Taiwan Train Traveling Troubles!
Taiwan Stage 10 – Fangliao to Taitung 120 Km train plus 36 Km ride (Tue 20 Nov 2018)
Weather: 23⁰C min – 28⁰C max, mostly cloudy
“The older I get, the faster I was” ~ Paul Webb
A warning about trains here in Taiwan. On “Local” trains bicycles may be carried unpacked, but “Express” trains will only carry bicycles that are packed. Fortunately I have been carrying around a heavy duty, clear plastic, bicycle bag I bought from Wiggles in UK after seeing a cyclist use one on an easy Jet flight from Budapest to Gatwick.
Having bought tickets for both me and my bike, I did not expect any problems travelling on an Express Train from Fangliao to Jinlun. To my horror the station staff refused to allow my plastic bag because it did not meet their standards and might injure somebody! After much argument and gesticulation from me the Station Manager agreed to me putting the bike at the front of the train in the luggage car (empty by the way). Leaving my bike and panniers there, I headed for my reserved seat in Car 2. However, the train doors had locked and the train was moving off. Frantically I started waving and banging on the door. You can imagine my relief when the train stopped and the door opened! Sinking into my comfortable seat, I breathed a sigh of relief when the conductor came along and punched my ticket without question. I thought that was the end of the matter, but not long after a more senior conductor came along and had a good long look at my tickets, jabbering away in Chinese. Eventually he handed me back my tickets, said something else that I didn’t comprehend, then moved on … possibly to call the police to throw me in jail?
My reason for catching a train from Fangliao to Jinlun was partly to avoid a huge mountain and partly because there were better accommodation options further up the East Coast. Catching the train to Jinlun left me with just a 36 Km ride to the significant town of Taitung. If I had known the hastles that were ahead of me I would have chosen the mountain!
By way of welcome to the East Coast there was a 150 m climb out of Jinlun, but the views of the ocean on my right and the mountains to my left made it worthwhile. It was just so good to be on my bike again after a morning I would rather forget.
The ride from Jinlun to Taitung was uneventful but pleasant. Although still riding on the shoulder of a busy highway, the grimy towns of the heavily populated West Coast have been replaced by luxuriant vegetation, with plenty of banana plantations, papaya, coconut trees, and a large, green, bumpy fruit (which I have since discovered is custard apple). Small, attractive, villages nestle cosily in the foothills of the mountains.
Somehow I have managed to reach my destination of Taitung on schedule, even though it seemed impossible at one stage this morning. Life is not meant to be easy is it! All part of the adventure though, one has to take the good with the bad.
Taitung is alive tonight, not because I am visiting but because of Taiwan’s elections next Saturday. The street noise is incredible even from my hotel room on the twelfth floor … speaker vans spruiking their candidates, protestors chanting, fireworks exploding, even jet fighters zooming too low overhead. There is also a loud Mr Whippy sounding jingle, the same monotous tune I have heard in every town I have been to. Disappointingly, it is not a van selling soft icecream but a garbage truck collecting rubbish!
What an ordeal !!well at least you did not end up in jail travelling to places that English is the second language can bring heartaches sometimes but this is an experience for you. When you are retired from?? You have a lot to look back on and to talk about!! I must say I found it funny!! Let’s hope the rest of your ?? Will be free of train conductors and a happier experience to end with!!Happy?? No☔️ and roads free of????. Be safe always.