2018-11-03
Start: 11:00 / 106 km / 525 hm
When leaving the hotel I was quite amused by some Austrian tourists – there seemed to be Pokémon Go community day and all these middle aged men were talking about, was some monsters they’re trying to find. Strange holiday activity.
I knew before that the west coast isn’t definitely up to the diversity and beauty of the west. So this started as well a little bit boring section – big roads, many lights to stop you. Also it was really hot and sweaty, so had many Pocari Sweat.
Found a nice way off the main bicycle route through smaller cities and saw a lot of temples. Density almost 3-4 temples per town.
But there were even more aqua cultures. Ming was right, Tainan has the highest amount of them. The smell takes a little bit to get used to.
The closer I got inward the country, closer to my destination – the quieter it got. Actually this became quite a nice route, without cars through endless rice fields and the sun going down. Did the last bit in the dark, but this was good cycling as the temperature finally became bearable.
This was also the first day listening to podcasts while cycling. So strange now to hear about the political situation in Germany, with Friedrich Merz going for head of the CDU.
Dounan
Arriving at the hotel, I was shocked. This hotel was definitely something different than anything I had before – ugly, dirty and with awkward bed clothes. Something you would expect in Poland, an old cheap hotel for workers. But…it wasn’t cheap, 770 NTD (roughly 25€) – I would have been willing to pay a maximum of 150 NTD. The two young people working there were also more than unmotivated – time to write some public review, with a clear warning.
Luckily there was an excellent, but cheap local fish restaurant beside the hotel. Had an delicious fish soup with ginger and some noodles with squid for a couple of euros.
Finally sat in front of the next 7-11, having a beer. After some while a group of cyclists arrived. Funny guys doing a night ride, they were coming from Douliu and having a break before returning. Everyone was showing of their (partly super expensive) equipment, but had a nice chat with them.
They even put ones Pinarello on the cargos bike children hanger and doing a round. The other cargo bike was a Totoro themed one, very cool.
Sat for a last beer in the new park and fell to the ugly bed…
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