Taitung to Chishang

November 23, 2024

Into the rift valley

Happy 95th birthday to my Mom 🥳🎂🥳🥰, who won’t be reading this journal, but who had to a pizza and cake lunch with friends, organized by my sister. And there will be a small family dinner on Sunday night that I’m sorry to be missing (we had the big party at Thanksgiving in October) . I’ve been using FaceTime to communicate with my mom from Taiwan.

It was noisier overnight, with a full house that included kids, but that made for a more interesting breakfast gathering. it was another tasty and filling breakfast.

Today is the start of a cooling trend that will eventually see overnight temperatures drop to the mid teens Celsius. It was my coolest start yet, and at 20 C. And never got beyond 24 today. Very nice!

Today’s journey was up and over into the beautiful Eastern Rift Valley aka the Longitudinal Valley or the Huadong Valley. It is about 180 km long and sits between the central mountain range and the coastal mountains.

My first look at the rift valley. This is the Beinan River. I counted ten expansion joints on the bridge in the background.

It’s a popular vacation spot, with an annual balloon festival and a nearby paragliding launch celebrated on a retaining wall.

The climb up into the valley was on the main road, meaning it was fairly busy with traffic. I made a 7-Eleven stop to look for alternate routes, and found a nice one. But I also discovered that there was a bridge closed on my planned route near my destination of Chishang, so decided to cross the Beinan River earlier than planned.

I encountered a small farmers’ market. But the fruit was all packaged up in bundles, and I was unable to buy a single apple. Happily, I later had a banana from a roadside stand. It weighed in at less than 5 dollars ($0.20 CAD), so she rounded up.

Uh-oh. This closure wasn’t shown on Google maps. But the scooter man on the bridge squeezed past the barrier and let me know I could too. A washout is visible on the other side.

Yikes. The nice man on the scooter waited while I took photos to confirm that I got through safely. Such kindness here!

Shortly after the washout, I was chased by a dog for the first time on this trip. It didn’t get too close.

I haven’t seen too many cemeteries, but passed right by one today.

Another way to escape the main road is on nice bike paths.

Wee tomato plants, dreaming of growing up.

Pineapples. I also saw tea growing today, but not a lot of it.

Another washout, this time near Guanshan. It must’ve been a wild storm!

In this case, they’ve put in a temporary bridge. Crisis averted.

My first encounter with the e-quad contraptions. I don’t think most people go far from the rental base.

Anywhere off the main road provided great cycling.

I’ve eaten at least a dozen of these rice triangles (onigiri) for my lunch. They are portable and delicious, with a variety of fillings. The 1-2-3 instructions show how to remove the packaging.

I biked beside this flood control berm for a few kilometres. The road was great, but the berm blocked my views. And there were no other people, so I wondered if I’d hit another roadblock. There was lots of rice harvesting happening in the nearby fields.

No roadblock. And hundreds of people walking and on rental contraptions, all trying to get a photo of Mr Brown Boulevard. Apparently famous due to a coffee advertisement.

Away from Mr Brown Boulevard, I had the path to myself again.

The bike path took me past Dapo Pond, a wetland of national significance according to the signs. It was unremarkable to me.

A rice combine harvester. Patiently waiting for a haul truck to return, I think.

It being a Saturday night in a tourist town, I didn’t have my choice of bookings last night. I’m staying in a reasonably priced homestay that is clean and safe, but quite dated. The mattress is the firmest yet, in a land that loves firm mattresses (so do I, so that’s okay). I had to ask for a towel. They said their guests usually bring them. What? That’s a new experience for me in Taiwan. They did provide a Kirkland (Costco) ‘towel’ that I think is a large washcloth. But it worked. Thanks Costco! The water pressure was great and the water was hot, so I’ll give them that.

I had dinner at a nearby noodle restaurant where the cooking is done by a sweet old woman from Shanxi, China. She married a Taiwanese soldier who got caught in China after the war. They returned to his hometown once people were allowed to return home. She makes Shanxi food, which is apparently a bit spicy. I had delicious hot and sour soup with a bit of poached egg floating in it. And homemade tofu swimming in a sauce full of spring onions, red peppers, and ginger. The tofu melted in my mouth. So. Good. And having said that, I think I erred by not tasting her handmade noodles (I only learned they were handmade after I’d already stuffed myself).

Grandma Yang, who made my delicious dinner. The photographer (another client) told me that she’s making a heart symbol with her hand.

I was considering staying in Chishang two nights and doing a loop ride into the hills, but a washout has blocked my chosen route, so I’ll move on. I’d like new digs anyway. This one was just okay. My bike was out front with the owner’s fleet of rentals. He said he puts the garage door down for overnight. I used my lock for the first time in ages.

I don’t mind that I cooler weather is on its way. I might get to wear my fleece that I’ve been hauling around for apparently no reason. But the best news is that it seems to mean drier weather for the north end of Taiwan, where it’s been raining daily since we got here.

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 901 km (560 miles)

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Scott AndersonWow. You’re getting really lucky on the eastside weather. It’s such a beautiful part of the island but it was really wet both times we were there.
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4 weeks ago

Graham FinchIt supposed to cool down this week (about 12C), so the fleece may be needed.
Route 193 is really nice - it runs between the coastal highway (11) and the valley one (9), which I think you rode up.
I was in that neck of the woods a while ago - albeit cycling the other way...

https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/roc/guanfu/
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3 weeks ago