Thursday November 7, 2024

An easy ride to Kaohsiung today.  Although it was our first boring day of cycling.  We didn’t follow Cycle Route 1, there were not many alternative routes that were scenic. There was one section of road that was factory, after factory, after factory. About 15 kms of heavy industry, the roads were not too busy, but after a while you could really feel the pollution in the air. You could smell it and taste it in every breath. I can understand why most Taiwanese scooter riders where masks.

It was not a very scenic ride. However, we did have time to take a photo of the High Speed Railway station as we came into Kaohsiung.

Eventually we got to the outskirts of Kaohsiung and discovered a giant buddha like statue.

We stopped to take photos and saw a series of temples and figures on the other side of a small lake.

Ralf was in “find the hotel mode”, which means he was focused on the route. The temples on the other side of the small lake looked interesting and I suggested we go and have a look. We had lots of time to find our hotel and google would reroute us. We took a pedestrian bridge across Lotus Pond.

When we got to the other side of Lotus Pond we discovered a series of large and small temples. I watched the bikes while Ralf went to look at the Big Guy – the Big Guy was Emperor Erxuan. We are not sure what he did to deserve this huge edifice, but it must have been something big. You can actually go inside the Big guy and there are lots of wall paintings. On the way across the small bridge there are statues half of them are men and the other half women.

The other interesting edifice was a dragon. Again you could go inside through the dragons body and here were pictures and icons throughout the tunnel.

There were a lot of dead fish in the lake. There were municipal workers getting them out with a large net. Ralf (using google translate) asked what had happened to them. The supervisor indicated that it could be a virus or the weather conditions (typhoon or atmospheric).  The older worker indicated it was climate change.

We found our hotel after negotiating the busy city of Kaohsiung. The staff are very helpful. The room smelled as if someone had been smoking, so we asked for a different room. There were non available as they were expecting a bus load of pensioners later. They aired the room, while we waited downstairs. It did smell better when we got back in and the sheets and bed were clean.

After showering we headed out to find something to eat. We crossed the street from our hotel and the street was wall to wall clothing stores. Ralf got a really good night shot of these umbrellas.

We decided on hotpot for dinner, which was a bit of a disaster for me. I had ordered chicken and it was awful, I could not recognise what part of the chicken the meat was from. I did get one piece of leg, which I generally do not like. There were lots of other mystery objects in the broth as well. I asked if any of it came from shellfish, as I am allergic. No, they said, but there were some very fishy tasting stuff, which I put to one side. I ended up having cabbage and bok choy chicken soup with noodles. Ralf had ordered lamb and he enjoyed his. It’s an adventure. I think I will try and stick to vegetarian food.

Ralf went to take photos of the umbrellas and all of the stores were closed at 7:30. However, this angel was lighting the street.

Again, not a very exciting day, so not much to write home about.

Wednesday 6 November, 2024

Tainan Rest Day – walking 13.6 kms. What a day, my feet are killing me.  We walked miles, but it was fun. Mark had told us about a great little breakfast place. We found Jays and had a crepe like thing made with scallions, with extra egg and cheese. It was really good, it kept us going for most of the day. As we walked to breakfast an older Taiwanese lady commented that we did not have jackets on, she shivered indicating it was cold. I laughed and said it is hot we are from Canada and she laughed.

Then we headed out on our tourist day of Tainan. A lot of people carry their dogs on their scooters. Usually they are small dogs like the Taiwan Shibu. Today we saw a golden retriever balancing on the bike. My sister-in-law Beate has two goldens, I am not sure either of them would appreciate this.

Tainan is the oldest City in Taiwan and it is celebrating its 400 year anniversary this year.

From 1624 to 1662 it was ruled by the Dutch they called the Island Formosa. The plan today was to visit Fort Provintia and Fort Zeelandia, both outposts of the Dutch East India Company.

We headed to Fort Provintia now named Chihkan Tower first, but got sidetracked by the Taiwan Design Expo at the old market hall.  I have taken these photos for my nephews. Wayne, is a designer of clothing www.Sharp-Apparel.com. He would have loved this expo. The exhibition theme revolved around food and clothing. Creators from the food and fashion sectors collaborated from sourcing to creative output. They have crafted a time-limited virtual brand for Tainan. Pineapple fibre, mixed with oyster shells. Some of the artwork on the material was fabulous. One photo for my other nephew Justin. Love you both.

