Another weekend, another awesome ride in southern Taiwan. I've been on the road working for the Taiwan government around the island and needed a vacation. What better spot than the playground of Taiwan, the beaches and hills of Kenting peninsula? Come below the fold for history, culture, kitsch, scenery -- a three day swirl of southern Taiwan.
WARNING! PICTURE HEAVY!
The ride (Map of the trip) began in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, home to one of the largest concentrations of factories in the world. Although Kaohsiung is often disparaged for being dirty, anarchic, and devoid of culture, I have always loved it for its energy and warm, friendly people.
They're not completely void of culture in Kaohsiung, though.
I stopped on the way out of town to buy some hex wrenches and ran across this fellow, chained to a table.
Downtown Kaohsiung near the train station.
Taiwan is a great place to bike. Bike paths like this one are common, though they are always designed as a secondary piece of infrastructure for recreation. Biking is never envisioned as a primary commuting tool here.
The iconic status of biking in local culture is made visible on this ad for the ruling party's candidate for mayor of Kaohsiung. The two major parties both fielded females; imagine that happening in the second biggest city in the US.
Outside of Kaohsiung one negotiates the madness of Fengshan, the old county seat that in the 19th century was the area's political and administrative center. Despite a century of expansion, it retains its cramped feel, and the locals drive with total disregard for life and limb.
Outside of Kaohsiung I met a friend, Jeff, and turned south. Here he threads his way through the traffic.
In the flats of Pingtung county, next to Kaohsiung county and home to both Kenting and a substantial agriculture and aquaculture industry.
Ducks on a duck farm.
At the traffic circle in the old town of Chaozhou this woman passed us.
Heading out of Chaozhou. One of the interesting ways in which the camera is used by westerners like myself to "orientalize" Asia is the way telefoto lenses in Asia are used to emphasize crowding and limited horizons, while in the US, they are invariably used to emphasis distance and emptiness.
Plastic being laid on a field.
Finally! We reach Fangliao, the last passenger station on the train line and the end of the Pingtung flatlands.
From now on, we'd be on a coastal shelf next to the hills.
Aquaculture is an important local industry. Here some men struggle to move one of the big oxygenators around a pond.
The southwest coast of Taiwan.
As we approached Fenggang where the highway goes over the mountains to the east coast, the bike gods sent us a rainbow.
A side street in Fenggang.
Our excitement grew as we realized the evening was bringing some unbelievable skies.
This section of the coast highway is overrun with tourist buses on a friday afternoon.
Another form of aquaculture: fish farming in large nets offshore.
We hit the town of Hengchun and then turned east onto 199 into some of the loveliest skies ever.
If you think Taiwan is all urban jungle, forget it. This is the real Taiwan.
A farmer hard at work.
The farmer and the moon.
There are some stables for tourists in the area.
An older house nearby.
We reached our destination, a guesthouse in the hot spring/spa district of Sichunghsi. For $1000 NT a night, or about US$30, we got two beds and big bathroom, plus a safe place to park the bikes inside.
Early morning in Sichunghsi.
Jeff grabs breakfast at one of the ubiquitous 7-11s. They help make biking in Taiwan quite convenient.
Our first destination of the day was the Mudan Memorial. This was originally built by the Japanese to commemorate the Mudan Incident of 1874, where "incident" means "battle". The battle, between IJA troops and local aborigines, actually took place in front of the gorge nearby. The Japanese had invaded Taiwan, ostensibly to punish aborigines for attacks on wrecked Japanese vessels, but in reality to see whether they could grab it. They were following the advice of Americans in Japan who, having just failed to convince the US to annex the island, thought maybe Japan should. The island was controlled by Manchu Qing Dynasty of China, which denied controlling the mountainous areas and the east coast.
The views over the area are excellent.
An altar on the site, now defaced.
The gorge where the battle was fought. We followed 199 up here intending to go over to the east coast of the peninsula, but it started to rain. Leaving the manliness contest with the bike gods for another day, we decided to ride on the west coast instead.
