Category Motorbike
Taoyuan is not all that far from Hsinchu, about an hour and a half by country roads. Having ridden the scooter to Hsinchu on Friday afternoon, I had to bring it back on Sunday because I need it for work. Me and Yini decided to do this as a small trip, going eastward through the mountains instead of the straight road. It turned out to be a bit of an adventure that, including several stops, took us most of the day.
Riding along the winding mountain roads, we first came to a mountainside cafe where we stopped for tea. From … Read the rest
In my last post I mentioned some rather dramatic looking formations of mud. Today, I took my friend Kai back there. This time I brought a camera, hope you enjoy my pictures.
Downstream from the main fall 
Stepping across a dangerous crack 
Living on the edge 
Kai wondering how to get to the little bridge 
Jump? 
This looks like a sturdy cliff… 
…Nope!
A single plant has grown up through the mud 
Feet on dried mud 
A final photo of me doing a hero pose atop the mud cliff
After Chinese new year it felt good to be home and relax a bit but it felt even better to be able to ride my scooter again. So, the day after me and Yini got back to Hsinchu, we got on the scooter and went out for some random ridning in the city.
We started by going back to the closed off new road described here, and exploring the area it connects to.
We made one round at the end of that road and discovered another, almost empty stretch of asphalt. On the way back from there however, I … Read the rest
Even though we are well within the city limits, on a big road no less, the street lights suddenly end. As we pass the boundary between bright orange and near complete darkness, the head light on my scooter becomes our main light source. A couple of concrete barricades stop us from entering the main road surface but the bike path is free,so we move forward on that until we pass the barriers. As soon as we enter the wider lanes in the center of the road, I open up the throttle and yell with excitement as we accelerate down the … Read the rest
Today was an amazing day; we visited many places, saw many things and had lots of fun. We started off by renting a scooter from a friendly little place nearby our accommodation. We rode off to find some brunch but alas there was none to be had on the road we took. We did however find a sight well worth exploring. A small path led us past an abandoned house up on the cliffs overlooking the sea. There we found a set of stairs leading down into a small bunker with some slits for rifles.
To my left, green mountains with bare Rocky cliffs, a blue sky up above and a slope down towards azure blue sea. In front of me a thin band of asphalt bending of to the right. I slow down and savor the moment of being on a motorized two wheeler once again, my girlfriend behind me and the wind on my face. Then I lean into the curve and twist my right hand, the scooter shoots forward and zooms through the bend while a fizzy feeling of speed bubbles up within me.… Read the rest
I’ve compiled a couple of notes I made on my map to summarize the trip. Anyone interested can check out the pictures below:
From Hualien to our goal in Yilan it was only a day of driving. We could easily have gone to Taroko gorge, arguably one of the most beautiful parts of the entire island with its rivers sheer cliff faces. However, both me and Yini have been there fairly recently so we opted against it.
Instead we kept driving along the coastal road which turns out to be one of the most beautiful stretches of tarmac in the country with sheer cliff faces rivaling those of Taroko, sloping down into turquoise water.
While riding, storm strength winds suddenly descended upon us … Read the rest
We’ve done so many things today it’s hard to summarize it all without missing anything. From Taidong we drove to Hualien, a distance of some 160 kilometers which should take no more than three hours or so. However, it took us all day thanks to lots of random tourism. There was the beach side park full of installations; there was the detour up a mountain for a birds eye view; there was the old bridge over a river right next to the new one; there was the cave made into a temple and many other short stops at more or … Read the rest
Today started with a short visit to a nearby lagoon that was said to be worth while. Since many of the attractions were closed down for repair there was not as much to see as I hoped. We did however take a short boat tour which turned out to be very cool. Out in the middle of the lagoon is a small island, entirely made of oyster shells. Apparently fishermen have been dumping them there for thirty years which has formed a small island. It’s barely worth calling an island, it’s more like a sand bank I guess, but amazingly … Read the rest