The last few weeks

Hey everybody!
   
     I know it's been a a little over a week since the last post, but I've been a) a bit busy with school, only 1 1/2 weeks left and finals are coming fast, b) a bit under the weather, not to mention getting tooth aches, so taking care of that problem in a foreign country will be an experience, and c) lazy. I think that last post took it out of me for a little bit.

     But not long after returning home from my biking adventure to Yilan I started getting more involved with the website Couchsurfing.com. If anyone is planning on making a trip to Anywhere and wants to save a few bucks on lodging while at the same time meeting some wonderfully hospitable people that can show you around the place, use this website.

     I met other people who were on there way to Taipei for a visit. A girl named Ellyse who was from Singapore originally, but now works out of Shanghai as a courier, was on her way to Taipei for a delivery. She had been here many times in the past and seen everything to be seen within Taipei city, so she wants to get out more into the suburbs and old villages. We decided to go to a place called Yingge. Famous for texiles and ceramics. We took the train out and saw a few museums and parks before heading back to Taipei to head to Raohe night market for dinner (raohe is one of the many night markets in taipei i had not yet been to)

     So that was all last Tuesday. Just over this past weekend I participated in my very first Alley Cat Race outside of the US of A. It was very exciting, because Taipei can be a very fun/dangerous place to ride a bike, especially when racing. So obviously I had to take a more conservative approach to "racing" Plus I didn't know the city layout nearly well enough, I ended up getting lost from my group of friends after the very first checkpoint and ended up tagging along with some locals that seemed to know which direction to go. In the end I finished the race 13th out of about 100, so pretty not bad if you ask me.

     Lastly, ole 博登 (Bódēng, thats my name in chinese) gets to finally have a date with a local girl tonight (a friendly date) as well as finally see the last Harry Potter flick. It's funny the girl Lynn and I were in the same boat, we both have been wanting to see it, but not alone, and none of our friends wanted to join us, so this worked up perfectly. Another reason couchsurfing is great, I met lynn that night at Raohe night market, because she met Ellyse and I there for dinner, as she was letting Ellyse stay on her couch that night while she was in town.... You see it all works out in the end.

Taipei City scape painted inside a bowl.

The weird blob on the right side is actually about 3 stories tall, but it was closed so we couldn't go inside and see the view from the top. The plates were all much much taller than I.

My good buddy A-Feng, and behind him, holding his bike down is Xiao You, just before the race starts.

Discussing race strategies.

Listening to the instructions......

... And GO!!!!

   
   

Bike Tour: Taipei to Yilan 單車旅遊：台北到宜蘭

     My trip this weekend was a complete success! It actually turned out better than I had planned. In a nut shell, on Friday I got the urge to take a very long bike ride over the weekend. So on Saturday morning I biked to Yilan City, it was about 50 miles of riding through the Mountain Roads (hwy 9) and took about 6 hours. I stayed the night in Yilan at a new friends house, then on Sunday I followed the Ocean Road (hwy 2) home, which was about 75 miles and took about 7 hours. I saw many great sites, Finally got to hang out at the beach, first time since getting to Taiwan... Met some great people, ate great food.

Details Below
(pictures are at the very bottom of the page)

Cartography by Brendan Allen (Me!!!) I love making maps.

     At first I thought of biking up to the Feicui Reservoir and researching the dam (cause i'm a nerd like that) It supplies the water for Taipei City. But that ride was not nearly long enough. So I looked to the East coast of Taiwan and thought that Yilan City was a better destination. I could make a whole weekend of of it. So I did some fast research Friday night about how to actually bike there, which I figured out by looking at other peoples blogs who had made the trip in the past. Made key adjustments to my polo bike to make it more suitable for a long tour (change the gear ratio, add a front brake) And then, find a place to stay in Yilan, which I used the greatest travelers website ever, Coushsurfing.com, found a guy who lived in Yilan who had no problem helping out weary travelers by lending his couch to sleep on, not to mention show me around the town while I was there.
 
