Taiwan Bicycle Tour – Days 1 through 4 – Experiences Collection: Wilderness Backpacking and Budget Travel

Intro days in Taipei

We arrived in Taipei around 4:30 in the afternoon after a 13 hour flight from Vancouver. I watched about six different movies on the flight and didn’t really sleep at all, in a semi-successful attempt to avoid jet lag. We had a little bit of difficulty getting a van big enough for our massive bicycle boxes, the first taxi stand said they only had vehicles large enough for the boxes alone with no room for people. The second one we approached got us a large van that fit us and the boxes with room to spare, for $20 more than a regular taxi. Not terrible. We got in to our hostel, Meander Taipei Hostel, and went out to the nearby Ximen Night Market for dinner. The first thing we ate in Taiwan was rice flour noodles with beef broth and intestines, the broth was pretty good but the intestines were chewy.

First picture I took in Taiwan, Taipei 101 in the distance.

Night market food vendor and a child in the background.

Guys eating some rice flour noodles.

Serving food, lots of focus on food service hygiene.

Pig (face) for sale.

These girls didn’t look that into what they were ordering.

Joker mural on the movie theater street.

One street had a ton of birds for sale.

Scene near the birds for sale street.

Dalongdong Baoan Temple.

The next day we ate breakfast at the hostel and put the bikes together in the lobby. We went out to run some errands – I got new lenses for my glasses (made in a half hour) and we both got SIM cards for our phones. For lunch we had udon noodles with beef and kimchi at a Japanese restaurant near our hostel in the Ximen shopping district. We were close to a nice botanical garden and walked through it checking out the various plants. They had a nice lotus flower pond but most of them were kind of dying because it’s January. After wandering around the garden for a while we went back to the hostel and took a nap, jet lag was still hitting us pretty hard. Late in the evening we went out and got gross risotto at a place with a big golden retriever, nothing else seemed to be open. The risotto was super buttery and it was actually kind of sad that the dog was in there, he didn’t really seem to be enjoying his job of cheering people up and hawking risotto.

The next day we did more sightseeing, checking out an interesting artist village called Treasure Hill, then visited some temples. We used the fast and easy to use MRT system to get around all day. We left the artist village and went back to the hostel for our afternoon nap, then back out to the Shilin Night Market in the evening. I tried a barley wine that was way too strong, Jenny got a kebab and some really undercooked takoyaki (octopus dough balls). We were out until about 11:30, pretty impressive for how jet lagged we still were.

Man outside the Dalongdong Baoan Temple.

We got some bubble tea, it was worth waiting in line for.

The process of making the bubbles is more intense than I expected.

Street food vendor.

Day One – Taipei to Tamsui – 12 miles

Today was a pretty relaxed start to the tour. We had breakfast and talked with some other hostel guests in the morning, getting some good bike touring info from a Dutch guy who had just finished riding around the island.

After breakfast we got packed and finally got on the road around 12:00. We went about 200 yards before stopping at a 7-11, pretty much the way bike touring in this part of Asia seems to go for me. After a lunch of sushi and some iced coffee, we finally actually got going. Another 200 yards and we had to carry the bikes up a set of stairs in order to get to a bike path. We proceeded to follow a wonderful network of bikepaths all the way to Tamsui. The bike paths were through wetland districts with lots of birds and mangroves, right on the edge of the city. The riding was phenomenal. It’s easy to get spoiled by bike paths that keep you separate from the traffic.

Getting ready to leave the hostel on the first day.

Immediately we were on a bike path heading out of town and we never had to get back on a road all the way to Tamsui.

Riding out of town.

Nice bike paths heading out of Taipei.

Deciding to take it kind of easy, we stopped around 3:30 and got a hotel near the water. After checking in we went out to a nearby restaurant and had a really nice dinner for about $25. I got a Sicilian spaghetti dish with chicken and large shrimp and Jenny got a Japanese chicken curry. The menu was only in Chinese but Google Translate allowed us to read it and order, pretty handy.

We rode 12 miles before stopping and calling it a day. We got some tea and relaxed, no reason to start off too hard and injure yourself!

Nice boardwalk with a lot of restaurants on it in Tamsui.

Day Two – Tamsui to Jinshan – 30 miles

We had another light day today, continuing with our plan of starting slow. In the morning we tried to find our way to the Fisherman’s wharf and Lover’s Bridge in Tamsui, but new train construction was blocking most of the roads and it became too much of a pain to find a way around. We got on a side route of highway 2 and had some nice riding in a wooded area near the coast, no traffic and nice views. After passing a cute little elementary school with paintings of pumpkins on the roadside, we got on highway 2 itself. The riding wasn’t terrible but there was a decent amount of traffic and a strong headwind, combined with some decent hills. We aren’t really in riding shape so it was a bit of a challenge. We stopped for lunch in a little town I never knew the name of and got coffee at Polar Light Roaster, a really nicely done Ethiopian pour over. It was tricky to find but a lady saw us looking confused in the street and helped us find it. After coffee we had lunch at the ChaCha Café, they had a nice dog and the meal of chicken, rice, a fried corn fritter, and scrambled eggs was pretty good.

Riding out of Tamsui.

A soccer team at the night market in Jinshan.

Unfortunately we arrived at the night market just as it closed.

At lunch we made the decision to stop in Jinshan, another 15 miles away. We made it the 15 miles despite the strong headwind and checked into the fanciest hotel of the trip so far. It was $80 a night and had a private hot spring fed bathtub. We went out and got dinner at a bad pizza place, quite overpriced and mediocre food, despite the high ratings on google. I watched a Tommy Lee Jones movie before going to bed.

Checking out some flowers.

Temple stuff going on for Chinese New Years.

