Day 4 – Budai (布袋, Bù Dài) to Kaohsiung (高雄, Gāo Xióng)
Ride pack lifted off at 8.30am from Ocean hotel in Budai. Pretty smooth ride out of Budai further down South.
Stopped at Anping Bean Jelly in Tainan for a snack, and one of the smoothest Tau Foo Fa ever. And ours was black in colour, which looked really different from anything we have had in Malaysia.
We rode along and passed many salt pools along the east side of Taiwan island.
Shortly after lunch was the famous Eel Yee Mee Noodles. Our table was by the roadside and no one cared cos’ once the food came, it was SILENCE. Lol.
We took a detour for a few lovely shots at Tainan Metropolitan Park. The scenery was breath-taking as always.
We rode into the busyness of Kaohsiung, and was weaving in and out of traffic, and ended up at our Royal hotel. We had dinner and walked about in the night life of Kaohsiung.
We decided that walking around a night market was not a nice way to eat dinner. Most of us voted on having a “sit-down” dinner, and headed for a restaurant. This is what we ended up eating…
Highlights for the dinner were the bamboo shoots, fried chicken cartilage and bitter gourd. I love the exotic food we get to try while in Taiwan.
That’s day 4, folks!
Day 5: Kaohsiung (高雄, Gāo Xióng) to Fangliao (枋寮,Fāng Liáo)
Getting out of Kaohsiung took 1.5 hours. The buzzing city made it hard to ride fast as we had many traffic lights to adhere to.
Dr Apollo led us to the most beautiful MRT station. At first, I was thinking how a public transportation structure could be BEAUTIFUL, and when I stepped in… This is what I saw…
As we got out, we stopped at the morning market and got some swordfish, squid balls and lotus drink, as our snack. These snacks were amazing. So glad Dr Apollo took us on this small detour.
Rode further out and stopped at Ping Tong city at 12:15pm. Food highlights: Fried swordfish, Morey eel soup, prawns, and the sweetest guava. I believe this must have been the sweetest pink guava, I’ve ever had (seriously).
Rode to Fangliao, and it was mostly flats. The last 20km was slightly rolling. I believe it was just an introduction to what was REALLY coming in the next 5 days…
We reached a beautiful resort called Yoho Bike Hotel. Lovely place and too bad we have less than 18 hours to really enjoy the facilities. Seems like Bin Soo REALLY enjoyed the facilities.
The ladies (Kenix, Binsoo, myself and Winnie) had a chance to sample the hot pool, and found it relaxing soaking our aching backs, shoulders, quads and glutes in warm water.
That’s day 5! Time for day 6…!
Day 6 : Fangliao (枋寮,Fāng Liáo) to Taimalee (太麻里, Tài Má Lǐ)
Rode off on time at 8:30am. Had around 5km of warming up our legs and we led straight into rolling hills, in the mountain and suburban areas. We thought it was going to be massive hills, but it turned out doable.
The beautiful scenery was certainly distracting 🙂
However, sour our legs were on day 6, we didn’t feel it so much.
Stopped at the 35km mark (there about) for lunch. Hot soup noodles and rice was certainly welcoming and warming for the body. It was cold in the jungle.
It’s so motivating cycling in Taiwan. So many people we pass by, are always shouting “Jia you”, which means “Go, go!” or “You can do it!”. Personally, I can feel the support, and makes me want to wave back, and keep going.
At 60km, we hit the highway after stopping at a 7eleven to fuel up and take a break. After that was crazy headwinds and we were cycling around 18-20km/h. Trying hard to draft the strongest rider (Thank you Dr. Apollo), to help our sour legs keep going!
Headwinds continued on the highway over the coastal area, and was made more challenging due to the hills. Highway hills didn’t seem to end, and our butts were on fire.
A Chinese saying was that our butts were so painful, it wanted to “flower”. Ugh. We sucked it up and rode anyway. Still all SMILES (photos below), which means the hills weren’t so bad… LOL!
We reached Sunrise Hotel at 3:50pm. Rest good timing considering the hills and headwind. Thankful our Captain kept us going, and we had a really strong lead rider Dr Apollo, who paced really well.
Here’s to day 6!