I photographed an intersection from an unusual angle. We headed out over my right shoulder there.
The day slowly cleared.
And cleared.
Just a perfect day for ride -- a light breeze, not too hot, clear skies. I took all the photos here with a Fuji HS10, which does a fabulous job with scenery shots.
We eventually stumbled into the little town of Hengchun. Pictured here is the old city gate, one of the few surviving in Taiwan, though all the older cities were once walled against aborigines and revolts. Few of the walls survive today; instead they are commemorated in the ring roads that encircle many of the island's secondary towns.
Through the gate, part of the old city wall survives.
Hengchun is a wonderful town with a real SE Asia/Indian vibe that I instantly fell in love with.
Here we stop at this hair dresser and coffee shop for some ass-kickin' lattes.
[Marlon Brando voice] Stella!
Caption this photo.
The south gate of Hengchun.
Since this ride was all about vacationing, we struck off on a side road rather than face the traffic on Highway 26. Soon it was all farms and hills again.
Riding through a local hamlet.
We stopped to ask this cute woman for directions. She was all abashed when I took her picture.
The western side of the peninsula is dotted with tiny fishing towns, like Houwan ("back bay").
We stopped in Shanhai ("mountain sea") for a lunch of oysters and sashimi and fried noodles.
Yum.
The port.
Girls at play outside the restaurant.
Day-trippers frequently come down from Kaohsiung to have the local seafood.
At sea container ships are reminder of Taiwan's status as a major exporter.
And local ships are a reminder of what puts food on the table.
As you come around the tiny peninsula that just out from the Kenting peninsula, you enter the land of tourists: lots of cars, seafood restaurants, and weekend warriors on big motorcycles.
Nanwan beach. Yes, that really is a nuke plant next to a scenic area, and yes, those are three windmills behind it.
On Saturday Kenting street is gearing up for the tourist hordes waiting to pour into it for Saturday night eating, drinking, and buying. We checked into a nearby hotel and planned a night of watching the other tourists.
Along with the totally unique souvenir clothing...
...are the totally healthy snack foods.
The hordes arrive.
Vendors set up against hilly backdrops.
One reason I love Taiwan so much is the cheap sashimi.
Another reason is the awesome kitsch.
A drinks shops advertises its wares.
Vendors setting up.
Just off the main drag are some better places to stay.
Buying barbecued squid from a street vendor.
At sunset, when everyone returns from the beach....
Street food. Yum.
Grazing their way up the street.
Families stop to play games.
Another reason to love Taiwan: if there are open bottle laws, no one enforces them. Here Jeff and I sit on the steps outside (yet another) 7-11 to watch the endless parade of Saturday night tourists.
The moon announces its time to go to bed. More riding tomorrow!
Alas, the next day the bike gods decided it would rain on us. We headed out to the southernmost point of Taiwan for some photographs, where the rain hadn't hit yet. Though we had determined on a full day of biking up the east side of the peninsula, the rain convinced us otherwise.
Our first plan was to put the bikes on a local bus and go back to Kaohsiung, but the drivers all said "no room". What they meant was "your bikes are too dirty." So headed up the coast 50 kms back to Fangliao.
Fangliao is a typical nondescript Taiwanese small town.
We purchased tickets for Kaohsiung, and retired to a local seafood joint for another round of beer and seafood. Sure is tough biking in Taiwan.
In Fangliao we met another group of bicyclists also heading to Kaohsiung. We met many such groups on the ride; chatting with them is one of the best reasons to ride.
Our train soon arrived.
Some of the express trains have dedicated bicycle cars on weekends. Here we put our bikes in one. In Kaohsiung we would use another convenient train service -- shipping the bikes to anywhere on the island. Taiwan makes biking easy. Which was good, because this weekend was all about easy.
Unforgettable skies made this ride perfect. Hope to see you on the next ride!
Vorkosigan
The View from Taiwan blog