Daxi to Nanzhuang

November 8, 2024

Into the hills

Despite staying in a dodgy hotel, I had a decent sleep. It was quiet overnight other than occasional wind noise. Weather-wise, there was some blue sky as we departed by 8:30, but it ended up being mostly a grey sky day. And maybe 25 C. It was windy in the morning, but soon died off to a moderate tail wind.

Our hotel from last night had private garages.

We skipped breakfast from the creepy hotel and went to 7-Eleven for a breakfast of yogurt, juice, a banana, and tea egg (hard-boiled egg with some nice colouring from tea and a bit of soy sauce for flavour). Perfect!

An inauspicious start. The bike path was completely blocked off after we’d been on it for about 200 m.

This bridge in Daxi was lovely, but it didn’t get us anywhere either.

In the end, it was a short and easy detour on an adjacent road. We had maybe 15 km of bike paths early on before getting on reasonably busy road that was part of official bike route 1-2. Then we turned onto quiet road at the town of Emei.

A not so flat path as we climbed our first hill.

This road was busy, but we generally had a nice shoulder to ride on.

The bike routes have signage indicating rest stops. A nice touch! So we stopped at an official 7-Eleven stop to use the toilets and sit at a shaded outdoor table. I ate a small baked yam - they are available at all the convenience stores, it seems. Delicious. Not my last.

Then we biked up and over the biggest hill of the day on a very quiet road to our destination of Nanzhuang. It’s a nice looking town with a touristy feel. The Heaven Bird guest house is a big step up from last night. The owner had us put our bikes inside the lobby.

We enjoyed a lunch of braised pork, yam greens, and an eggplant dish at a Hakka restaurant that we just happened to bike by at the right time. All delicious. Hakkas are people who originated from China - the earliest waves came to Taiwan in the 1600s, according to Wikipedia.

Bananas growing along our last climb. We saw citrus groves today too.

The last climb of the day on a nice quiet road. No trucks.

More black dogs. Scott Anderson has helpfully pointed out that they’re a breed. The Formosan Mountain Dog.

Our after ride snack included Taiwan Beer and smoky pork rib flavoured Lays. We won’t repeat buying the lobster flavoured chips.

We had dinner at a Hakka restaurant in town. We had a plate of delicious small shrimp (but bigger than the shrimp from the Taipei market), heads on barely fried. With lots of garlic and pepper. Plus lilac greens with garlic, ginger, and tiny fish of some sort. Delicious again. Unlike the dreaded wait for dinner in Spain, there’s no waiting for food here - the restaurants in this town all close by 7 pm, and food arrives in a jiffy, hot from the wok. Our restaurant had historical photos on the wall, including one of the townspeople here celebrating the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942.

A Haagen Daz ice cream bar from the Family Mart convenience store capped off a great day.

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 106 km (66 miles)

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Graham FinchI have cycled around Miali a few times. Those journals are not on Cycleblaze and you can find the routes and snaps here...

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3d2&page_id=524586&v=6C

and

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3d2&page_id=503600&v=42

and

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3d2&page_id=401604&v=5S

this one is south of Taichung - up to Ali Mountain (a big climb)...

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3d2&page_id=493441&v=2O
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