Pingtung City

November 19, 2014

Regressing from sun to smog

Today's ride was pretty long by our standards so we took the most efficient route north from Kenting, staying on Highway 26 and then Highway 1 all the way to Fanglio. Although busy, the highway was a better ride than I had expected, with a wide bicycle/scooter lane the whole way. We enjoyed a brief break from the highway when we veered off onto the small agricultural roads around Checheng - the same pretty stretch we passed through on our ride south from Dawu.

North of Checheng Highway 1 hugs a scenic stretch of coast, but our ocean views were impeded by the meridian barrier of the divided highway. I'm sure this would be a more interesting ride cycling southbound. Further north, as we approached Fanglio and the beginning of the large sprawl around Kaohsiung, our blue skies and the foothills to the east disappeared behind a smog blanket that wrapped us for the remainder of the day's ride.

In Checheng: Guan Gong, lord of the dragons

Iron eggs look like this on the outside. I didn't know what these were at first and needed a demonstration of what to do with one - my first thought was to just bite into it.

An iron egg, exposed. Certainly looks tasty enough - who wouldn't be tempted by an ink-black, gelatinous egg?

Experiencing an iron egg. Interesting, but one (well, most of one) was sufficient.

At Fanglio we left the coast highway for route 185, a much quieter alternative that angles off to the northeast. Under less grimy skies I think this would be quite a pretty ride, passing through agricultural lands with widely diverse crops and orchards that included banana groves, pineapple fields, and duck lagoons. I've never seen ducks treated like a crop before - it made me a bit queasy to see thousands of them jammed together like ants.

Highway 185 made a good alternative to the much busier highway 1.

The duck drover. There was a much better picture that got away because I couldn't get the camera out quickly enough. He has just finished herding hundreds of ducks into the water, looking like a white waterfall as they tumbled in.

We were surprised at what a large city Pingtung is - it must be about 5 miles across. We arrived here too late in the day to do anything but look around as we cycled to our hotel, but it seems like a place worth exploring a bit. I don't think the city sees a lot of tourism though - at least not from the West. No one we encountered spoke more than the most minimal English. For dinner we ate at a restaurant described on our tourist map as 'Hong Kong diner', which looked the most accessible option to us because it displayed a few food photos at the doorway. We were reduced to pointing at the pictures after failing at any other form of communication. It was especially discouraging that two words of Chinese I thought I knew, for English and beer, sparked no sign of recognition. Fortunately, Heiniken seems to be a widely recognized word so we were able to procure a balanced meal with all the major food groups included.

Our opulent motel room in Pingtung City. A bit embarrassing - large enough for a family of 4, but the jacuzzi was great.

Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 557 miles (896 km)

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