9 July 2012 – Hot but beautiful
In Hualien I thought about various types of further travelling, by bus, by scooter, by train… however, I decided to rent a bike and cycle down to Taitung. It was very easy to get the bike since cycling is very popular on the east coast of Taiwan, especially for Taiwanese. So I started my trip and realized after only a few km how hot it was. However, I made about 70 km and arrived in Ruisui. Except the temperature (35°C) and humidity it was a great track, especially the last part on a beautiful cycling path. Probably the only thing I would complain about cycling in Taiwan is the lack of (cheap) accommodation for cyclists.
10 July 2012 – Rafting and the end of cycling
Unfortunately I couldn’t take any pictures of the rafting I did today, however, it was just amazing! The river flows through a valley with very steep, green mountains as shown on some pictures taken on the way back. Additionally I got the worst sunburn on my trip so far and decided to cycle only further to the next city Fuli (20 km) and take the train for the last kilometres to Taitung. Since it had 30 °C in the evening as well, it was a good decision. In Taitung I found a “hostel” which was more like a bed & breakfast without bed & breakfast. The bed was a thin matrace on the floor (last picture) and since I was tired like hell I probably could have slept even without it.
11 July 2012 – Capitulation
I realized that Taiwan is nowadays not ready for backpackers, brought back my bike, bought a train ticket and went back to my cousin and her husband in Taichung. May be I’m tired of travelling right now but fore sure I’m tired of travelling in Taiwan and looking forward to fly to Dubai but would never regret that I came to Taiwan because “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you expect!”.
While waiting at the train station I bough a delicious iced coffee and had to smile by reading City Cafe’s tagline: “ENJOY YOUR TIME”
Next stop some more days in Taichung….