We headed to Fort Provintia which has been renamed Chihkan Tower.

In 1625 the Dutch colonists gave indigenous Taiwanese 500 metres of fabric in exchange for a piece of land in Chihkan where they built Provintia Street to accommodate businesses, marketplaces, warehouses and hospitals.

In 1653 the Dutch erected Fort Provintia as a defensive building. It was commonly referred to as Redheads Castle. The Dutch were defeated and removed from Taiwan in 1662.

An amazing structure with upturned eaves and red tiles. Chikhan Tower has proven to be a very versatile building over more than three centuries. It was a Western Castle (Dutch) a Chinese-style pagoda during the Qing Dynasty, an army hospital during the Japanese occupation and currently a museum testifying to the past glory. In 1983 Chihkan Tower was designated a Class 1 historic building. It is currently undergoing renovations to the main building.

As we walked around the grounds there was a large Koi pond, Ralf got some fish food to encourage the Koi, so that he could take photos. We didn’t use it all and Ralf gave the remainder of the box to a young boy who thoroughly enjoyed feeding the fish.

As we continued our visit we passed the family again and the little boy, urged on by his Mom, gave us two small packets of crackers (Quinoa and salt crackers). So sweet of them.

In 1886 to encourage education the Taiwan county magistrate built Penghu Academy west of Chihkan Tower.

We walked through some of the old streets of Tainan towards Fort Zeelandia. There are lots of small alleyways that were all part of the old city. Then they spit you out on to a wide multi-lane road. You cross that road and disappear into back alleyways again with small eateries, fabric shops, and all sorts of little stores. Eventually we followed the canal to Fort Zeelandia, it was becoming very warm in the sun. We stopped for a cold drink and to cool down in an air-conditioned shop, then carried on.

Fort Zeelandia now known as Anping Fort was built in 1624 by the Dutch and was known as Orange City. In 1627 it was renamed as Fort Zeelandia and the city walls were gradually rebuilt with bricks. The fort was 916 metres wide and over 10 metres tall, consisted of 3 stories and were surrounded by inner and outer walls.

After Koxinga defeated the Dutch he renamed the area Anping Township. The Japanese rebuilt the Fort and renamed the Fort to Fort Anping. Today the only remnants of the Dutch period are the southern brick walls of the outer fort. It was a very popular place with school kids and tourists.

We, of course, climbed the tower.

Last night, Mark had told us about another place which he really enjoyed.  The place was Anping Tree House.

In 1865 the ports were officially opened to foreign traders. In a very short period of time there were foreign merchants and companies set up.

The British Tait & Co was set up and located in this area. The company mainly dealt with bulk goods such as opium, camphor and sugar. Opium was very popular in the 1800’s. After the Japanese occupied Taiwan the Japanese government took back the trading rights of bulk goods. Only Tait & Company continued to operate.   Eventually the Tait & Co sold the company to the Taiwan Salt Making Corporation. The merchants building was converted into dormitories for the workers of the Taiwan Salt Making Corporation.

The Anping Tree house was the original warehouse for the salt storage. It had a floor area of over 4,600 square feet. The warehouse lay empty for many years and the surrounding Banyan tree filled the void ultimately forming a living roof and walls. It was amazing to see how these trees had taken over the building in a relatively short period of time. The area has been renovated to include walkways above the warehouse. It was awesome and well worth the visit.

Banyan tree is a species that grows aggressively and it is an invasive species that will ensure that other epiphytic plants will not encroach on its territory. Banyan trees thrive in humid places because their aerial routes are capable of absorbing moisture from the air. The roots of the Banyan tree excrete an acid that dissolves limestone. Anpings Banyan Trees have utilized this characteristic to cling to the brick walls which were laid with a special mortar of ground oyster shell, syrup and glutinous rice. Obviously the tree love this mixture and have thrived.

All of the museum visits cost $70 Taiwan dollars which is about $3.00 each. Three museums for a total of $18.00 Cdn. A great day out.

