April 10, 2023
April 10th
Danan
Lockdown is just about done. Next week I won't have to wear a mask when I catch the bus, although I suspect most people still will as it's been such a long time that it's become habit-forming.
The weather is decent and after 11 o'clock it strikes me it's best to get out and go for a short spin. A ride to the small town of Danan isn't very taxing and there's a Louisa Coffee shop there. The route is quite nice, but there's a couple of busy bits of road to deal with. Such is life.
I take my camera and tripod, but not long after setting off I realise I've forgotten to pick up a David Sedaris book that I'm reading. It'd have been nice to sit in Louisa for a while with it. Never mind.
It takes about 10 minutes or so to ride along the first busy road - the 114 - before getting to a junction, where I make a left and then soon veer off and head down a narrow lane that brings me to a rural strip of land marooned in what's an otherwise a built-up part of Taiwan. There are smallholdings and polytunnels, rice that's currently about ankle-height and some sunflowers.
Ralph and I came this way not too long ago and the rusty old tricycle is still parked beside a paddy. I wonder if there's a maker's badge on the front, but there isn't, so I just take a snap of a broken bell and the chain on the rear sprocket. To say it's all rusty is an understatement.
The lane follows a small, shallow river that must have a name but I have no idea what it is. I insert the leg of my tripod into a hole roughly 1.5m up a concrete post and take a self-timed snap before the lane brings me out near some industrial units, then I join the road that leads into Danan. This is another route that has a fair amount of traffic and it's fairly narrow and there's not much to stop and admire, but a few painted chairs outside what appears to be a closed kindergarten catch my eye. I take a quick snap.
Once in Danan, I head through the market area hoping to see some passion fruit for sale, as I like to have some on my breakfast cereal, but today there's little action. I guess Monday is a day off for most vendors. There are some stalls selling fruit, but none have what I want. Never mind.
Louisa Coffee is nearby and I'm feeling peckish. They don't have the quiche that I'm partial to, so I settle on a toasted sandwich and treat myself to a slice of apple pie, which I ask be warmed up, but it comes to my table cold. Never mind.
I pop into the small charity shop nearby. There are some boxes of new golf balls that look good quality and it's tempting to buy them, but I have no interest in the game and I don't know anyone who plays. Maybe I could sell them? It seems like too much trouble. There are two T-shirts that I ponder getting. One is Adidas and the other is from Rome, but in the end I leave empty-handed.
A mannequin at a market stall selling clothing has a weird face and I stop and take a snap, and the elderly vendor looks bemused as he has a right to and asks if I'm American and I tell him I'm English. He lets me take his portrait before I ride off, with my eyes still open for passion fruit for sale. There's none. I'd buy some strawberries, but it seems like the season has gone. Never mind.
I stop at a Hi-Life store to check if they have any cans of the Lithuanian IPA that's good and they do, so I get three cans as this means they're discounted. The Hi-life in my neighborhood never seems to have this stuff for some reason.
The ride home is uneventful and I just stop and take one more photo - of some tyres that I'd noticed on the outward ride. They look like they belong on forklifts.
Today's ride: 22 km (14 miles)
Total: 2,721 km (1,690 miles)
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