Kaleidoscopic Kaohsiung

Taiwan Stage 8 – Tainan to Kaohsiung 57 Km (Sun 18 Nov 2018)

Weather: 21⁰C min – 30⁰C max, partly cloudy

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“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing” ~ Denis Waitley

Concentration is needed when cycling in large cities such as Tainan, the danger being the thousands of motor scooters sharing the bike lane with cyclists. It is important to be alert at all times because the motor scooters are so unpredictable, cutting across in front of your bike and heading straight towards you heading down the bike lane the wrong way. Just crazy here!

One thing I am never tempted to do is proceed through an intersection after the lights turn orange, because there is usually a large bunch of scooters revving up waiting to charge like the Light Brigade as soon as their lights turn green. Left hand turns here are similar to the main city intersections in Melbourne, in that you head for the far corner of the intersection and face the direction you want to turn as soon as the lights change to green in that direction.

After about 8 Km I escaped the hustle and bustle of Tainan, breathing a sigh of relief at reaching the country road in one piece. Riding was peaceful at last and I made good time on the smooth, flat, broad shoulder of the highway.

Several interesting things caught my attention along the way:
– men fishing in a muddy pond (I hope they don’t eat any fish they catch);
– a young equestrian being taught to ride;
– fighter jets zooming overhead (hopefully just a test flight);
– a bride and bridesmaids getting into a car (the same ribboned car I had observed earlier dropping “throwdown” and “jumping jack” fire crackers onto the road);
– my first view of the ocean since arriving in Taiwan;
– an avenue of eucalyptus trees.

A highlight of the day was the “Lotus Pond” about 4 Km north of Kaohsiung. No lotus flowers were seen, but the imposing Kaohsiung Confucius Temple was impressive, as were the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas over the other side of the beautiful lake.

Kaohsiung itself is clean and modern and is the first bicycle friendly major city I have seen in Taiwan. It was too early to check in at my hotel, so I left my panniers there and did a 13 Km ride along the fantastic bike path running beside the Love River, adorned with colourful bougainvilleas along it’s banks on both sides.

Having completed eight stages and 530 Km, I am now at the half way mark of my tour of the island. Tomorrow will be my last ride down the west coast before I start heading up the less densely populated (and apparently more scenic) east coast. As always, my tour is going too quickly!