December 14, 2021
December 14th
Summer is back
When people here ask me why I chose to come to Taiwan, it's put in a different way to the similar sort of question you might get from British people or North Americans. Natives in those places have a pretty good idea why someone would move there: it's either business or pleasure. What's really being asked is: Why the hell did you come to this place?
It's something Taiwanese students ask me on a weekly basis and I cite the main reason as my job in the UK was stressful and not something I enjoyed. However, I sometimes address what lurks behind the question, which is a negative perception of the island. I think it's great.
Is it Utopia? No, but there are lots of pluses to living here and right now it's the Covid lockdown situation - or the absence of one. It's been over a month since there has been a local case, while a UK government advisor says there could be a million cases a day there by the end of this month. That's mind-blowing, bearing in mind the UK's population is about 60-odd million.
Searching for novelty is not that easy, as I've lived here for 22 years and know the local roads well. There are few things that would be novel, but not very enjoyable. Cycling down a major highway, for example.
After my morning coffee, I give Google Maps a quick look and notice a few side streets in Longtan that I haven't been down before, and reckon they're worth a visit. After that, perhaps ride up a decent climb into the nearby tea fields. The exercise will do me good.
The sky's clear. I dig out a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of arm-warmers. A jacket goes in my saddlebag, just in case. Our apartment feels cool and it's hard to gauge what it's like outside.
On Sunday, Debbie and I explored some local alleys and as they're kind of en route, I pop back to see if a couple of spots I liked are bathed in sunshine this morning. They're not. Maybe in the afternoon they will will be.
I go down a small backstreet a few minutes later, just off the new section of road, and spot a nice wicker armchair. It looks too good to be sitting outside. Just up the street is an elderly lady sat outside her home and she's seen me in action and I give her a wave while riding past.
My arm-warmers come off.
Ten minutes later, my progress is decent and it seems it won't be long before I'm sat in Louisa with a cappuccino, but there are pretty fields awash with blooms and I take a self-timed shot which takes a few minutes as I have to place the tripod in a field and trek back and get on my bike. It takes two attempts to get myself in the right place when the shutter clicks.
The small shop where I stopped a while back looks empty, but when I glance in Mr Wong is sat there in the same place with a can of beer in his hand, but I keep going because stopping would inevitably delay me for a while and it's already late enough. Maybe on the way home I can have a chat.
There's a small park near Starbucks that has a few pieces of old military equipment on display - a dinky jet fighter, a couple of tanks and some red-tipped missiles. It's a collection I've cycled past many times, but to add a bit of novelty I opt to stop and take a few snaps.
I ride past Starbucks and 100 metres later go in to Louisa and notice the sofa is empty and that's where I sit. The last time I had this seat was when Andy Peat was visiting back in 2017. He borrowed my first commuter bike - one that was pretty crap and has since consigned to history - and we rode the same route as today... up stiff climb I'll be doing soon enough.
It's gone noon and I have a rice veggie burger in Louisa for lunch. It's a bit spicy and makes the cappuccino taste strange.
As I get up to leave, a small Christmas decoration hanging from the track lighting catches my eye and I take a snap of it as it's that time of year and see there's a cobweb on it. It's likely been dangling there for 12 months or more. Taiwanese just leave these kinds of things up as they think they look pretty.
The handful of lanes are just a few minutes up the road, in the direction I'm going, but there's not a lot to photograph, apart from a wooden stool outside one house. A minute later a women carrying bags of shopping comes towards me and a cyclist appears behind her as I surreptitiously take a photo. That's it.
Route 3 takes me out of Longtan and I make a right after a couple of minutes and start climbing. It's a grind, but suddenly it's countryside and the sides of the road are green. It's been a while since my last time here and there's a sense of novelty to it.
Traffic comes in short bursts when the lights at the bottom change green and there's little space to keep safe.
The bar towel that hangs on my handlebars gets used to wipe sweat off my face a couple of times on the climb. It feels like summer again, with the temperature up in the mid to high twenties.
