December 28th

December 28, 2021

Danan and Taoyuan

The sun's out and I've no work today, so going for a spin is on the agenda. Riding to Danan seems like a good idea, but maybe a bit short, so I take a quick look at Google Maps on my desktop and see Route 4 goes from there north to Taoyuan train station - meaning I can come back on a commuter train, rather than tackle the busy main road that links these two cities.

It looks like there are some old houses on side streets off the 4, so I take a snap of the computer screen before setting off, just in case I get discombobulated. That's a high probability.

It's sunny, but I don a rarely worn long-sleeved merino wool top and put an old Gortex jacket in the saddlebag.

My Casio says it's gone 10 o'clock when the 114 takes me away from home and after 10 minutes or so there's a left turn and a minute later there's a turquoise wall that I photographed a while ago.

The bright colour is in sunshine and this time my camera takes a shot directly right in front rather than from an angle as before. The problem is sun is still low, making the shadows pronounced. A couple of hours later and it'll likely be better. Another day.

From close to the turquoise wall, a lane drops down past a few older homes and leads to small farms and allotments. Men and women looking to be past their prime are tending to neat lines of veg, but none can be bothered to acknowledge me when I ping my bell.

The flat lane bends around fields and rows of poly' tunnels and takes me beside a shallow river (where I see two turtles on a rock) before connecting to the main road heading into Danan. It's not quality riding along this section of the route, but there's no alternative.

Once there, usually I make a left to the market area, but I turn right instead and ride for a few minutes towards a spot that I found last time here - a nice section of wall that I photographed. I want to take another snap of it.

It turns out this is maybe an hour or so too early, as the wall is in shade, so I make my way towards Louisa Coffee, cruising along back streets and alleys on the lookout for anything photogenic. There's not that much, but I spot a dumpling stand stacked with the round containers they get steamed in and make do with snapping one of that.

It takes 20 minutes to get my hot drink and what Louisa Coffee calls a wrapanini. It's a toasted sandwich. I feel sorry for a Food Panda delivery guy who waits just as long for his drinks to be made, as he's getting paid per order and this one is taking some time. I've got all day and look out the window and relax.

The charity shop is around the corner. There's nothing there except a small, new, backpack made for Decathlon that's just over a buck and it goes in my saddlebag to keep my old jacket company. It'll go to my daughter.

I make my way back to the wall and take a snap, but the sun has gone behind clouds now and it all looks a bit flat, so I ride a block east then start cycling north towards the train station in Taoyuan.

My plan is to explore the side streets while making a beeline to Taoyuan, as the 4 is not the kind of road that makes nice cycling.

Perhaps some readers wince when they read that previous sentence, as it seems Americans don't usually say the when taking about road numbers, like the 4.

Explaining the use of the or a to students here is not as easy as you might think as English speakers can either say: "Walk across the road" or "Walk across a road." Cormac McCarthy's novel wouldn't be quite the same if it was titled A Road, but many speakers of various foreign languages don't easily understand the difference between a and the because articles are not used before nouns. It's just: walk across road. Why Americans don't say drive along the I-94 yet in the UK people say the M25 is a bit of a mystery.

Anyway, the 4 is a wide, urban road that's busy with traffic, with drivers focused on their own agenda of getting to where they want to be. Spacial awareness is low. It stems from the way drivers learn and get a license here.

There are a few side lanes, but turn out to be short dead ends. I venture along various streets and alleys and see the odd sight, but it's a short-lived experience and in next to no time I'm crossing under the railway line and cycling in the centre of Taoyuan. It doesn't take long to find my way to the station.

The ticket clerk says I can't get off at Neili, the stop before Zhongli. That's another mystery for me to ponder. She sells me to for NT$25 for me and the bike - less than one US dollar - and it's only a short hop of ten minutes or so and the train leaves at just after 1:30.

The train pulls in at Neili and I think about getting off just to be subversive. I can ride a different route home, but it's noting special and I decide to stay on and get my 25 NT dollars' worth.

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 1,097 km (681 miles)

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