How It All Began

After years of dreaming about it, I finally completed my first cycling trip to Vietnam/Cambodia in November 2022. Pedalling my way from city to city over multiple days was invigorating and something that I had never experienced before. Over seven days and 300km of cycling, we traversed across diverse landscapes, seeing things and visiting places we would never had covered on typical bus tours. We bonded over meal breaks and sightseeing stops after the day’s cycling. The 25 of us started as strangers from different corners of the earth but ended up as family by the end of the trip. I really enjoyed the camaraderie of group cycling, which was so fun and precious. It was such a great experience that I couldn’t wait to do another one. As fate would have it, it wouldn’t be long before my next cycling trip. 

One fine day in early January 2023, my school mate, AT, contacted me out of the blue and asked if I would be interested to do a round-island cycling trip in Taiwan. AT and I were not from the same class but we were acquaintances and knew each other. AT obtained my number from our mutual friend, PL, when they met for a gathering a week earlier.

In fact, a cycling trip to Taiwan was already something PL and I had been thinking of doing years ago, together with our other bestie KP. We wanted to do the big cycling trip in 2022 to celebrate our 40^th birthdays, but the plan got shelved due to Covid-19 and our schedules couldn’t match after that. Hence, I went on the Vietnam/Cambodia cycling trip on my own without PL or KP. So, when AT told PL about the Taiwan cycling trip, PL said he couldn’t go because of work, and suggested for AT to jio me instead.

AT told me that he had already confirmed that he would be doing the Taiwan cycling trip with his church friend, TH, and they were looking for more people to join them. TH happened to be our school mate too but he is one year our junior, so I did not know him prior to this trip. AT said that they would be signing up with a company called Giant Adventure to do the tour in May 2023. It would be a 9-day cycling trip around the entire Taiwan island covering a total distance of 900km.

After having my appetite whetted by my Vietnam/Cambodia trip, I was definitely keen on the Taiwan round-the-island (RTI) trip. However, the total distance of 900km seemed daunting. Looking at the itinerary, we would cycle between 80km and 125km each day, at an average speed of 20-25km/hour. At that point, the longest distance I had cycled in a day was around 80km. And to cycle an average of 100km each day for nine days in a row felt like a real challenge. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do it physically.

I pondered over it for a while, but it didn’t take me long to decide to go for it. Cycling in Taiwan was something I had already been thinking of doing, and now that I had two friends who were confirmed for the ride, there was no excuse for me not to go. All the stars were aligned so I said yes to them one week later.

The cycling trip is organised by Giant Adventure 捷安特旅遊 (click here), a leading cycling tour operator in Taiwan. And Giant is of course, the famous Taiwanese bicycle brand, recognised as the world’s largest bicycle designer and manufacturer. For the tour, we would be using good-quality Giant bicycles. Since 2016, Giant Adventure has run more than 1,500 cycling tours for over 51,000 customers, so they are very experienced. They provide a complete package including cycling services, accommodation, experienced leaders, group controllers and most importantly, professional support vans, which will transport our luggage from hotel to hotel each day. Thus, we really only need to focus on the cycling and not worry about any logistics issues.

Their most popular tour is the Tour de Taiwan 台灣環島 (click here), an Advanced level, 9 days and 8 nights cycling trip around the entire Taiwan island. You can choose from a few starting points – from Taipei, Taichung or Kaohsiung. There is a planned departure almost every week and all the upcoming tour dates are listed on the website. However, each tour requires a minimum of 15 sign-ups before it can proceed so not every date listed will eventually materialise. On the website, you can see the current number of sign-ups so you can roughly gauge whether the date you are targeting is likely to materialise or not.

Initially, AT and TH wanted to do the Tour de Taiwan starting from Taichung because the dates were more favourable for their schedules. However, there are no direct flights from Singapore to Taichung so starting from Taipei would be better. We eventually decided on the 13 May 2023 departure from Taipei because we saw that there were already 11 sign-ups, so it was very likely that the tour would be confirmed, especially after the three of us come onboard, making it 14 and just one short of the minimum required.

We paid a deposit and booked the triple sharing package, which was cheaper than a double sharing or single room package. Quadruple sharing would be even cheaper but we didn’t manage to find a fourth person to join our group. In the end, we paid NT$33,300 (S$1,494.25) per person for our triple sharing package. The price includes 8 nights of accommodation and most meals, so I would say it was very reasonable.

Once the tour departure for 13 – 21 May 2023 was confirmed by Giant Adventure on 28 Jan 2023, we paid the rest of the fees and booked our flights. We decided to fly in to Taipei two days earlier, on 11 May, and fly out of Taipei on 23 May, two days after the conclusion of the tour. Our two-way air tickets on Scoot cost S$344.37, including 20kg checked baggage.

