Liuqiu to Fangshan

November 18, 2024

Wind is the story of the day

We were up and out of our accommodation by 7 am. Breakfast was included in our room rate in the form of coupons for a popular breakfast spot a few kilometres down the road. We read the reviews and learned that it was takeout only. We got dumplings, scallion pancakes, tea eggs, and assorted other pancakey/eggy things. Then we packed up our food and biked towards our ferry terminal (there are two on the island). We were planning to get the 9 am ferry, but arrived just in time for the 7:30 departure. We departed just after rolling up the gangplank, which really was two planks. We ate our yummy breakfast on the boat, taking up pretty much all the journey.

It was flat biking beyond Donggang. Once again, we were on a highway with a dedicated scooter bike/lane. The traffic noise gets old, so we left the highway to explore some of the many fish farms and an interesting wetland area with lots of trails.

Our busy breakfast spot. I was worried about missing yogurt and granola, but am loving Taiwanese breakfast.

Scooter rentals are a big thing on Liuqiu. Good thing everyone in Taiwan seems skilled at riding them.

Typical of the boats around here. We think it’s just giant PVC piping bent and glued together.

Our takeout breakfast. Too bad about all the plastic waste here.

Arriving at the Donggang ferry terminal. It cost about $2 CAD to take our bikes.

This was the area of our off highway excursion.

One of the zillion fish farms in the area. Not smelly.

We stopped at the Linbian train station to see about tickets for Rick. No luck.

By now it was raining. It rained most of the way to Fangliao, a bigger city with hopefully with more helpful railway agents. Like Saturday, the rain wasn’t cold, just wet. In fact, it was a more pleasant temp than when the sun was out yesterday. Maybe 25 C.

There was a Giant shop right in front of the Fangliao station, so Rick stopped to see about getting his rear brake calipers unstuck. It turns out his rental has almost no brake pads, and they didn’t have replacements.

After lots of time, Sue figured out a way to take the train to Taipei, but in the end they decided to book a van operated by the bike shop Rick had been in. Fangliao seems a pretty popular train stop for foreigners - I saw multiple backpackers and we chatted with a Spanish fellow on a short bike trip who had taken the bus from Kenting because of high winds.

Another sighting was a monk in his normal brown robes, but then donning a full length pink raincoat to get onto his scooter. The robes are barely visible here. The variety of rainwear is fabulous - from flimsy (almost disposable) plastic to full length coats with expansion zippers to accommodate backpacks.

More water chestnuts for sale. The signs are always the same, with the black shape of the chestnut.

While Sue and Rick were doing their forward planning, I waited on the dry steps at one end of the train station. I noticed a crumpled up NT$1000 bill right next to me. That’s about $40 CAD. Woohoo! I was there quite a while, and nobody came looking for it.

We biked in light rain to Fangshan, a bit down the coast. Then the last kilometre was very windy - swirling in all directions. There’s a wind warning for today and tomorrow south of here. I’m booked in Kenting tomorrow night, but may need to rethink my plans

Our hotel is right on the beach, and would be fabulous in better weather. But we aren’t tempted to go in when we can see the water getting whipped up by the winds. Like last night, we experienced more name confusion - our hotel has at least four names in English: Moli Bay Resort, Tukoyumi Extension Center, Jessamine Bay Resort, and Jasmine Bay Resort. If in doubt, just go into the hotel to see if your name is on the list.

Two Colorado cycle tourers also stopped here for the night. They are on a one year work break, and are heading to Tasmania next.

The view from my room. It’d be nice to be here when it wasn't so windy.

Image not found :( — Hmm. The pink windy bit at the bottom is where I’m heading. Or not!

We didn’t have a lot of dinner options, but there was a noodle shop about 500 m away. The hotel clerk phoned ahead to make sure they were open. They had a few choices of beef noodle soup. We’re not sure why, but Sue and I weren’t allowed to have the spicy noodles that Rick ordered. The proprietor gave us what he thought was best for us, and explained why in Chinese. Once again, the beef was fall apart delicious. He added what seemed like homemade fermented greens - very tasty. And we helped ourselves to a vinager-y ginger-y cabbage salad from the fridge after watching a neighbouring group do the same.

Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 643 km (399 miles)

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