Burning something, maybe fake money?

Another shot of the temple in Jinshan.

Jinshan temple.

Day Three – Jinshan to Keelung – 15 miles

Another very light day, but we got some hiking in as well. The morning started with Chinese breakfast, which we both selected in order to feel more adventurous. Rice porridge, half of a fish, weird marinated soft boiled eggs, weird chicken, some gross greens… we just aren’t hungry enough to go for it yet. The fish still had its organs and everything, not super into that. We tried to power through it but left most of it uneaten unfortunately. Going to stick to western breakfasts for the time being. After breakfast we checked out the Jinshan Mysterious Coast, which was really neat. Lots of awesome rock formations, a cool rock tunnel, neat exotic fish in the potholes. I flew the drone around and Jenny wasn’t as annoyed as I thought she would be. We made it a loop hike by going up to the top of the peninsula, passing by some old Japanese pillboxes and barracks buildings.

Packing up at the nice hotel in Jinshan.

Jinshan Shuiwei Port – Mysterious Coast

Town of Jinshan from the Mysterious Coast.

View through an old Japanese pillbox.

After the coast hike we got on the road and stopped at the Kelhiu Geopark, but decided not to do the hike because it was too crowded. It was a really pretty area though, steep rock faces and neat formations. We met two french cyclists who were towards the end of a France – China trip and an Aussie just starting a circuit of Taiwan. After the Geopark we stopped at a strange UFO village, really cool old houses that were abandoned.

Futuro House – old futuristic houses from the 1960s, only 100 or so of these exist around the world and there were quite a few clustered here on the coast.

Futuro House.

Exploring the inside of another futuristic house in the complex.

The final ride into Keelung was intense – steep, extremely busy traffic, headwinds etc. Our hotel ended up being on the second floor so we had to carry the bikes up and store them in the tiny lobby. We went out to the night market and snacked on street food; a pork and rice empanada, vegetable spring rolls, street sushi (mostly tuna I think), Taiwanese style mochi, and some fresh squeezed orange juice. All of it was fantastic and it cost us less than $5 probably. Hotel was $30.

Keelung Night Market

Weird quid for sale in the Keelung Night Market.

Lots of fried food for sale in the Keelung Night Market. If you just eat at the night markets you can get full for cheap, but it’s not necessarily that healthy.

Street sushi for sale in the Keelung Night Market. It was really good and I didn’t get sick.

Keelung Night Market

Keelung Night Market, balloon chase.

Serious selfie in the Keelung Night Market.

Backpack dog in the Keelung Night Market.

Backpack dog part two in the Keelung Night Market.

Vendor in the Keelung Night Market.

Day Four – Keelung to Jiufen – 15 miles

Another light day with some sightseeing. We started the day out with some fantastic egg sandwiches and pork kimchi that we ate on a bench next to a canal. Leaving Keelung was as exciting as entering it, crazy traffic and wild bus drivers. Finally getting out of the urban area required a massively steep climb. We rewarded ourselves with iced coffees from a 7-11 at the top. After getting out of the city we headed towards the Houtang Cat Village. More steep climbing ensued, light traffic though. Just before getting to the village we got on a nice bicycles only pathway along a mountain stream with many old railway tunnels to pass through. The cat village itself was pretty cool, a scenic little town with a ton of well fed cats hanging out. We got fancy coffee drinks in a little café and took pictures of the cats and the cat tourists. After the cat village we headed back down the bike path, retracing our steps for a few miles before heading towards the town of Jiufen.

Pork and kimchi breakfast sandwich in Keelung, very good.

A bicycle only rail to trail tunnel on the way to the cat village.

Nice riding on the way to the cat village.

Cat in the cat village!

Getting to Jiufen entailed another steep climb, this time with a fair amount of traffic and especially annoying buses. The views were great though, and the drivers were very respectful despite their density. I got a lot of thumbs ups and shouts of encouragement, although one guy shouted to cheer me on and his dog interpreted that as the signal to attack. It ran down a 30 foot embankment and harassed me, but it didn’t actually do anything. Once we arrived in town we had to locate our hotel, which was a challenge unto itself. It turned out to be down the Old Street, a tight corridor packed with tourists and businesses. We had to walk our sweaty selves and bikes down the tight alleyway, pushing through the press of tourists. It was fun for me but Jenny hated it.

Coming around a corner and spotting Jiufen!

Jiufen market. We had to walk our loaded bikes through this crowd.

Lots of people taking pictures in Jiufen, very touristy town. Still worth a visit though.

Jiufen, the famous teahouse.

Jiufen, lots of staircases and tight alleys.

I like taking pictures of people posing for other pictures.

This guy gave me a cool look.

I saw a whole family wearing the clear raincoats but only got this shot.

Chicken for sale.

We got to our cute little bed and breakfast and locked the bikes up outside in the rain – it was too nice inside to bring them in, it also operated as a teahouse. After showering and doing laundry (in the sink, but this place had a fan so our stuff actually dried!) we headed out into the town. We started out with some desserts – a peanut and ice cream spring roll with cilantro and a taro filled puff pastry. After that we wandered around more, saw the famous A-Mei Teahouse, gawked at the tourists, etc. We got food at a crappy little restaurant and ordered braised pork on rice, which I decided to skip for the sake of my stomach. It sucks having a weak stomach sometimes, but I just have to be smarter about what I order – fatty/greasy meats will mess me up for a day or two. I got some Vietnamese spring rolls afterwards that filled me up and didn’t mess up my stomach. We wandered around some more before heading home to watch a bad Sigourney Weaver/Robert Deniro movie about psychics. It started out strong but the ending was infuriatingly stupid.

Nice lighting once the businesses started to close.