Chiayi to Tainan

November 15, 2024

Flat and smoggy

Our Chiayi hotel was another good one. It provided a mostly Taiwanese breakfast, which we’ve embraced. It seems to be the best time to get lots of veggies. And there are always eggs and tofu too. Today’s buffet included a very good green salad.

Is there a typhoon coming? The broad forecast says yes, but the specific forecast just says chance of rain tonight in Tainan, where we’ll stay. Strange. In any case, rain won’t be a factor today. One again, we have a light tailwind. The weather story of the day is air quality, which is poor. It’s grey and smoggy.

Our Komoot route got us into trouble nearly right away. It tried to send us through some sort of military or government zone. The gates were open, but the guards were quick to say ‘no’. Re-routing wasn’t difficult.

Several of our hotels have had hot and cold water dispensers. And every room had had a kettle. It’s always nice to avoid plastic.

After a short bit of urban riding in Chiayi, we were routed onto this very nice rail trail.

Once on our main route, the riding was fairly dull, with lots of traffic lights.

We made a coffee stop at a 7-Eleven associated with a nearby hospital. We even saw patients getting snacks there, wearing regular pajamas rather than hospital gowns.

We spent a good part of the day on Taiwan Cycle Route No 1. This section of the route is not terribly exciting. But we always had a wide shoulder plus a wide bike/scooter lane. And also sometimes there was a separate protected bike lane on the right side of the hedge- but it often had bumpy pavement.

Rick got a flat with no apparent cause. The thru axel rear wheel was tough to remove because our small bike tool wasn’t up to the task. A betel-nut chewing barefoot guy helped us using his vise grips from his scooter’s toolbox. Yet another example of the kindness of Taiwanese people. 😀

This gas station cat (and his attendant) generously let us use his water bowl as a soapy water dish to find the leak in the tube.

We came across multiple roadside stands selling something we couldn’t figure out. Eventually we stopped and asked. It was roasted water chestnuts. And of course we were provided a free sample. Harvesting water chestnuts looks like mucky work.

We ended up back on a cycle track that we had pretty much to ourselves.

We saw a bunch of military recruits out for a walk on the bike path. They all looked very young and inexperienced, and not terribly focussed. Someone even said hello. Perhaps they’d just started their national service. We didn’t attempt any photos.

Uh oh. Entering Tainan, we encountered a multi-year closure of a bike path. There is a huge highway construction project. It took a while to get around/through it.

There is lots of industry in Tainan. We passed a huge scientific park, and big cooling towers. No wonder it’s smoggy.

Then we had some crazy traffic entering Tainan city centre. Sometimes we just got off our bikes and walked across intersections as pedestrians to avoid scary left hand turns.

We used up the whole day getting here despite the easy route. It felt like half the day was spent waiting at traffic lights. Tainan is supposed to be an interesting place for a visit, but we’ll be moving on tomorrow to get to the bike shop in Kaohshiung to see about my shifter.

These concrete balls are good at stopping scooters from getting on the bike path. But they also almost stopped us.

Our entry into Tainan was a bit stressful in the traffic. So it was nice to be greeted by a free, and very tasty, local IPA at the Hotel Initial.

We were lucky to find a reasonably priced and very nice hotel in the city centre. Our bikes went up the elevator to our rooms.

We went out for craft beer at nearby bar that wasn’t all that special, and the young bartender was struggling with the taps. There was way too much foam. She recommended a nearby noodle restaurant, but it was closed, so we found one of our own that was delicious. We didn’t eat at the restaurant next door where every menu item involved snails. I wish I’d kept a screenshot of the translated menu.

Beef noodle soup for dinner. Possibly the beefiest broth I’ve ever tasted. Absolutely delicious. Perfectly balanced.

And a final nightcap in the hotel lobby, watching Korea and Japan play baseball on tv, live from Taipei.

It was raining very lightly as we returned to the hotel. Will it amount to anything?

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 481 km (299 miles)

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Graham FinchThe local Taipei Times is a decent source of info...

https://www.taipeitimes.com/
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5 days ago

Graham FinchAnother portion of food for thought is Orchid Island - a couple of ferries go there...

https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/orchid/
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4 days ago