Day 1:
     I left my house right at 8am, I was on schedule for once! At about 8:40am I made it to Xiandian MRT (Metro Train) it was the last check point in Taipei City before hitting the mountains. Now the road to Yilan is a lot like the humps of a Bactrian Camel. Right outside of Taipei was about

1 1/2 hours of straight climbing, then you descend in a valley, climb back out of it, then descend in Yilan. The first break I got in the first climb was a great coffee place dedicated to cyclists, it was called (picture 1-3) 卡普咖啡 "Curve Coffee" as it was located in a big switchback to lead into the valley. The women that ran the place greeted me with "pa hao?" 爬好？(hows the climbing?) There a bunch of other cyclists there, and as I rested there I saw a few others that I had pasted during my climb. They had free water and a bike pump for the riders, and delicious lemonade which was perfect the the incredibly hot weather. Descending into the valley was beautiful! Much of the trail followed the Feicui Reservoir, and I could see lots of farmlands (pictures 4-6) I also passed through some of the small townships in the interior like Pinglin 坪林 (picture 7)  Climbing back out of the valley was terribly painful. I was very tired and sore already and I knew I still had about 2 hours ahead of me. I had a small scare as I started the climb. I was flagged down outside of a police station and asked to come in side and register, I didn't really know why, and I did't quite understand his explanation. I think the just want to keep track on cyclists in case something happens. They wanted me to fill out a form and then they would place a registration sticker on my bike so other police could identify me. But I didn't have my passport, and didn't remember the passport number, so they said I couldn't register. At first I thought this meant they weren't going to let me continue on, but after asking they told me to carry on my merry way, I'd just be a un-registered rider. Fine with me, I had a mountain to climb registered or not. It took about 1 1/2 to climb the second mountain. As I got closer to the top a strong head wind came, which biking up a hill into the wind is a very aggravating thing, but I couldn't have been happier. I knew that wind was blowing off of the Mighty Pacific, which meant I was getting close. Coming down off the hill was great! It was very steep on so the finally section was switchback after switchback, and I was flying down them. The only problem was the other cars, going down a hill at 30mph is scary when a car passes you, but it was good and bad that they seemed to come in chains about 10 cars, then I was alone for about 2 minutes. The amazing ride down the hill was about 15 mintues. Great views of Yilan and Jiaoxi.

     When I decided to do this on Friday night, I didn't really know what I was going to do when I got there. I didn't know what there was to do, but I did know that Jiaoxi was famous for its natural hot springs 自然溫泉. And so that was the first thing I did when I got into town. There are hot springs everywhere that you can go to, I wasn't sure which was good or bad, so I just choose one at random at it was Awesome! Very traditional style, men and women were separated, no clothing was allowed, had to shower before and after. Inside was all wood and stone, it was beautiful. The pool itself was all wood, the ceiling went up 2-3 stories of just wooden rafters, and the walls were open to the outside toward the top. The hot spring pool (42-43 C/ 107 F) took up most of the floor, and in the corner was a stone resting pool, (about 70 F) It was suggested that you only stay in the hot pool about 10 minutes then go into the resting pool or sit by the side for 5 minutes before going back in. I seriously cannot think of a more perfect way to relax after beating up my body for 6 hours. After the hot spring, in the courtyard outside where people giving massages, so I had to get one of those too. It was usually 300 kuai (about 10 bucks) for 20 minutes, but because I was a foreigner the women felt she had to give me a discount as a way to thank me for coming to her stand, and because she though I was so handsome, so she charged me 200 kuai.

     After the massage it was already 4pm and time to leave Jiaoxi and actually make it Yilan. When I got there I was casually biking around looking at the city (picture 8-11), getting some food, then getting incredibly lost trying to find an ocean side bike trail (I wasn't even close to finding it) By this time my friend Morice that I met on that most remarkably useful of website Couchsurfer.com had gotten off of work and was ready to meet up. Well I had no idea where I was, my map wasn't doing me much good, so I found a bus transfer station and told him I was there and he came got me. We first went back to his place so I could drop off my bike (I was very happy to finally get out of the saddle) and I took a shower, then we headed out to the night market for food!!! We had 鐵板燒 where they cook all the food in front of you on a huge steel table, thats what 鐵板 basically means. It was great eating a big, real meal after eating mostly nuts and dried fruit all day. We also had bbq pork skewers, delicious. Then we were walking around the downtown, as he was running an errand, we went to the mall and had some dessert, sweet shaved ice with beans and fruit, also delicious! Finally I was getting very tired and needed to rest up, so we got some beers and small snacks and went back to his place and drank and chatted. Morice was incredibly helpful and gracious. This was not the first time he had hosted a weary traveler. Ends up I was the fourth person he had helped out like this. He was telling me about others that had stayed at his house. One kid from Hong Kong walked all the way Taiwan! Thats amazing. I was surprised and fortunate that Morice had responded to my Couch Request so soon, I had only hit him up online 24 hours in advance, it it hadn't been for him I would had stayed on the beach, because all the hostels were full for the weekend. Once again just goes to show how amazingly generous and accommodating the Taiwanese people are. Well Thank You Very Much Morice!