For our additional nights’ stay accommodation, we booked Waterfront Hotel for our first two nights in Taipei. We picked a 4-bed dorm room but booked all 4 beds so we could have the entire room to ourselves. After splitting the cost, we each paid S$50.97.

Post-cycling tour, TH would not be staying with us because his wife would be coming over to Taipei to join him and they would both be staying at their Taiwanese friend’s apartment. Hence, it would be only AT and I sharing a room for our last two nights in Taipei. We booked City Inn Hotel for two nights, and we each paid S$102.96.

Lastly, we also purchased travel insurance for S$75.06 each. Hence, my fixed expenses for this trip amounted to S$2,067.61, covering the cycling tour package, flights, accommodation and travel insurance for the 13-day trip.

In terms of preparation for the cycling, we didn’t manage to clock up as much mileage as we had hoped. The three of us had our first proper meet up on 19 March 2023 and we cycled a distance of 71km. Following that, we did only three more rides together – covering 47km on 26 March, 86km on 30 April and 73km on 8 May. Our target was to complete a round-island ride of Singapore (around 130km) before leaving for Taiwan, but we failed to do so due to a combination of reasons (conflicting work schedules, bad weather). Thus, we were not as well-prepared physically for the 900km of cycling in Taiwan as we should have been. But, no choice, we just had to wing it!

(Exchange rate: NT$100 = S$4.40)

Day 1: 11 May 2023, Thursday

After five months of anticipation, the day had finally arrived. I left home at 8:40am with mum and dad, and arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 1 at 9:30am, where I met up with AT and TH. At the airport, we found out that our Scoot flight TR896 had been delayed by 1½ hours, from 11:30am to 1:00pm. After bidding goodbye to mum and dad, the three of us went to Fun Toast at Jewel Changi to have our second breakfast to while the time away.

To compensate for the delay, Scoot gave all the passengers a care pack, comprising a bottle of water, a custard croissant and a packet of potato crisps. It wasn’t much, but the gesture was appreciated. However, that was not the end of it as our departure was further delayed by an hour due to late arrival of the aircraft.

We finally boarded the plane at 1:28pm and took off from Changi at 2:18pm, almost three hours later than the original departure time. We managed to make up some time in the air and touched down at Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1 in Taipei at 6:25pm, 1 hour 15 minutes later than the original arrival time. There is no time difference between Singapore and Taipei.

After clearing immigration, we went to the Taiwan the Lucky Land booth at the arrival hall to try our luck at winning NT$5,000 (S$220) worth of travel vouchers. Taiwan the Lucky Land (click here) is a campaign by the government to attract and reward foreign independent travelers who visit Taiwan for between 3 and 90 days. The campaign runs from 1 May 2023 to 30 June 2025. Winners can choose to redeem the NT$5,000 prize in the form of pre-paid cards (from EasyCard or iPASS) or accommodation vouchers. Sadly, none of us won the prize.

However, we didn’t leave the airport totally empty-handed because prior to the trip, AT found out that the Taiwan Tourism Bureau office in Singapore was giving away international tourist vouchers between 17 April and 30 December 2023 to entice Singaporeans to travel to Taiwan. AT went to their office at Ocean Financial Centre on 18 April and redeemed vouchers for the three of us. The vouchers comprised of a fresh-cut fruit box voucher (redeemable at any Family Mart in Taiwan), a 5-day 4G Data SIM card and a one-way Taoyuan Airport MRT voucher.

So, we went to the Chunghwa Telecom counter to collect our free SIM cards. A 5-day SIM card normally costs NT$300 (S$13.20). After that, we went to the Taoyuan MRT station and exchanged our vouchers for the one-way tickets, which came in the form of purple tokens. A one-way ticket from the airport to Taipei Main Station would have cost us NT$160 (S$7.04). At 8:28pm, we boarded the Express train and arrived at Taipei Main Station at 9:04pm. The Express train had cushy seats and luggage racks, and also free Wi-Fi on board. It was a smooth and comfortable ride.

From Taipei Main Station, we transferred to the green Songshan-Xindian Metro line to go to our hotel at Songshan. But first, we needed a stored value card for travel on the Metro, so we went to Family Mart to buy an EasyCard each. The EasyCard works like our ez-link card in Singapore. We paid NT$100 (S$4.40) for the EasyCard and topped up an initial NT$300 (S$13.20) worth of value to the card.

We walked to the connecting Beimen station and hopped on the Metro train at 9:21pm.  The fare to Songshan station was NT$25 (S$1.10) and we arrived at 9:33pm. From Songshan station, it was a short walk to Waterfront Hotel, and we arrived at 9:45pm. Our 4-bed dorm room was quite small but it was clean and comfortable. There were four big lockers and even a TV in the room. After dropping our bags, we headed out to Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市, which was conveniently located in the street behind our hotel.