Tuesday 5 November, 2024

We left the Guest House/AirBnB after breakfast and headed to our warmshowers host. He is working today but gave us the instructions to get into his apartment. The instructions were very funny: Go down the small alley at the back of the shops, there will be a grey steel door. Put your hand through the opening and open the bolt. Then there will be another steel door, the key for that is on a small ledge, see yellow cord. When you have opened the lock, put your hand through that door and slide back the bolt. You will be in the storage area where you can leave your bikes.  Follow the stairs up three flights, I will leave my door open for you. He did, his apartment door was wide open.  Thanks Mark it made for a funny story and a good start to the day.

Before we got to Mark’s apartment we came across the statue of Koxinga on horseback. The statue is 8 metres long, 4 metres wide and 7 metres tall and weighs 200 metric tons. The statue was carved from Quanzhou White granite. This statue was presented to Tainan in 2008 by the society of Koxinga Studies, Quanzhou, China as part of intercity exchanges.

We investigated the garden area and found the shrine to Koxinga.  All of the information was in English and Chinese which made it more interesting. I also picked up a pamphlet explaining who Koxinga was and why this shrine was created for him. Koxinga was of Chinese and Japanese descent (Japanese mother). His father took him back to China where he studied Confuscious. However, he gave up his scholarly pursuits to take up arms against Qing invaders. He was born in the reign of the Ming Dynasty. In 1661 he headed to Taiwan to topple the Dutch colonial administration. He was successful in ending a 38 year colonial era (1624 to 1662). He renamed Fort Zeelandia to Anping Township. We are going to visit the Fort tomorrow.

Koxinga was held in very high esteem by the Chinese government of the time. However, he died at a young age of 39. (1662)

During the Japanese control of the Island a lot of the historic monuments were left to deteriorate. In 2008-2010 the Tainan City Government restored the shrine.

After we left Koxinga we found the south gate. This was one of seven fortified gates.

We spotted a small temple, which we went into just to get the Gods back on our side.

By the time we got to Mark’s apartment it was past noon. We sorted our laundry and headed out to the laundromat.

The area surrounding Mark’s apartment was the Blueprint Cultural and Creative Park. We investigated the area. Ralf took photos of the area. The collapsed historical space has been transformed into a 3D blue print sketch. The contours of the history of the building are outlined in white. The co-existing 2D and 3D sight lines morph from reality to illusion.

Other buildings represent old Japanese or Dutch buildings. Mark told us later that the area where the big shopping Mall is located was a Japanese prison and the area where the Blueprint cultural and creative park is located was the Japanese prison guards houses.

Unfortunately, Mark doesn’t have wi-fi so this will have to wait until we get to Kaohsing to post the next two days..

We had a great chat with Mark after dinner. We chatted about Taiwan’s political situation, with regards to Britain and other countries not recognizing it as an independent country. Most Taiwanese are not too worried about the situation with China. Although the Taiwanese government did go to the Ukraine to see how the Ukrainians managed to fight Russia and to see if Taiwan would be able to do the same. They determined that it would not be able to fight an aggressive China. They have decided to increase the mandatory conscription from 3 months to one year, in the hopes of getting more trained soldiers.

Taiwan is self-sufficient, in food, water, power and is the world’s leading producer of micro-chips. The banking situation has strict controls and has not had any major problems, even during the crash of 2008.

We discussed the school system and were amazed to learn that it is mandatory for kids to go to kindergarten at 3 years old. The middle-class want to ensure that their children speak English and will send their kids to an English kindergarten class. Mark teaches 4 to 5 years old. He teaches them in English – math, sciences (suitable for a 5 year old). He said part of his role as a teacher is to teach them to be self-sufficient and ethics. To be kind, to be helpful and to be independent. He said that by the time the 5 year old kids at his school  start Grade 1 their written and spoken English is better than his nephews who is in England. All students who go to university have to pass an English exam to be able to get into university. Mark said that some of his English friends found it hard.

