Total Distance : 56.0 km
Today's Temp : 20 - 29c
Average Speed : 14.5 km max: 30.5
Time On Bike : 3 hr 52 min
Average Climb : 2% max: 6%
Total Altitude : 109 m max: 26 m
Today's Spending : NTD 1159 ( wifi 900 + deposit 2500)
Total Spending Todate : NTD 1399
Woke up from a very good sleep last night.Thnaks to Tony for being so kind to let me sleep on the comfortable bed and he sacrifies a bit to rough it out on the hall sofa.The weather so far here is excellent,cooling in the morning and night,while sunny in the afternoon,just the perfect weather for us.Our plan today is just to ride around the city along the popular bike lanes of Dansui and Keelung River,and most importantly is non other than the famous touristic 101 building.When we carried our bikes down the steep narrow staircase,the building watchman in his 70+ age was surprised to see 2 weird strangers and started throwing lots of questions in local Hockkian slang which i find hard to understand,but somehow i managed to convince him that, the house owner is Rod Lin ,he is my friend and he had passed the house keys to us to stay here for a few days while he is on holiday.I had to slow down my talking and increased my voice volume,a bit of Malaysian hockkian mixed with mandarin here and there to finally get the OK sign,signh.......
Armed with the city bike map,we started the ride in Guting along the Dansui River.The traffic is not that busy after 9 but still many scooters on the roads at fast speed,zoom passing left and right from the back. The golden rule for foreign cyclists is " Stay focus on your line. Don't make sudden left or right turnings".The traffic direction is on the Right, opposite from Malaysia,so mount your mirror on the left side of handlebar.We stop at a local morning market near the Youth Park for breakfast of YangChunMiem with a side dish of pork slice (NTD70). The market has row of stalls selling all kind of groceries,foods,veges just like the one in Malaysia.We continued the ride into the quiet,scenic bike paths along the rivers built just for bicycles and pedestrians walking,the good feeling of another world as compared to the busy narrow streets with many traffic light junctions,separated by a tall decorated wall of graphics.Many other cyclists and joggers can be seen here. Facilities like movable toilets,playgrounds,wooden/ rock chairs and tables were found along the route.From the Yenping riverside park,we turned into the Keelung river of Shuzidao, but was not able to complete the full loop due to road was close temporary under construction. Forced to turn back using the inner road sharing with other traffics until Yenping riverside park.From here we hit left into the town looking for lunch at one of the shop selling LuRowFan NTD80 ( Rice with mince pork source topping ). After checking direction to 101 from the shop owner,we proceed rather cautiously on the busy road and constantly checking on the scooters from behind thru the mirror.Soon we were a bit lost and started referring to our map on the street name,and the sky for a glimpse of the 101 building.At the end,with the help of a local roadie,we arrived at the 101 and happily have our photos taken under very strong wind. The wind was so strong that my bike was blown off to the ground at one stage,lucky my bike escaped with only minor scratches. We saw the FaLunGong group having their sitting in front of the building, protesting against the mainland banning of its activities.I don't really understand the FaLunGong,only read about the movement in newspaper.We were hunting high and low to buy internet data line or wifi,but were disappointed to make the run around by the shopkeeper.We gave up and started to find our way back to Rod's apartment.It came as a big surprise when we walked out for dinner,we found a small mobile shop and Tony wanted to buy a local simcard,also renting out external USB wifi for NTD 1800 for one month unlimited usage,and a deposit of NTD2500.Happy now as we can connect the world once more.Time for dinner in a cantonese restaurant for a plate of beef fried rice NTD80 and Tony ordered roasted duck rice NTD120,the dinner was rather disappointing.Back to the apartment,the internet is working fine with my Asus laptop,and happily i posted my 1st journal since arriving here.
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| Getting ready before we head out in Rod's apartment. |
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| Tony seems quite eager to start his ride,pic taken at the front gate |
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| Picture taken at the Youth park while on the way to breakfast |
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| We decided to have breakfast here. |
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| Tony looks hungry |
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| Yong Chuen Mee with Ginger Pork slice for side dish |
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| one of the meat stall |
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| Taiwan popiah |
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| Asking for some directions to Yenping Park |
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| Waiting for the traffic light to turn green |
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| And off we go |
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| Tony taking a picture of the road sign |
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| Guangdu Bridge across the Xindian River |
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| Guangdu Bridge across the Xindian River |
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| A Group photo with the friendly and helpful local cyclist |
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| Tony pushing his bike up the staircase, now he knows how I went through in Japan |
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| Cycling though the Yenping Park |
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| Solar panel in the shape of a sunflower |
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| Left lane is for bicycles and Right is for motorcycles |
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| A wall graffiti expressing the previous era of Taiwan |
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| A wall separating 2 worlds |
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| An original graffiti |
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| An airplane landing at the nearby airport |
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| Tony expressing his happiness |
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| Zhongxiao Bridge |
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| Where we went cycling today |
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| The main entrance to the park in the shape of a bicycle handle bar |
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| Taipei to promote this cycling route |
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| The 2nd part of the park which is closer to the river, very strong headwind |
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| One of the many rest stop |
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| The 2nd part of the park was closed for construction, accidentally went inside |
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| Bicycle friendly everywhere |
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| Another set of graffiti expressing the modern era of Taiwan |
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| What we had for lunch |
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| FaLunGong in a silent protest in front of Taipei 101 |
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| A very nice glass brick wall with individuals name engraved on it. |
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| I think they contributed to the making of this colourful block |
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| Taken in front of Taipei 101 |
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| My bent in Taipei 101 |
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| What more than to take a picture with Tony in front of the iconic Taipei 101 |
Food looks really good!
ReplyDeletePauline