Thursday, 18th January
Today I came to the decision to ‘cheat’ a little – tomorrow i’ll be taking the train to Kaohsiung – skipping out 100km of what I predict will be more of the same of what i’ve already seen, and by this point grown (almost physically) sick of. Cities which sprawl on indefinitely, factory dotted swampy farmland, and air with little quality at all.
It was a fairly easy decision to make, and I felt like a weight had been lifted once my mind was made up. The idea only really crystallised in the last 10 miles of the day during the long drawn out approach to Chiayi, four lanes of traffic and an excruciating pain in my knee. Morale was low.
The thought first crossed my mind at lunch as I sat in a pagoda in the centre of a small park at Xiluo and flipped through the pages of the lonely planet book. I couldn’t help feel there was something i’d missed when confronted with so many pictures of idyllic green mountains and quiet coastline roads. Their pictures tend to be over-saturated, and the descriptions too, but I started counting down the days and knew I’d have another a day of enduring rather than enjoying things, before I got a break from the crowded East coast and could maybe think about even camping.
It was really the second half of the day which sealed it, the morning had been pleasant – some nice quiet roads leaving Lukang passing villages with colourful temples and basketball courts. And a few cycle tracks which led through tea fields, it was undramatic but quiet and a welcome change of pace from the cities and scooters.
I was aiming for Xiluo Bridge, which when finished in 1952 was the second longest bridge in the world. The cycle tracks ended and I rejoined the road for a few miles before turning up on to a bridge. It levelled off after a steep approach and it was at this point I realised I’d chosen to cycle over the wrong bridge – a mile or so away to the left in the distance was Xiluo Bridge – red like the Golden Gate and made in a trestle style.
The fact I was mildly excited about a bridge made me realise that the 70-page pdf the Taiwanese tourist board had put together was geared towards a certain type of cyclist. Not really an adventure cyclist, but either a hardcore road cyclist who wanted to navigate the island in the fastest way possible, or someone perhaps new to cycle touring who would hire a bike in Taipei and follow the signs until they got back there. It was still a good outline of things – probably more so on the East cost, but definitely skewed towards efficiency and safety.
And so after the break at the pagoda, and several more scrappy cities I found myself on the approach to Chiayi.
I liked the feel of the city once i’d checked into my hostel and dropped my things. It felt like perhaps somewhere you could spend a day wandering, but most people seemed to use it as a base for reaching Alishan Scenic Area, or Yushan National Park. If I had more time i would be headed there too. But the roads heading up and inland in Taiwan are limited, very steep and challenging. In 10 or so days realistically you are a little limited to how far you can venture up and away from the coastal regions.
After finding some suncream and treating myself to a pizza I spent the evening planning the next couple of days, and loosely mapping things out after that.
If I skipped ahead to Kaohsiung i’d be able to take a ferry to Little Liuqiu island where it looked like there was a campsite overlooking the ocean – it was the change of scene I needed. It would mean skipping Tainan – the old capital of Taiwan, but i’d had enough of cities for now. It would be put me in a good spot for getting down to Kenting the next day, and I should still have a decent amount of time to make the most of the now very highly anticipated East coast.
Map