Day 2:
     Woke up at about 7am, Morice had to go to work so I had to hit the road again. We were discussing what I was going to do that day. He told me some beaches I could go to in the north and my out of town. He also suggested taking the Ocean Road back to Taipei. I was just planning on taking the Mountain Road back, and I was not looking forward to anymore climbing. Well the Ocean Road is all Flat! Sure its 25 miles long, but that extra 25 miles only came out to be 1 extra hour, not to mention not having to endure all that strain on my body biking up hills on a single speed bike wearing a backpack. North of Yilan, north of Jiaoxi I found Toucheng 頭城, which is the Pismo Beach of Taiwan. There I visited Wai'ao Beach. (picture 12-14) Black sand beaches! It was beautiful. The first beach trip I've had in the 6 weeks I've lived in Taiwan. There in the ocean I took a bath, sorta washed the sweaty cycling clothes still wet from the day before and tried to swim around. But a life guard stopped me after a few minutes and told me I could only wade in knee deep water. The waters on the East coast are very rough and unpredictable. Huge waves come from nowhere and sweep people out to sea. Well theres only so much wading I can do, so I decided to continue on, I knew I had a much longer trail to ride that day (though I predicted a 9 hour trip that only took 7). The coast of Taiwan is gorgeous.
It is all cliffs to the left and endless Pacific to the right (pictures 15-18). If I looked really hard I could almost see Oakland. This ride was pretty uneventful. I stopped ofter just to take small breaks, I mainly just took in the scenery as I rode. Two great milestones were when I finally made the big turn left and started heading west along the north coast of the island, and then when I hit Jilung City 基鋒市 (picture 19) and started heading inland towards Taipei. Jilung was the final port town on coast and I remained me a lot of Oakland Ports.

     During the last 2-3 hours of riding is when I was getting delirious, singing and talking to myself. Cursing the road, and Taipei for being so far away from where I was at that moment. I was pretty sun baked, though I'm not sun burned today, yesterday I was looking like a lobster. This trip was an amazing adventure, and exactly what I hope to have more of within the next few weeks in Taiwan. Our last day of Class is Friday August 12th. Sunday the 14th I am going to a southern city Gaoxiong to play in a Bike Polo tournament, and from there I plan to bike along the whole east coast back to Taipei. It will probably take about 7 days at a slow pace. So I felt this weekend was great practice for my week tour 5 weeks from now. Who Wants To Join Me!?!?!

(sorry the pictures are all wonky. this website makes it VERY hard to organize them in an orderly manner. that or i'm a technological idiot who can't figure it out. the jury is still out to lunch.)

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Today's Adventure.....

First off, I am finding out that more and more folks are actually reading this blog, that makes me happy. I have no way of know unless you happen to be a follower. Anyway feel free to leave a comment and say hello so I know you're reading as well. Thanx!!!

TODAYS ADVENTURE!!!

I wont tell you about.... Well not the details anyway, just incase my plan goes terribly wrong I won't have to come back and tell y'all "Well.. it didn't go quite as I expected..." NO! I will leave everyone in the dark, And So when I return, accomplished or not, I can tell y'all that everything went exactly as I planned. BUT I will say my adventure has to do with a long bike ride to another city.

Wish Me Luck!!!

ho

Random Polo Pictures

Polo Tournament in Taizhong

Sunday morning pick-up, Taipei. It was extremely hot, and this was the ONLY shade.

The Best Dessert From The Night Market

    Night Markets in Taiwan are Huge! They occur Every Night and so are one of the most common ways to spend time with friends. They are usually blocks and blocks of food and clothing vendors crowded with thousands of people. Taipei city must have about 10 markets that I have heard of, and I know there must be more. Then each city throughout Taiwan has they're own night market. When I played Bike Polo in Taizhong two weeks ago, we ended the night off at they're largest night market where we got food and beers and just hung out people watching.
          A few weeks ago my cycling friends took me to the Shida Night Market that is about a 10 minute walk from my house. It was the first Night Market I had been to in Taiwan. There they introduced me to my now favorite food in the world, I could eat this every night. Its called 冰火菠蘿油 Bīng huǒ bōluó yóu, it means "cold, hot pineapple butter" Its the greatest!!! Warm bread topped with crystallized pineapple sugar and sandwiched inside is sweet cold butter! It might not sound that good, but it is the best thing I have ever eaten. I go back to Shida night market each week just to go to that stand and get one. 
     In other news, tomorrow is mid-terms... I feel confident that I will do just fine. I have seen my language abilities improve leaps and bounds since being here these last 6 weeks. I excited to see how much I can improve within the next 6 weeks till I  move to Nanjing, and then to see in one year once I make it back to the States, I should be speaking like a native. 
     School is over in 4 weeks, and I am starting to plan my intended cycling trip to the Southern tip of the island. So now I have been asking people who have some experience cycling round Taiwan about what I can expect, but more of that later.

