is keen to get them all involved, so was keen to hear about our experiences. In return he gave great insights and knowledge of the local area.

Coming into Koahsiung City there were some impressive temples and buildings. Below Paddy is showing off the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas.

The Kaohsiung City is made for cycling with over 200 pubic bike rental stations around the city, which are free to rent for the first 30 minutes. All main roads have a cycle lane on the road and on the foot path. Even the street lights have been created for cyclists as you can see below.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/927695942/

Julie

The night prowler 

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Last night, while camping in Shueipingwun Park in the city of Tainan, we were visited by the local homeless drunk prowler.  It was 1.15am and we were all sound asleep.  I was woken by some noises coming from our bikes. I lay there for a little while trying to work out if it was dogs or something else.  Then someone started walking very closely around the tent making noise. 

At this point I got up and went out, very closely followed by Allister.  We discovered an overweight, drunk man, who smelt of alcohol and urine.  I asked him what he wanted. He didn’t answer.  Allister asked him if it was OK to camp here. He said something in Chinese, then wandered off a little way. It was at this point that he started verbalizing loudly. Of course we couldn’t understand what he was saying but it was not directed at us. He seemed to be talking to the tree that he had clothes hung in. 

We stood outside the tent for about 20 minutes waiting and watching him. He wandered around for a while then eventually got on a squeaky bike and rode off to the other side of the park. 

I think in his drunk state he was probably confused about finding a tent on his patch. He didn’t act threatening at all. If we could have understood him we might have had a better idea, but maybe not.  

Anyway, it was at this point that we realize that there was another tent pitched behind a tree near us. We went back to bed with a sense of excitement at meeting another city camper in the morning. 

We were woken at 5am by a Tai Chi group next to our tent. That’s what you get when you camp in a city park. 

By the time we had pack up, had breakfast and brushed our teeth, sadly the other camper was still not up. We never got to meet them but the boys did get to brush their teeth on a seesaw.

Julie

Megacity

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Taiwan’s west coast is one giant city. We have been cycling for over a week now and apart from the occasional park squeezed in between houses there is little untouched land. You cycle through a metropolis that leads into houses that leads into markets gardens that leads back into houses that then leads to another metropolis.  I suppose that is what you get when you squeeze the population of Australia into an island 220 times smaller that Australia.  

We are nearly at the southern end of Taiwan now.  We will swing our way east and then head up the East Coast. There is not much development on the East side compared to the West.  Because of this, it is the popular side for cyclists. I have enjoyed the industrial side but it will be nice to see some open country again. 

You can’t see it very well in this photo but we cycled down a city street today that had at least 30 traffic light in a straight line. It was Allister’s worst nightmare. There was no attempt to get the traffic to flow. Every set of traffic lights went red at the same time all the way down the road as far as the eye could see.  Then, like some evil temptress, they would all go green but there was no way to travel fast enough to get through them all. We would make it through about 3 at a time, so it took us about 10 stops to get to the end of the road.  You can imagine how high Allister’s blood pressure was by the end.  

Julie

Expat hobos in Taiwan

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After camping a few nights in public parks and using public toilets, I am starting to feel like a hobo. Travelling every day with minimal possessions, only what you can carry. We are have a great time, as you can imagine.  

We are having the occasional night in accommodation especially if the weather is cold or really really wet.


We left Sun Moon Lake and had a day of downhill. Great fun testing out the brakes. I nearly rode over another snake that was at least 2 meters long. This one was a pointed scale pit viper. Its bite causes necrotizing fasciitis. Yum. So glad I didn’t hit it. 


We also found a cafe that sold western food. Robert was excited by the Mud slide burger. I think it was well named. 

Allister

Day 72 – Baihe to Tainan City

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Stayed in our first Taiwanese B&B last night. It was located in a small village away from the coast. It was an amazing find and a leap of faith on our part. They listed on AirB&B, but had no reviews. They tried sending us their phone number, but AirB&B hides it to stop people bypassing their system. Anyhow, after getting their address and getting a phone number spread over multiple messages we preceded with the option of camping if it didn’t work out. 

It ended up being a perfect place with all the mod cons and scenic outlook. As we were setting out I noticed that the bolt on the rear had sheared off, just like Julie’s did in Thailand. With that past experience, Julie was able to work the bolt out with only a hammer and my Leatherman. In less than half hour delay we were back on the bikes.

We road a mix of roads today. Each district has its’ own bike path network. The bike network logo can been seen below, looks like a duck between two wheels.

We made excellent progress and made it to Tainan City just after lunch. The last 20kms was a very popular bicycle route and there were many people out enjoying the excellent conditions.

We visited the Hayashi Department Store, which is like the Harrods of Taiwan and is in many ways untouched since WWII. They have even preserved the bullet holes from an Allied air raid that happened in 1945.The photo below was taken from its rooftop. 

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/924662946/

Allister

Day 71 – Douliu City to Baihe

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Another interesting day in Taiwan. We stayed the night in a Douliu City park that was made like a homage to Mount Olympus with statues doing different sporting activities which surrounded an oval. We picked the location because it was very protected from the stormy night. We were lucky the weather cleared at dawn after raining all night, so packing up in the morning was okay.

We happened to stop outside a bike store and were able to replace broken items. See Patrick’s post for more details. Although the bike store owner couldn’t speak any English he was very helpful.

While we riding through the streets of Chaiyi City we could hear fireworks going off. As we got closer to the explosions there was a procession of people and an inordinate amount of fireworks. It felt a little like a war zone.

The place we are staying tonight is out in the countryside, so it was nice to get back to the quiet of the rice paddy fields.


Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/922820541/

Patrick

New Purchases

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We saw a Starbucks’ and rode a bit past it and we decided to go back for a morning tea break.  We we stopped to turnaround we saw a bike store. So we went inside to have a look because we needed a some new things. I needed a new bell because my horn got lost in Cambodia. So I looked at all the bells and there was a big shiny bell that caught my eye. It was really loud, which is good for attracting attention, so we bought it.

A little after Robert and I saw a toy store, so got Mum and Dad to stop and we ran back to the store. I got three new BeyBlades. One called El Drago, another called T-Rex and the third one called Mercury Anubius.