Taiwan Bicycle Tour – Days 5 through 8 – Experiences Collection: Wilderness Backpacking and Budget Travel

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Day Five – Jiufen to Jiaoxi – 45 miles

We started out the morning with breakfast at our BnB, an egg crepe thing with onions that was pretty good but not very filling. It also came with tea in tiny little tea cups. Due to poor chopstick use I managed to drop a slice of the crepe in my little teacup, splashing out all the tea and fitting perfectly. Jenny was quite amused. After breakfast we packed up and got geared up for the rain – it would go on to rain for much of the day. First decent miles of the trip, first rain. We did our gauntlet down the Old Street, made it 400ft from our hotel before our first convience store stop of the day (FamilyMart, for microwaved sandwiches and coffee). We started riding, first a short climb before a winding, windy, rainy descent towards the coast. The views were spectacular and our brakes held out, passing an old smelting ruin on a cliff and a massive golden waterfall.

Heading down from Jiufen. Some of the most enjoyable riding I’ve ever experienced! Steady rain and perpetual braking, but incredible views and no traffic.

A waterfall at the bottom of the downhill from Jiufen.

We hit the coast at this little town and began to follow the shore south.

Another small fishing town on the way to Jiaoxi.

Fishing boats.

We got to the coast and started pushing out miles, beautiful riding. The traffic came in waves, long moments with no one passing us then 15 big trucks at one blowing past. Not so bad. The rain was light but steady but our rain gear worked. I got my camera out a few times in small fishing towns, had a weird interaction where I tried to get a 7-11 guy to restock the TP in the bathroom and he pointed me towards a box of tissues in the front of the store. I figured out later he wanted me to just load up on tissues before heading into the bathroom, I guess they were out of TP rolls. We took a bike path at one point, a nice paved path through a forested area on the coast. I saw a really cool bird with a raccoon pattern and a spearface. We also got to ride through a bicycle only (well and some stupid electric tricycles that were obviously breaking the rules) railway tunnel that played a jaunty soundtrack as you went through. It was more than a mile long and really fun to ride. After the bike path we got on the main coastal highway again and pushed towards our hotel. We checked in, did some laundry and I rigged the hair dryer to run continously with a rubberband so I could dry my shoes out. I was pretty proud of myself. We got dinner, some sushi that Jenny hated and I loved – big slices of sashimi (tuna, salmon, unknown other fish). The fun stopped when I started to feel my throat tighten and felt itchy, I’ve got some sort of unknown food allergy that has only appeared in Japan once at another sushi place. I guess I have to give it up. I took some antihistamine and felt better a little later. We went back to the hotel and watched the second half of Castaway then went to sleep.

Sashimi for dinner. Giant hunks of raw fish meat for cheap. Very, very good.

Lights and celebrations in a public park in Jiaoxi.

Jiaoxi street dog.

A nice light display in the park in Jiaoxi.

Day Six – Jiaoxi to Dong-ao – 31 miles

This morning we got going a bit late and stopped for breakfast at a nice little sandwich spot, more pork/egg/kimchi sandwiches and nice lattes with great latte art. After breakfast I stopped at a bike shop and got some chain lube for free. We followed crazy OSMand directions through what I think are going to be rice paddies, water filled agricultural squares with strange water wheel things. It was pleasant riding, no traffic, and we were able to make decent time. We made our way back to the coast where we followed a bike path for a couple of miles, just above the beach. It took us only a little out of the way and was well worth it.

We rode past a lot of these things, I guessed they were rice paddy aeration tractors.

Nice riding through agricultural areas on the edge of urban zones. We tried to avoid the main highway and spent a lot of time going out of our way to find bike paths and side roads.

View from the Nanfangao Lookout.

Good view after a steep climb.

Eventually we had to get back on the main road, where I developed a hate for the traffic lights. Spaced 200 yards apart, the timing is such that a person on a bike will literally catch every single red light. Build up momentum, come to a stop, repeat. It was really frustrating and eventually I went back too OSMand directions and more paths through agricultural areas, good riding and not as many blind corners as that type of riding entails in Japan. We left the Yilan urban area and eventually climbed a huge hill (2200ft of climbing) into the mountains. Once we got to Dong-ao we decided we weren’t going to make it up the next massive hill, had dinner at FamilyMart, microwaved curry risotto thing for me, with a beer. It’s awesome you can get a decent dinner for a couple bucks and drink a beer inside a convenience store.

Finding a campsite was an adventure. We followed an old GPS waypoint we found online somewhere to a campsite near the main highway, supposedly next to a cold spring. It was difficult to locate and eventually turned out to be locked up. We tried another side road and found a super creepy graveyard, complete with strange clucking jungle noises and little cherub things on the tombs. I loved it and wanted to camp nearby but Jenny vetoed. After that we headed down to the beach, where we setup camp in the sand well above what we thought was the high tide line. It rained all night.

Looking for a place to camp and we ended up at a creepy old graveyard on the edge of a small town in the jungle. There were strange noises coming from the trees around the graves so we left pretty fast.

Jenny was really not digging the prospects of camping close to the cemetery.

We camped on the beach instead.

Day Seven – Dong-ao to Xiulin – 42 miles

The rain finally let up and we packed up our wet gear and got on the road, after a stop at FamilyMart for breakfast sandwiches (egg mcmuffins) of course. The riding was much more hectic, immediately we were climbing a steep winding road with huge trucks blowing past us. This continued pretty much all day. The views were beautiful but the traffic was very intense. There was often no shoulder at all. The truck drivers were pretty respectful and only 1-2 buzzed by too close.

The view we woke up to in the morning.

Misty mountains.

Towards the end of the day we had to pass through some tunnels that were marked no bicycles, which was funny to me considering a. there was no way around, and b. we are on the national cycle route 1. The downhills were always exciting and we were often able to go fast enough to not get passed every time, giving us a break from the traffic. The coast was gorgeous, very blue water and marble cliffs. We eventually passed a large gravel plant that seemed to the destination for most of the trucks, but traffic picked up again when we got closer to Hualien and Taroko. The final 8 miles or so was some of the hardest riding I’ve ever done, uphill in tunnels with no shoulder and buses and trucks passing close by. We got to our hotel, faces dirty and legs destroyed, and ate a mostly bone chicken dinner. 5,000ft of climbing today.

Pretty coastal riding. Some sections of road had lots of large trucks due to road construction but there were some nice peaceful sections.

Taking in the view near sunset.

One of the most impressive sections of road I’ve ever been on. Steep cliffs down to the ocean for miles.

Day Eight – Taroko National Park – 24 miles

Today we rode up into Taroko National Park. We left most of our gear at the hotel and took off in the morning. It was a fun day of biking, not nearly as difficult as we expected. The climbs were more gradual than the previous two days, the traffic relatively light, and there were a ton of opportunities to stop and take pictures. It was an awesome day overall, although we didn’t end up doing any hiking. The biking was enough. We did see a bus vs taxi accident, probably the bus drivers fault. The bus drivers tend to be the worst, they pass closer than trucks and go way too fast around turns.

Classic rural Taiwan. 4×4 minivan with a dog sleeping under it.