February 10th

February 10, 2023

Yingge Ceramics Museum

Lockdown is fading away into history here in slo-mo, with the government recently announcing that face masks won't be required indoors later this month... except for in hospitals and also on public transport. I make sure mine's stashed in my bar-bag before leaving home as the plan is to get a train north to Yingge, where I've curated an exhibition of 'brutalist' English pottery in the town's ceramics museum. I'll pedal back.

Riding into town makes me seriously question the plan, with drizzle wafting over me and speckling my glasses. The sky is a big, grey blanket and the damp air feels cool. The forecast said it'd be fine.

I'm in a short-sleeved top with a fleece jacket on top, but my red waterproof is in the saddlebag just in case. Debbie said to bring it.

Window grill on the way to the train station

The idea is to get a train at 10:38, but I arrive at the station in time to get the 10:22, which comes as a bit of a shock, and 19 minutes later I'm upending my bike onto its back wheel and squeezing into Yingge station's small elevator to get down to street level. It's clear that the weather hasn't improved a whole lot, but at least it's dry.

The museum is just a five-minute cruise away along busy streets and the guard manning its staff entance wonders what I'm doing freewheeling down the ramp towards the underground parking area and calls someone on the phone in his tiny cubicle. Two guys soon come out and one speaks English and I subsequently get ushered inside via the loading bay, where I was at last Wednesday after transporting numerous cardboard boxes packed with pottery.

Setting up the exhibition only took a couple of hours. Today I just want to take a few photos now that the lighting has been sorted out.

A female passenger about to catch the 10:22 train going north - I get off at Yingge

With the 1960s pottery made by Alan Wallwork

I have about 90 pieces in the exhibition

While I'm getting my camera out, a member of staff walks over and checks who I am, as tripods are not allowed. It's nice they're attentive. There're now glass covers over the smaller plinths, so the photos are mainly for keepsakes rather than of the pieces themselves. The show looks good, but I can't help wonder how I can be accommodate at home, as the place is already stuffed full of pottery.

Ellie, the coordinator I've been dealing with, appears and we chat for a while, then she introduces me to the museum's PR person and I answer some questions for a press release she'll put out next week. It'll be interesting to read. I wish it'd been done and dusted a month ago.

Within an hour I'm back on my bike and riding along the nearby riverside bicycle path, heading south against the flow. The path is flat and there's nobody around. Out in an extremely wide section of the Dahan River is a small boat and the man in it is casting a net into the water and pulling it back in. I don't recall seeing that done here before.

After a few kilometres I veer away from the river and about three minutes of cycling along a road gets me to a spot where I make a right. From here it's a case of following a narrow lane that traces the route of the main highway that's elevated much higher than a house.

I decide to take a slightly different route and climb up a hill that includes two hairpins and it brings me out near a neighborhood of older houses. I explore a few narrow streets, but the homes have mostly been done up and the only photo I take that looks anything is of a cheap bicycle named Poney leaning against a tiled wall before heading to nearby Route 114.

Just 100 or so metres away is a junction and around the corner on route 4 is a large branch of NET and as I have a mooch around it dawns on me that I'm not wearing my face mask.

Route 4 is a main road of four lanes and it runs due north into the main shopping part of Bade. Traffic is a bit too much for comfort.

I feel peckish as it's getting on for one now and breakfast was a while ago, so I go into a McDonald's before the 4 takes me into the throbbing heart of the older part of Bade. I make a left and find Louisa Coffee on a side street and have a hot frothy one while sat on a tall stool by the window. There's only me today, which is very unusual.

A charity shop is just a minute from Louisa Coffee and I look around and take a snap of a Buzz Lightyear toy that catches my eye. If I had a car, it'd get stuck on the rear window.

A street vendor is selling steamed buns and I get a bag full for NY$90 - about US$3 - as Debbie likes them for breakfast. The bag is pretty heavy and there are six inside and the bag gets hooked over my bar-end and dangles from the right grip as I ride north out of town.

There's a few minutes of busy road before I can make a left and follow a shallow river that curves through an rural area with polytunnels and fields of rice that are waterlogged and looking sad in this grey weather.

It occurs to me to set up my tripod for a self-timed snap, but I spot a few workers picking what's left of some green veg inside a long polytunnel and reckon that'll be as good as.

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 2,342 km (1,454 miles)

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