Day 9: Taiwan Cycle Tour Part 2
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After a rather wet day 1, today went much better. It finally stopped raining, and there was even a bit of sun.
The route today
The first viewpoint of the day
The one advantage of rain you realize is it tends to cool things down, without rain or heavy cloud cover it became quite warm. The temperature was hovering around 30C with high humidity, like a hot July day back home. Even with think layers of SPF 60 sunscreen on, I still ended up getting a bit burnt. The nice part about the route today is there are no major climbs, just the usual undulating coastal terrain. Climb for a 1KM, go downhill for 1KM etc.
View from the highway
A garden along the way
A rocky valley
Seven Eleven in Taiwan is key to the survival of the cyclist, all the stores are clean and well lit and have a predictable drink selection. At the typical North American Seven Eleven, you would be hard pressed to find anything remotely healthy – or even anything you would really want to eat period. However Asian Seven Elevens are well stocked with quality frozen food, plus good quality fresh meals. You can actually eat a decent full meal at Seven Eleven.
Finally a bit of blue sky!
As you head further south, palm trees slowly take over as the dominant vegetation. There are loads of street vendors selling fresh coconuts, right off the tree.
Another random cove
With my arrival in Taitung, I finally completed Highway 11. In the evening I decided to checkout the nigh market in town…
Most Taiwanese cities of any size have a night market, where there is delicious street food, games for kids, any pretty much whatever else they think people ill buy. These aren’t really tourist markets in many places, it’s 99.9% locals. At this particular market, I saw one other white person.
For dinner I decided on Chinese pork buns from the market, they ended up being a bit like a soft taco. The outside is steamed bun, and on the inside there is BBQ meat and some other vegetables/seasonings. They were excellent, and that was the reason there was actually a lineup for the stand.
Tomorrow it’s down Highway 9!