冰火菠蘿油

Shida Night Market.

 

The Little Things...

     Yes, I feel it is the little things about a place that make it stick in my memory. I lived in Oakland for just under 6 years and I will never forgot the wonder house I called home, for more reasons than I have space to write about here. Then I moved to San Francisco for about 4 months and for the most part hated it, because I lived on a Hill... a big hill. And I biked up and down that big hill everyday for 4 months. My time in SF was dull, nothing note worthy happened during that time, living in SF had little impact on my life. But I will never forget living there only because of biking up and down that hill.

     I just walked in the door 20 minutes ago after walking 4 blocks down the street in flip-flops and my soccer shorts carrying back two jugs, 3 gal. of fresh water that cost me $0.69 US. I cannot drink water from my tap so I have been looking for  a water re-fill station since moving into my new apartment, and I'm glad I finally found one because the empty 1.5 gal. water jugs were starting to pile up on my balcony and it seemed a waste to toss them out to buy a new jug instead of just re-filling them. A new 1.5 gal. jug costs $1.30 US, so I just two dollars, hooray!

     I know that paying a deposit on bottles is fairly common, but I have never experienced it my self until a few days ago when I was charged $52 NT for my $50 NT bottle of beer. "Now hang on a minute!" I said... Well I would have said “等一下吧！” But then they explained that I had to pay $2 NT extra as a deposit. So now when I go to get a fresh beer I just bring back the old bottle and only pay $50 NT, and that other 2 kuai (kuai mean $1) just stays in the system, I suppose until my last day in Taipei when I return to the shop with an empty bottle and and a smile on face and they'll ask "Another bottle Mr. Allen?" “冷先生再一瓶呢？” to which I'll reply  "Not today thanks, I'll just be taking my 2 kuai back." 2 kuai is about $0.07 US.  It'll be a small, but important victory to get it back.

     Lastly, in a continued attempt to seriously grab the Chinese Bull by the horns and wrestle it to the ground (by that I mean get really good at speaking chinese) I found a local Taipei resident who is in a similar boat with learning English. I'm moving to China in August to study at a university and I feel linguistically under prepared. He is moving to New York in January to study at a university and also feels under prepared. So we've teamed up for language exchange. Today was our first meeting, first hour speaking all English, second hour speaking all Chinese. I have plenty of opportunities to speak Chinese with teachers and class mates during the 15-25 hours I spend on campus each week, but this language exchange is great opportunity to study and practice my chinese during my free time.......  my free time away from studying and practicing on campus........... But he's a cool guy and our first meeting went really well and I think I'll get a lot more out of this summer because these extra hours I'm putting in.

Kishu An 紀州庵

     So I walk past a really old looking building everyday when I leave my house. It is literally 20sec. from my house, I can see it from my balcony. For the most part it has been covered up by a giant shed, I assume to protect it from the weather. So Today I finally went over to it and tried to find out what I could about it. Turns out this building, and my neighborhood have an awful lot of history from the days of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan (Formosa 1895-1945)
  
     My neighborhood, now known as Guting 古亭, was called Kawabata-cho (river-district) during the Japanese occupation, and was the Administrative District for the Japanese Colonial Government. Not only was it the administrative district, it was the hot spot for the Japanese elite living in Taipei at the time. This beautiful area in south Taipei had a beautiful view of the river (right behind my apartment) and was filled with tea-houses and restaurants.

     The old building by my house was a restaurant and Japanese garden called Kishu An. They specialized in Japanese and Western dishes. It is the only restaurant or Japanese public house from that time period that still stands.

     After Formosa was returned to the Republic of China after WWII, the governor of Taipei turned Kishu An into a hostel for visiting provincial leaders, and later it was turned into a temple named "Kishu Temple" Now days, it is very weather beaten and run down, hence, why it is cased in big metal barn. And though I cannot get a very good look at it, and it still awesome to know I live half a block from a big part of Taipei's history.

The red star at the bottom right of the map is Kishu An 紀州庵. Below the star, and below the "109" is a small lane with a hook at the end, That is my street. To the right where the blue characters are is a small highway, and beyond that,  just off of the map is the river.

The best view of the original architecture.

Photo of the original Kishu An, circa unknown.