Cycling around Taiwan - Day 1: Tainan to Kaohsiung County

This is going to be the start of a few entries about a cycle trip around the whole of Taiwan I did with Adrian and Andrea during Chinese New Year.
This had been something all three of us had been wanting to do for a long time as we had heard many positive reviews about the experience.
Before we left, we headed over to the Giant bicycle shop a couple of times to make sure our bikes were ready and we had all the equipment needed. So with a much lighter wallet (two inner tubes, one new tire, one bike light, a shirt and a bike pouch) we began our journey.


We had set ourselves a target of at least 100km a day, so the first leg of the journey was to get somewhere south of Kaohsiung city.
The journey between Tainan city and Kaohsiung is not very nice, its all pretty grim and industrial. The heat and the car fumes didn't make the journey any more pleasant!! So the aim was to just get past that as quick as possible.
By the time we got to Kaohsiung were were all getting a little hungry, so we stopped at what looked like a reasonable looking noodle shop and we all ate RaMen (Japanese noodle soup with other bits thrown in) with some fruit tea to go along with it!!



With lunch finished, it was time to get through Kaohsiung city. This took some time as we had to navigate through lots of busy streets with lots of traffic lights. However, I really like cycling through cities, even though there is a lot of traffic, they are buzzing with action and I like looking at all the building and shops (although this can also be kind of dangerous). And Kaohsiung city is a particularly nice city with wide, tree lined boulevards and modern buildings, plus, they have been making a big effort to create cycle lanes.


Once out of Kaohsiung city, the scenery starts to pick up and the traffic dies down. However, there is still a bit of road construction going on.

With the sun getting hotter, it was time for another break at a 7/11. And I am a huge fan of these places, the range of services they offer is amazing, from fresh brewed coffee to bike service stations, they are just great!!


We had planned to use the number 17 road to go directly to Kenting (at the southern tip of Taiwan). However, a bridge had collapsed (I'm assuming from last year's typhoon), so we had to make a detour inland to another bridge via a not very nice chemical/industrial park. The smell was not nice so we tried to get out of there as quick as possible. As this was not the planned route, we had to stop a few times to check the map.












Once that was passed, it was time for a quick break at a petrol station. The men's urinals at petrol stations are usually like this, although there have been some without any doors.







As we were nearing our 100km target we decided to head for Chaozhou (Pindong County), so these are some of the shots along the way.








As we entered Chaozhou we pulled over to get some tea. While there, I asked the shop girl if she knew of any hotels in the area. Luckily, she did, and as she was just about to finish her shift, she personally took us there.

The hotel seemed quite dated, but the rooms were clean, so that was good enough for us.
After showering and changing into clean clothes, we walked into town to get some dinner.
We spotted some spring rolls which looked amazing, so we all ordered vegetarian ones. However, they ended up being a let down as the cook had added large amounts of sugar into them (why????!!!!)

Still peckish, we headed into a simple noodle/dumpling place where I ate a beef roll. That beef roll was my downfall as for the following few days I was was feeling the ramifications of it being badly cooked!! Adrian had suggested that this journey be called 'Toilets of Taiwan', there were that many toilets stops!

Here is a video of some of the sights from the first day


I also should point out that Adrian will also be doing a blog about this sometime soon, although his will probably include a lot more information. So click on his website Sesquipedaustralian (on the right of this page).