Friday, 19th January
I took the train in the morning. The station had brightly coloured LCD displays and plant pots. I bought a doughnut.
I had made the 8.53 train – a local stopping service (bikes aren’t allowed on the faster express trains). But it went by quickly. From the window I saw the kind of scenery I would have been cycling through and I was happy to see it pass.
It was raining lightly when I left the hostel and made the short cycle to the station, but the closer we got to Kaohsiung the brighter it became. I exited the station in bright sunlight and was faced with another loud and hectic city.
I cycled the 20 miles to Dongang ferry port as quickly as I could. There were a decent amount of cycle paths along the way – first by the riverside, then along route 17 which cut a fairly direct route, skirting the airport. The cycle track was between the two opposite lanes of traffic, and shielded from the cars and Noise by neatly planted palm trees and hedges, broken only by the occasional junction.
I got my head down and pedalled, clearing the airport, then a long, dense industrial area of power stations and cables. Finally, I crossed two bridges then took a sharp right, cycling more or less directly into the ferry terminal where I immediately bought a ticket for the 2pm ferry to Little Liuqiu.
I loaded my bike on to the bike of the small ferry and a guy tied it tightly to the railings. I went inside on the ground floor where a Taiwanese soap opera was playing in several different TVs.
The journey was short – less than half an hour, but the separation from the mainland felt substantial, like drawing a line under the last few – if i’m being honest – dispiriting days I had.
At the other end after we docked I picked up on a few bits at 7-11 (one of two at either end of the island) and began to make my way around it taking in the sights and enjoying the sound of the sea and the general calm of the place. It was a popular tourist destination, but was quiet this time of year.
It was shaped roughly the same as mainland Taiwan – a sweet potato – but on a much smaller scale – it’s just a 10 mile ride around the perimeter. It was hilly but not fun short hills. The roads were quiet and peaceful.
There were a number of sights to take in – most famously vase rock, which looks like a giant piece of broccoli sprouting from the sea. There are two sets of caves (Black Drawf and Beauty Cave) – I saw both but wasn’t really in the mood to hang out in a damp sunless hole, so kept on moving around the island in the late afternoon sun.
There were reefs and turtles and other interesting things, but with my time a little limited I just enjoyed the rest of the cycle round, seeing things from the road, embracing this total change in scenery.
I made it back to where I started, picked up some dinner, and headed a mile around again back to a campground I had passed and had marked in the map. Wild camping would have been easy, and is it turns out, and probably a more enjoyable choice too.
I was almost certain the whole place had been deserted until someone emerged from a reception room, looking as surprised to see me as I was to see them. I came inside, sweating, and scribbled my name on a piece of paper and paid 300 dollars. I was shown a patch of surprisingly neat lawn where I could put my tent up. Everything else was overgrown and felt in a state of abandonment, though I was told breakfast would still be served.
It was all a bit weird, and probably didn’t help the existential rut I felt I had felt myself slipping into. But I had some beer, I could hear the sea from my tent and generally it felt like things were on the way up.
Map