We also talked about the cost of living. He pays approximately $300 Taiwanese dollars a month for his apartment which is one floor of a three storey building. The kitchen is tiny but everyone eats out or has food delivered. He pays about $NT 10 a month for electricity in the winter and $20 in the summer when it is really hot and humid. We didn’t discuss his pay but he indicated that most Taiwanese are not looking to buy property as renting is usually only about 7% of their overall income, whereas buying could be more than 35% of their income.

Sunday 3 November 2024

Today was another day off the bikes. This is not just a bike tour, it is a site seeing tour as well. We had planned to take the Alishan Railway, an historic railway up to the mountain region of Alishan. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get tickets and the regular train wasn’t running today. We decided to go up to Shizhou by bus and walk the Tea Trails.

There were several buses leaving for Alishan, stopping at Shizhou along the way. We got the 7:40 bus by my watch. As we checked the time later both Ralf’s phone and my phone indicated it was an hour later. I think there was a time change somewhere in the world and my watch didn’t get the memo, now my watch doesn’t match the actual time in Taiwan.

However, we had a wonderful time in Shizhou. The first trail was called the Mist trail , the second one was the Tea Trail and the third one was the Cloud trail. The various trails were quite challenging as we were at 1699 metres and climbing uphill until we got half way through the Cloud trail and then it was downhill.

After we got off the bus in Shizhou, we had to walk up the road for about 1 km before we found the first trail called the Mist Trail.

I think they should rename these trails, because we saw more tea bushes and people picking the leaves on the first section. As we crossed from that trail to the tea trail, the clouds rolled in and it was very misty.  The cloud trail can stay the same, as you are often walking above the clouds..

We went through three different eco-systems, very similar to the eco-systems that the Botanical Gardens had created in Taichung. Tea, bamboo and forest.

The tea grown here is primarily green tea. Shizhuo has its own unique advantages for growing good tea. The altitude of the tea area is between 1200 and 1700 meters. The temperature difference is about 10 degrees, with sufficient relative humidity. In summer, the highest temperature is seldom over 25 degrees. Tea leaves do not age due to growing too fast so the tea tastes mellow and not bitter. It grows well at these high altitudes and soils.

You could smell the tea as we passed the pickers. They were all shouting to one another. One of them shouted Good morning to us. I asked if we could take a photo and she said yeah o.k and then turned her back on us as the foreman was coming to check up on the workers. 

At the top of the cloud trail we came across a group of about 4 or 5 people stopped for a rest and snack.

One of the ladies offered us some food. We had no idea what it was until she broke the shell and it looked like a chestnut only softer. She gave us the whole bag to take with us, she also offered us eggs. We declined the eggs but we did take the whole bag of chestnutty things. Whatever the nut thing was it was really good.

Everyone on the walks were very chatty and helpful. It was lovely to be out forest bathing!!

On the way down, we took photos of the flora and fauna.

We were almost at the end when I spotted a very large spiders web with dozens of spiders in it, slight scream from me and walking very quickly away from them. Ralf took a photo and I think he has put it on his facebook page, with a warning for us Arachnophobics.

We got back to the hostel at 4:00 p.m. and are catching up on a few things before we head out for something to eat.

Back on the road again tomorrow.

Saturday 2 November 2024

What an amazing day. Google maps (and Ralf) did us proud, although the mapping sucks a lot of power out of Ralf’s phone and he begins to worry when it gets down to 10%, it did a great job today.

The weather was lovely, sunny, blue skies and not too humid. It did get a bit hotter in the afternoon, but manageable without the humidity.

You might think it odd that there is a picture of hydro tower. We have noticed these towers on our rides and this time we were able to get a good picture of one. Most of the hydro towers are on platforms, due to flash-floods and typhoons.

Leaving Beidou we followed the main road to the Xilou Bridge. The Xilou Bridge was built in 1953 and was the longest bridge in East Asia at 1,939 metres long. It spurred economic growth by linking the road networks of the northern and southern parts of Western Taiwan. It was very difficult to cross the Jhuoshuei river prior to the bridge being built. They would have to wade across or take a wooden raft “ferry”.

The new Highway 1 bridge further down the river takes all the commercial and major traffic away from Xilou. The Xilou Bridge is now a tourist attraction and only local traffic uses the bridge. It is a two-lane bridge with no shoulder for motor scooters or cyclists, but everyone was very respectful. If you are in a hurry you take Highway 1.

