Farewell West Coast

Taiwan Stage 9 – Kaohsiung to Fangliao 59 Km (Mon 19 Nov 2018)

Weather: 20⁰C min – 29⁰C max, partly cloudy

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“TRUE FRIENDSHIP: Walking into a persons house and your wifi connects automatically.”

Thanks to the Love River bike path, my exit from Kaohsiung was carefree and pleasant. In no time at all I was sailing along on a relatively traffic-free service road shared by cyclists and their motorised cousins.

For the first time since arriving in Taiwan I met another bicycle tourer riding around the island, a young lass from Uruguay. She began in Russia (where she went for the World Cup) and has ridden in a number of countries including China and Hong Kong. When she finishes riding around Taiwan she is thinking of Vietnam. Not bad for someone having her first tour!

It is a rarity meeting other cyclists in Taiwan, but I met a Canadian expat now living here, then a couple of local riders (Stephen and his mate) who I enjoyed chatting with at one of my 7-Eleven coffee stops (see photo of the three of us).

Every day there is at least one special highlight. Today it was Dapeng Bay, where cyclists can enjoy the local lagoon and wetland ecology while cycling along the magnificent Round-the-Bay Bikeway. What a joy it was to be cruising along a dedicated, tree-lined, smooth, cycle path away from the roar of traffic!

Fangliao Township is a small but pleasant rural township in Pingtung County. It won me over straight away when I discovered, right next to my hotel, a good coffee shop that even sells Portuguese tarts!