November 9, 2024
Nanzhuang to Dongshi
An unexpectedly long day
We woke to another nice morning and had breakfast from Family Mart on our terrace. I’m happy to have found a source of morning yogurt. It would be the first of many convenience store stops today. They are blissfully air conditioned.
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We passed by a few farms growing papayas, but I failed to take a photo. Papayas soon gave way to many strawberry farms and strawberry-themed everything through Dahu and surrounding area.
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It was sunnier and hotter today, and very humid. We made multiple 7-Eleven stops to enjoy drinks and snacks in air conditioned comfort. For me, it was too hot for a formal lunch, so I was happy with the very good snacks from 7-Eleven. Onigiri (rice triangles stuffed with various things) are a favourite.
We were on Route 3 most of the day, a designated cycle route. It was plenty busy with an endless stream of motorcycles. Not many scooters today, instead it was gangs of riders on crotch rockets and touring motorcycles too. One of them must’ve crashed, because there was a freshly damaged motorbike in the ditch, and a helmet too.
We were given oranges and guava by a nice lady selling fruit near top of a climb - she wouldn’t take any money.
When we arrived at our final destination of Dongshi, we were routed onto a cool bikeway with zillions of locals on rental tandem bikes, including e-tandem bikes. There were lots of kids and it was chaotic. The path had a bridge over the river. Have I mentioned all the bridges? The infrastructure here is amazing.
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My rear derailleur began acting up as the day went on. it didn’t mind moving to easier gears, but was slow or unresponsive to requests to move back down the cog set. I decided to stop in Dongshi at the Giant shop. I figured it just needed a tweak. The mechanic didn’t speak English, and I could only watch in horror as he ripped out the derailleur cable and then struggled mightily to insert a new one. In the end, he seemed to get things working again after about a hour. This meant finding our apartment in the dark, but it was not as bad as I feared. I sure hope my bike is fixed. He didn’t seem pleased with his work.
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Sue and Rick had trouble finding the AirBNB while I was having my bike serviced. The address we were provided was incorrect. But it was fine in the end. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen with a table. But no living room or lounge space. The tv is next to the dining table. Is that typical, I wonder?
It wasn’t fancy, but it was clean and fine. A bit noisy though - there is lots of nearby traffic. But we felt lucky to have it because we had trouble booking anything else nearby. Maybe because it was Saturday night?
We had dinner at a nearby restaurant after first sitting at a restaurant that was goose themed. It looked a bit too adventurous for us. There were goose intestine and goose liver on the menu (nope, no foie gras for me, thanks). So we went across the street. As usual, the food appeared almost instantly. We enjoyed tofu, noodles, and a cabbage dish. We were the last people in the restaurant and were home before 8, anticipating another day of climbing tomorrow.
Today's ride: 87 km (54 miles)
Total: 193 km (120 miles)
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