As most of you know, Ralf and I have had an ongoing competition spotting windmills ever since we visited Holland in 1986. Guess who was the first to spot a windmill. Ralf!!

We followed a short bike path on top of a berm. As we came down a small hill to the road we spotted this lovely statue.

We spent 95% on rural farm roads. I wanted to stop and take photos of all the different fruits and veges that were being grown. Everything from cabbage to bananas, even geese.  It was a lovely and relaxing ride.

We went through one major town which was a bit chaotic. That is where we stopped for a quick snack at 7/11. About 5 ks outside of Chiayi we were on the main road. It was a straight road almost to our hostel.

We arrived at 2:15 and could not check in until 3:00 p.m. They did allow us inside the hostel to relax and get out of the heat.

After checking in and having a shower, we headed to the train station to find out about the bus/train to Shizhou tomorrow. There is a Tourist Information Centre at the train station and she was able to give us the information about the bus and told us the bus stop was by the white bear outside. We went outside to find the correct stop. We found the stop and then a small Taiwanese lady helped us. She showed us the bus stop, the times it left the bus stop and told us we should be early as it gets busy. Her English wasn’t perfect, but we could understand her and she kept asking if we understood. I complimented her on her English and she said “no it is not good”. Her friend had her phone and googled the times for the return and we all had a nice chat. They were from the Kaohshing area and were visiting Chiayi. They wished us a safe trip and we thanked them for their help.

We walked back to the hostel and then carried on to the night market. We had a Banh Mi (Vietnamese baguette) for dinner and a waffle for dessert. It was a good night market. Lots of people but not overwhelming.

On our evening walkabout Ralf treated himself to a small powerbank. The assistant who helped us, told Ralf he should be able to get three full charges from the powerbank which will charge his phone from 0 to 100%. We told her that we were on bicycles and she was very careful that we got a lightweight power bank.

Smart Fish restaurant was really busy and is quite famous in Chiayi. There is always a long line up. Pearl Grouper Fish Head Hot Pot Smart Fish has been passed down for three generations. They insist on high quality and meticulously cooking, making their food a popular delicacy in Chiayi. The restaurant has three seating areas, and each one was full.

All in all a very good day. Until Ralf tried to book a hotel in Tainan. We are a day ahead of schedule and Mark our warmshowers host cannot host us on the first night in Tainan. We found a reasonably priced room near the train station and booked it. Now Ralf is trying to work out how to get the code for when we arrive. It is a self check-in place. He has to send a photo of his passport, name his first child after the hotel, that is what we are struggling with no babies. He finally went downstairs to get help from the guy on reception.  There is another APP he has to download. Ralf finally got it all sorted by 9:30 p.m. after a lot of bad words. The thing that really annoyed him was the amount of messages they were sending him, which he could not make heads nor tails of. They will send us the code for the room at 4:00 p.m. check-in time and not a moment earlier.

Thursday October 31, 2024

A day doing nothing waiting for a Typhoon to hit Taiwan.  Well, not actually doing nothing. We got the washing done and the blog is up to date.

This is a very modern apartment, it has a small kitchenette, with a two-burner induction cook top. There is a unit above the sink that looks like a microwave, then we thought it could be a dishwasher, but it is actually a dish-dryer! 

The bathroom vent has multiple functions: the regular fan, it cools, it can heat, it can blow a cool breeze, it can dry clothes and ventilates the bathroom. It has a 6-hour timer.  We washed our clothes, used a towel to wring them out and then hung them in the bathroom with the heat function on. It took a few hours, but all our clothes are dry including the padded cycling shorts.

I was able to update the blog from Sun Moon Lake and yesterday’s google madness.

All the time we were waiting to be hit by 200 kph winds and damaging rain. Ralf was checking the weather reports on Taiwan weather, and we waited. Reports are that this is going to be the biggest Typhoon to hit Taiwan in 30 years.

Garlon and Jean emailed us to warn us of the Typhoon and to stay indoors as we could get hit by flying objects.