Taipei is famous for their street markets and Raohe is one of the best. We were starving and couldn’t wait to start feasting on all the delicious street food. The first thing we tried was the Black Pepper Bun 胡椒餅, which cost NT$60 (S$2.64). The legendary stall is located at the entrance of the market and there is always a queue so it is impossible to miss it. Thankfully, the line moved quite fast so we didn’t have to wait very long for it.

The bun was served piping hot as it was freshly made on the spot and scooped right out of the tandoor-like oven and into our hands. The bun’s appearance resembled a traditional Chinese pastry called Beh Teh Saw, which also has a flaky crust topped with sesame seeds. However, instead of a gooey maltose filling like the Beh Teh Saw, the Pepper Bun was filled with minced pork marinated with black pepper and spring onions. It was very appetising.

Raohe was buzzing on this Thursday night but it wasn’t overly crowded. It was great because we could slowly walk and look at all the interesting food items being sold by the different stalls. Besides food stalls, there were also game stalls offering old-school amusement park games. We don’t have any night street markets like these in Singapore so I always enjoy soaking up the atmosphere here.

After downing the delicious Pepper Bun, I bought a cup of papaya milk drink (NT$60/S$2.64) from a fruit juice stall. I absolutely love papaya milk and always make it a point to have it when I visit Taiwan. We also ordered a portion of Takoyaki (octopus ball) to share, 5 pieces for NT$100 (S$4.40). Unlike the ones sold in Singapore with only measly chunks of meat, the one here at Raohe was the real deal – each takoyaki contained a whole, succulent baby octopus. Oiishi!

We also tried one of Taiwan’s most famous, or shall I say, infamous, street foods – Stinky Tofu. A portion of the Mala Stinky Tofu 麻辣臭豆腐 cost NT$65 (S$2.86). I have tried Stinky Tofu before so it wasn’t totally new to me. The hardest part is overcoming the sewage-like smell, but once you can get past the smell, it actually tastes like normal tofu.

The Taiwanese style of Stinky Tofu is served in a broth with spring onion and garnishing. The tofu acts as a sponge to soak up the broth. The tofu can also be paired with duck blood cubes and mala soup, which is spicy. We chose the plain one without duck blood and without mala, so it was a clear broth. I prefer the Hong Kong version of the dish, where the tofu is deep fried into a crispy, golden-brown cube and topped with sweet chilli sauce.

Next, we tried steamed rice bowl cake 碗粿, pronounced as wa kueh, where “wa” means “bowl” (NT$40/S$1.76). This traditional Taiwanese dish is very similar to our chwee kueh (水粿) in Singapore as it is also made of rice flour and water, and steamed in a bowl. However, instead of preserved radish (cai por) in our chwee kueh, the wa kueh uses braised minced meat as topping. The wa kueh also contains slices of shitake mushroom inside, and is served with a sweet sauce on top. I thought it tasted ok but it wasn’t my favourite.

We were actually very full by then but we wanted to try as many things as we could. As we walked past a stall selling grilled cuttlefish, I couldn’t resist and bought a portion for NT$150 (S$6.60). I know mum and dad will definitely love this. Upon ordering, the vendor placed a large piece of cuttlefish on the electric grill and grilled it fresh on the spot. So good.

We decided that we only had room left for dessert and we eventually settled on tang yuan 湯圓, or glutinous rice balls. The shop was packed but we were able to get a table inside after waiting for a short while. What was really interesting was that besides the usual tang yuan with hot soup, you could also have it with ice instead. We had never tried tang yuan with ice before so we ordered two bowls of the mixed peanut/sesame tang yuan & osmanthus syrup with ice (NT$90/S$3.96), and a third bowl of sesame tang yuan with egg & sweet fermented rice hot soup (NT$110/S$4.84).

The tang yuan were huge and they were placed on top of the shaved ice. Their texture was not smooth like the regular glutinous rice balls, but slightly rough so they resembled fish balls. The osmanthus syrup was served separately in a bottle, and you could add as much as you liked. The staff asked us to eat it soon because the hot tang yuan would cool quickly and harden if left on the ice for too long. It was a novel way of eating tang yuan and I liked it. On the other hand, the tang yuan with egg & sweet fermented rice hot soup tasted a bit funny and I didn’t like it as much.

The shop started to close at 11:30pm so we finished our tang yuan and left soon after and walked back to our hotel. It had been a long day of travelling and we were ready to call it a night. One more free day of R&R in Taipei tomorrow before we embark on our cycling adventure!