Higher up are terraced rows of tea bushes standing about knee-height and after a short flat section, the road climbs again to a ridge and to my right is a view of distant Taipei. There are tall, radio antenna stationed beside the road and after a few minutes there's a shop with a few tables out front. Andy and I stopped here and I get a cold drink and some chocolate and sit down for a short break.
Just up the road a minute is a turn-off and that takes me back down. It's just a narrow lane that drops through tea farms. There are seldom any vehicles on it.
It's a wonderful cruise down. Years ago my speed would be faster.
There are a few dwelling here and there. Some are built away from the road, up short drives. A few look abandoned, but it's hard to say as farmers are not known for wanting to keep up appearances.
One house near the road gets me to brake because the smashed glass in the windows tells me it's vacant. Inside I see a traditional wooden stool and a basic bed. The neighboring house seems occupied, so maybe they are or were related and have since downsized.
At the bottom near a junction is another shop. This one is beside a temple and there's a wooden table outside and I get an orange and a bottle of water which cost NT$10 each - 30 US cents - and it's nice to enjoy a few minutes sat down. The heat is getting to me.
Once across the junction, it is a climb again. It's not too bad.
The road is lined with small farms before the land gets too steep to cultivate. Terraces have been constructed and mostly it's rice that gets planted at the lower elevations, but it's all recently been harvested and everything looks quite bare.
One farmer is watering a field the size of a basketball court with a domestic hose. It's hard to say how long it'll take him.
The older retaining walls are made from large round stones - pebbles bigger than your head - and this whole area must have been under a glacier during the Ice Age. A few minutes later, when I take a photo of a second farmer at work, an older guy wearing a conical straw hat, I notice the walls are concrete and lack rustic charm. Concrete is the go-to material in Taiwan.
As the road gets higher, tea fields appear again. You wouldn't think there was much difference in altitude, but it must be enough to affect the crops.
The final section of the climb is a killer. The steep part is only about 100 metres or so in length, but my energy is low and I walk up. Usually it's within my capability to spin away, but it's a while since I had a climb to do and my legs are not working too good. You could say it's a bit novel for them.
There are a few homes and I notice a nice table outside the back of one. It doesn't look like it's wanted and perhaps they owner will sell it, but there's nobody around to ask. It has square top like the one we have, but the I reckon the legs on ours have been cut down a couple of inches because my knees don't slide underneath. It's made of hardwood and the 24" top is one solid piece of timber, with no joints. The tree must have been huge.
One abandoned house that I showed Andy back in 2017 has now completely vanished, with its mud bricks walls having disintegrated to such an extent there no way of know it ever existed. An adjacent building is look a bit worse than before with some of the thin clay roof tiles missing. I pick one up off the floor, which someone is till intact, and also spot an old brick. They go in my bar-bag and saddlebag.
For years there's been road works going on and the project is now done. It;s a complex intersection with a main freeway and there are a couple of sets of lights and slip roads to navigate.
A wall of a building that seems like it is or was a car repair shop is in dappled sunshine and the odd paintwork looks nice, with blotched red on top of white. A chained-up dog goes a slightly mental when I walk up and take a photo, which brings the owner out to take to see what's happening. He takes a quick look at me and goes back inside without saying a word.
The sun is getting low and my shadow is getting cast longer.
The wrecked mini is still where it was when I took a snap of the fern inside, but it's now withered.
When I go past the small shop Mr Wong has gone and there's nobody sat at the table.
It feels like a decent ride today, what with the two climbs, and my mind is pondering food as it'll be time to eat soon and there are not too many decent places to eat near home. It seems like a good idea to go back to Traveller Cafe and have pasta and that's what I do.
Once sat inside, a wave of fatigue envelops me and it's good there's only a few minutes of cycling to do to get home. It's totally dark outside now.
Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,047 km (650 miles)
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2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
I reckon I took a near identical photo of those tall, betel nut trees at the foot of that second climb.
2 years ago