At about three o’clock the Typhoon finally hit the mainland of Taiwan on the east coast, but still hadn’t arrived in the central area. Taiwan has a huge mountain range that runs along the centre of the Island. Often this will create completely different weather systems from one side of the Island to the other.  However, because this Typhoon is predicted to be so big, the whole of the Island is on Typhoon alert. Some major industries have closed, the west coast high speed rail has been reduced, but it is still running a limited service. All flights have been cancelled and all schools and government offices have been closed since Wednesday afternoon.

Ralf was going a bit stir crazy and decided he would investigate the street. We had seen and heard scooters going in and around the neighbourhood. We decided to go for a little walk and get some more beer!!

The wind had died down and there was only a smattering of rain. Some of the shops are still open and a few of the small eateries are operating, however, there are not many people on the streets.

The forecast is for more rain overnight and heavy winds. We are staying an extra day here just to be on the safe side.

The east coast of Taiwan is a different story. It has been heavily hit by the Typhoon, with major power outages and trees down.

Update at 6:00 p.m. the Typhoon is now hitting the central provinces and Beidou has heavy rains and 120 kph winds. It sounds very windy outside, but we are snug in our little apartment with beer and Doritos.

It looks as though Typhoon Kong-rey will have left Taiwan by about mid-morning to noon tomorrow.

Wednesday 30 October, 2024

What an interesting day this turned out to be. After breakfast and while we were packing our stuff up ready to leave on our bikes to go to Beidou, I had a little panic attack. I have no idea why. I can’t quite get back into the bike touring mode, it has been a while. I was worrying about the route, the hills, the accommodation and now of course a ruddy Typhoon.

Ralf had requested an extra nights stay at our guest house in Beidou, they responded positively, but Bookings.com said no availability.

We set off and as soon as we were weaving our way through traffic to the Rainbow Village, I calmed down and was in cycling mode, all’s well with the world.

Rainbow Village was originally military housing, small houses for military dependents. They were going to be torn down. However about 15 years ago, Huang Yung Fu (known as Grandpa Rainbow) painted his house and surrounding houses with colourful paintings, that reflected his optimistic attitude. This became a very popular place to visit, and the Borough of Chunan in Taichung decided not to tear down the Village.  Unfortunately, in 2022 some of his artwork was deliberately vandalized and destroyed. The Taichung Cultural Affairs Bureau covered the fragile murals with wooden walls and invited citizens to paint on the wooden walls to continue the spirit of Grandpa Rainbow. It is now a collaborative art space. Grandpa Rainbow passed away in January 2024 at the grand old age of 100.

We spent about an hour taking photos and then Ralf plugged into google maps the address of where we are staying in Beidou, or at least somewhere close to where we are staying. The options were Best Route, less hills, or busy traffic.  I was going for the less hills, Ralf said best route. Google hasn’t done us wrong yet. So Best Route it was.

We headed out of Taichung on a quieter road and cycled through some small rice fields. The route was really nice. The weather was hot, but not too humid, a good day to cycle. At about 20 kms Ralf said we should stop for some lunch. O.k. next 7/11 we pulled in shared a chocolate milk, had a couple of bananas and a sandwich. Then we headed of again. The central mountains were to our left and we climbed a nice easy grade. This was the life. Then google went mad, it took us through a few little hills and a small village, we took the left-hand farm lane, which deteriorated into a rough path, which got even worse as it became leaf strewn. To top it all it was an 8 – 13% grade.  We couldn’t cycle on this stuff. We were both off and pushing uphill for about 2 kilometres. From the bottom to the top, it took us almost an hour. We got back on our bikes at one point, but it was a false summit, and we were off and pushing again.

At the false summit, we could hear people talking. Who farms at the top of a beejesus hill. Apparently you can grown pineapples in a small area.

At the very top there was a small café which was closed, this obviously was a popular hiking area.  We headed down the hill, I was so pleased we had disc brakes.

At the bottom we caught our breath and carried on a very flat road towards Beidou.  Google had had its joke and decided to take us through small villages again and away from the main Highway 1 traffic route.

