Taiwan – PedalTheGlobeBlog

On arrival, at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, I made short shrift of withdrawing some money from the cash machine, and picking up a Chungwha Telecom eSIM, apparently they were the network that would provide the best reception in the more remote areas of the Island.

I hopped on the MRT rail network Express train in the direction of Taipei main station, and, hopefully, only caused a minor inconvenience by taking up a significant portion of the available luggage space with my bike box.

On reaching the station, I opted to hop in an Uber for the remaining part of the journey, having just used my new local phone number to reactivate my account. It had seemed like a good option as I was able to book an XXL vehicle, thinking that would be big enough for the bike box, and it definitely was, but that didn’t stop the driver from seeming rather disgruntled at having to press the buttons that would initiate the folding away of the back seats, to fit the box in.

After much internal debate, earlier in the week, I had decided to stay at the Illume Taipei hotel, I’d read that someone had been able to store a bike box there while cycling around the island, and I thought that the international breakfast buffet would ease me into the country gently. That was the plan, at least, though as breakfast was served until 10 o’clock, and I didn’t awake until half past 11, that was, perhaps, a moot point.

I’d flown to Taiwan with Turkish airlines, largely due to the ongoing difficulties in the Middle East, which were already playing out when I had booked the flights, and had had a reasonably positive experience, positive enough, that the long list of interesting sounding locations on the departure board, had piqued my interest while waiting for my transfer in Istanbul.

The unavoidable downside had been that the 15+ hours of flight time and the additional 5 hours spent in airports, had left me rather fatigued. It was nearing the 5 pm sunset, when I finally left the hotel to find something to eat, and having spent a while criss-crossing a busy intersection to check out the nearby food options, I gave in and chose the familiarity of a McDonald’s touchscreen, selecting the slightly less familiar flavour combinations of a Halloween themed burger, seaweed salted fries, yuzu Fanta, and a blackforest gateaux McFlurry.

Back in the hotel, I began re-assembling the bike, mindful of the fact that tomorrow I would be setting off to pedal around the island, and having a functioning bicycle might be useful.

Most of the assembly went smoothly, until it was time to set the gears back up, that was. I regretted not having my cable tensioner with me, especially as I was planning on leaving a bag in the bike box, with a few items that I wasn’t planning to take with me, and it could have been left in there.

It was late by the time that I finally finished the basic set up of the bike, and although I was keen to head out for something to eat, I was already aware that the late night eating options in the area around the hotel were limited, so I hopped on the MRT into Beimen station, near the centre, and made for a 24 hour beef and noodle soup restaurant nearby. Noting that the last train back was at 12:44 am, I had less than an hour to get back to the station, but luckily the service was rapid-fire and the ‘medium-sized’ portion of beef and noodle soup, and the large plate of pork dumplings arrived swiftly, and in the end, it wasn’t even a rush, getting back for the train on time.

10 years ago, in November 2016, I travelled to Marrakech, leaving the main square of the Djemaa El Fna, a hive of snake charmers and snail soup stalls – in the shadow of the Koutoubia mosque – and setting off on my bike, amongst horse carts and mopeds, into the High Atlas mountains on a route I’d pieced together from a Michelin map. It was a shock to the system, and despite the stunning scenery, the overall experience was probably slightly out of my comfort zone at the time.

Eventually, my appetite for adventure returned, however, and in early 2020, mere months before the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the world, I spent a month in Vietnam, cycling between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The day I set off from the 8 million- peopled Hanoi was one of the most stressful days I’ve had on any trip, as I looked out of my hotel room window, watching an endless stream of scooters streaming past in the pouring rain. But, I had 1200 miles to cycle in 21 days, there was no choice but to join them on the road. It was a massive relief when – after 30 miles – I finally broke free from the city’s confines, and, ultimately, the trip was an incredible experience, and probably the most rewarding one I’ve had so far.

So, after I’d returned from January’s outstanding exploration, of the Carretera Austral in Chile, and started to consider options for another sojourn this year, I decided to look east once more, to the island of Taiwan, the thought of which was no longer as daunting as it would have been before my previous trips.

In its favour, Taiwan is home to an extensive bike network, and the concept of the Huandao, around the island cycle ride as a rite-of-passage for the local people. On top of that, it is home to a large proportion of the world’s bike-manufacturing industry, largely due to mega-brands Giant and Merida being built there; and also being where the frame for my own Thorn Club Tour bike was constructed.

With the island famed for its beautiful coastlines, towering peaks, volcanoes and geothermal baths, stunning Buddhist and Taoist temples, and its eclectic pan-Asian cuisine, a mixture of Chinese, Japanese, South-East Asian, and Western influences, I decided to form a route – largely based around the prescribed 600 mile Taiwan Route 1 loop around the island – but altering some parts to take in the north and south coasts, and swapping out the busy west coast cities for the 3000 metre plus mountains of the interior – altogether a grand total of around 900 miles, to be covered in 3 weeks. Hopefully it will be enough to be getting on with…