November 11th

November 11, 2022

Yingge

Today is 11/11, which is now dubbed Singles' Day over here. It's basically another shopping opportunity primarily aimed at those who are not in a relationship.

My focus is on a trip north to Yingge, a small town that has a ceramics museum. I've arranged to meet one of the staff there to discuss an exhibition that I'm curating and rather than arrive all sweaty from an hour's ride, I decide to catch a train and just cycle back.

There are a few departures to choose from, but after having breakfast and sending a few emails, there's not enough time to get the one just before 9:00, so I opt for the 9:20. This gives me some breathing space, which I fill a little with a visit to the station's FamilyMart. Their latte isn't bad.

50-50 ...the chinese character 巷 means 'alley'

I bought a latte in FamilyMart at the station before getting the 9:20 train north

It's a hot, humid one and the forecast is for 30 degrees and I seek some shade on Platform 1 before my 20-minute, three-stop journey on a train that has a load of commuters and various other passengers heading north, which means there are no seats, so I stand with my bike. It's not a problem.

The museum is just a few minutes' away from the station, through the busy town centre, which seems like a bottle neck with 16-wheeler trucks jostling cars and scooters for road space. It's a few minutes, but not fun.

As I'm locking my bike against a wall outside the museum, the ticket clerk comes out of a garden shed-like booth and tells me the parking space is around the corner. I take a quick look at the secluded area and conclude it's a thieves' dream, so decide to wheel my bike down a concrete ramp, past a friendly security guard and into the staff parking area taking up the museum's basement.

My contact is a twentysomething whose English is better than she reckoned in her email and we talk about the handed-down concern regarding the supposedly large number of items (88) and the size of pedestals that I've earmerked and before long her boss is with us and then the museum's designer. The points of contention all get ironed out.

There's a biennially on and it seems daft not to look around, which takes up half an hour and it's getting on for noon when I eventually ride my bike out from the museum's bowels and say bye to the security guard.

Yingge Ceramics Museum - work by Yana Payusova (Russia)

Yingge Ceramics Museum - work by Toshiya Masuda (Japan)

The intrepid Bill Weir is someone who's toured Taiwan a few times. He's back. We've vaguely arranged to meet in Yingge and I linger in Starbucks till 12:30, reading a Mick Herron novel, before cruising down the town's main tourist street that's lined with pottery galleries in the hope of bumping into him. He's cycled south from Taipei and I eventually spot him stuck at a red light at the bottom and lead him just up the street to an 85 Coffee place that has a few empty tables.

It feels nice to be out of the hazy sunshine and we chat about life in general and some places he wants to see here - islands - temples - interesting buildings. Ninety minutes soon go. He has a local Airbnb booked and plans to look around the ceramics museum, while I have an hour or so of cycling to do.

I get to the Dahan River that flows to Taipei and start riding upstream on a smooth bicycle path. It cuts through park-like places and runs beside stretches of grass before a short section of road takes me to route 114. After five minutes of that I've turned off and begin pedalling on a narrow lane that roughly follows a busy highway that's elevated above. There are no cars down here.

There's a steep, bendy climb to get up to the town of Bade and my shirt and mitts are sweaty and it's good to have an excuse to stop and wipe my face with a pub towel when I spot a beatle on the tarmac. It's a biggie with a pair of nasty-looking pincers opened out. I take a snap.

After that strenuous exercise it's plain sailing with little to stop for and it's just a minute or two after 4:00 when I arrive home.

Imagine those pinchers gripping your private parts

Are canidates getting younger, or is it just me getting old?

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 1,950 km (1,211 miles)

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