We came through the area of Tianwei. This area is known as the flower or garden area of Taiwan. There is an area where you can visit the flower farms and when they are in full bloom, they are stunning. They were a little past their prime, but garden centres line the roads. As we passed one garden centre a gentleman said Welcome to Tianwei. Thank you it is good to be here. I had to stop and take photos of one garden centre, that seemed to have something for everyone.

Ralf was getting a little concerned about the power status of his phone. It was down to 10% and he had no idea how far we were from the guest house. The other small issue was we didn’t have the correct address of the guest house where we were staying for two nights.

We stopped, and I said to Ralf “in Vietnam we always got help from a hair salon”. He left me with the bikes and with google translate on his diminishing phone he headed down the street.  A couple at a small roadside eatery said they might know where it was, and the husband headed of on his scooter to check. In the meantime, the wife offered us water. It was so nice of them. Hubby returned and said in English follow me. Two minutes later we were at our little guest house. It is a small apartment with a kitchenette, two bedrooms, bathroom and living room. Perfect place to keep us safe from Typhoon Kong-rey that is barrelling down on us. The forecast is for it to hit Taiwan on Thursday and bring devastating winds and rainfall.

After we had showered, we headed out to get some supplies so that we can stay in the apartment for two days. Sometime during the day at Sun Moon Lake, Ralf had lost his glasses. He tried to find an optician but the closest according to crazy google was 15 kms away. As we walked down this little street, I spotted some eyeglasses in a shop. It was an optician, 150 metres from our location. We popped in and we were able to buy two new pairs of reading glasses for $13. The screw in my glasses is coming loose and he couldn’t fix it. The optician gave us two plastic cases (pink and blue) and cleaning cloths. Google also could not find us a local supermarket, within 5 kms of our location. On the opposite side of the street from the optician was a PX Supermarket that has everything we need for a couple of days.

Google let us down today.

Although the Typhoon isn’t due to arrive until tomorrow, we bought food for tonight. We could have eaten at a local eatery as they were all open.

Tuesday 29 October, 2024

We had originally planned to ride to Sun Moon Lake and have a rest day at Sun Moon Lake, cycling around the lake and then ride to Beidou on Thursday. Because of my lack of cycling prowess on hills we decided to take a day trip to Sun Moon Lake with a small tour group and then ride to Beidou on Wednesday.  The route to Sun Moon Lake was approximately 79 kms, with the last 17 kms being uphill on a 7 to13% grade. I can’t do hills at the best of times, I certainly would not be able cycle 17kms up hill at the end of a day. The other fortuitous thing that happened because we took the day trip is that we can hole up in our guest house in Beidou when Typhoon Kon-rey hits on Thursday.

We had a lovely day visiting Sun Moon Lake. We were picked up by our tour bus at promptly 8:15. There were only two other people on this tour with an English speaking guide. They were from Australia. Mr Xiao who told us his English name and abbreviation, we could call him HP, like Harry Potter!  As we drove towards Sun Moon Lake he told us our itinerary for the day. There would be a boat cruise, lunch and time to explore a local village, and several short hikes up to temples. He gave us a little history lesson, he also pointed out various things on the drive.

One of the stories about Sun Moon Lake is that it was discovered by an aboriginal fisherman, who went back to his village and encouraged them to move with him to the lake as there was plenty of fish in the water. He was asked what this place was called and he called it Fish Pond lake.  When the Japanese controlled Taiwan they built a Hydro Electric Dam and the lake then became the size it is today. It is a semi-natural lake. It is called Sun Moon as there is a distinct division to the lake. Half of the lake resembles a sun and the other half resembles a crescent moon.

As we drove up to Sun Moon Lake,  HP showed us many Betel Nut plantations. The trees grow quickly and there is a growing market for betel nut. The trees can also be cut down and the material is very fibrous, it can be used for paper products. Betel nuts are similar to chewing tobacco and is quite addictive as it can give you a moderate high.  Although the nut is white, when chewing the leaf or nut it changes to a red colour and you can identify people who are chewing it by their red teeth, gums and lips. Ugh.

We arrived at the Visitors Centre and watched a short video on the area. The Xiangshan Visitor Centre was designed by a Japanese architect – Norihiko Ddan and Associates. The uniquely designed building has wood-patterned exteriors and wings that stretch like human arms embracing the earth, a very cool design.

The ladies toilets were very pretty!

Sun Moon Lake is a 800 hectare lake with a 35 kilometre shoreline. I think the Aussies and ourselves would have like to rent bikes and cycle around the lake, but the temples we visited were interesting.

We then headed out on our first boat trip across the lake to XuanGuang Temple.

A short hike up a hill to the temple that was built for XuanGuang. He had taken a bit of a walk to India to learn about Buddhism and bought translated scripts back with him. His pilgrimage took him 17 years. His relics were reportedly dug-up during the Japanese occupation and were then moved to another temple. I asked what relics were and HP told me they were bones. So basically they dug up his skeleton and moved them to a different temple.

After this temple we headed back across the lake to an aboriginal village for a traditional lunch.  Five of us at the table with a large lazy-susan in the middle and five to six dishes bought out for us to try. Pork, chicken, fried tofu, vegetables, rice and fish. It was very tasty. Afterwards we had time to wander around the Ita Thao shopping district. Ralf and I had some ice-cream and were very surprised that it tasted of tea. You would be amazed at the different ways they use tea here. Eggs boiled in tea, tea ice-cream even a vege broth with tea. Tea is grown in Taiwan. Some of the tea is Oolong, but the majority in this area is Assam as it was deemed to be the most popular tea in the world. The tea bushes were imported from India and grown in this area.

After our wander around we were taken by van to the Ci’en Pagoda. This was a 0.7 km trail with about 570 steps. At the top of the trail was a Pagoda, it was built by Chang Kai Shel for his Mother.  Can you imagine it’s Mothers Day, he traipses his mum up a .7 kms climb with 570 steps and goes “ta da look what I have got you as a present –  a 7 story pagoda perched at the top of a hill” Mum’s reply “Thanks Son but a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers would have been sufficient.”

Ralf and I were the first to the top and then climbed the 270 steps inside the Pagoda for a great view over Sun Moon Lake. There was also a small house which Chang Kai Shek would stay at on his visits to the Pagoda. Unfortunately, you couldn’t visit inside the house, but you could peer into the windows.

After the Pagoda we headed to Wen Wu Temple. Wen Wu Temple is two temples in one.  The Cultural and Martial temple. It represents Confuscius, Wen Chang Di (God of Scholar) and Guan Gong (Saintly Emperor).

Wen Wu Temple sits on a property of 264,458 square metres it has three halls. There were two temples originally. When the Japanese Electric Company created the hydro electric dam, the water level rose and they had to move the two temples. The Electric Company offered compensation for moving the temples. The “managers” of the two temples decided to combine their resources, with the help of the electric company, and combined their two temples on this site. Most of the money to build this temple reconstruction was raised by local fund raising and there are multiple walls with the names of the benefactors. HP informed us when visiting a temple you enter through the right door and exit through the left door. The middle door is the mouth of the lion and you do not want to enter that way.

This temple is also where you could pray for assistance with medical problems or for matchmaking. I tried to trade Ralf in but nobody would have him. I guess I will have to hang onto him for a while.

Our final little hike was to the Nine Frogs. This little sculpture located in the lake indicates how the depth of the water. HP said that in the summer you can sometimes see seven out of the nine frogs, we could only see the top three.  It was a nice end to the day.

We headed back to Taichung and arrived back at 5:30. After showering, we met up with Bike Snail for dinner.

We met “Snail” in Angkor Wat in 2017 when we were last in South East Asia. He told us he was a slow bike rider and Snail was his nickname, he was from Taiwan.  In the meantime, he has travelled extensively in South America and was in Germany in early October. Ralf noticed on his Instagram posts that he was headed to Taiwan and told him we were in Taiwan.  Snail responded with I’m in Taichung, where are you? OMG we were in Taichung at the same time and managed to get together for dinner. Small world.

It was so nice to meet up with him, we chatted about his trips and he said as soon as he got a new passport, he would be leaving for Vietnam as he was finding Taiwan too expensive.

We have added an extra night in Beidou as there is a Typhoon headed our way.