Day 10: 20 May 2023, Saturday
Woke up at 6:30am as usual and the rain from yesterday had finally stopped. It was a cool 22 degrees C outside, with the rest of the day projected to be cloudy, with a maximum temperature of 25 degrees. Breakfast wasn’t great and I ate only a slice of bread, two baos and some chicken nuggets.
Today, we will be leaving Ruisui for Jiaoxi (礁溪) but it will be a short day of cycling, only 81km. This is because we will need to take a train from Hualien City (花蓮) to Yilan City (宜蘭) to avoid a dangerous stretch of Provincial Highway 9 on the east coast. This section of the route is known to be treacherous, with narrow, winding roads hugging the cliffs, and very challenging with lots of climbing. But more importantly, the route involves cycling through four tunnels that are long and narrow, with heavy vehicles posing an extra risk. Cycling this route will offer breathtaking views but it is too challenging and dangerous, especially for a large group like ours.
As we had to catch the 1:00pm train departing from Hualien City, we were under a bit of time pressure so we started cycling slightly earlier, at 7:24am. Like yesterday, I felt sluggish at the beginning and my legs were as heavy as lead. Maybe it was because we didn’t do a proper cool down yesterday due to the rain, or maybe it was the accumulation of fatigue from the past seven days of cycling. However, today’s route is mostly downhill so that will help a bit.
We had our first break 50 minutes later, at Danongdafu Forest Park (大農大富平地森林園區), at the 16.2km mark. This is Taiwan’s first lowland forest, a 1,250-hectare park located between the Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Mountain Range. It features a vast woodland with organic rice growing against an idyllic backdrop of a longitudinal valley. The morning air was still fresh and crisp at this hour. We took our daily group shot here before resuming our ride at 8:40am.
The next section was pretty uneventful and nothing spectacular in terms of the scenery. We had our second break an hour later at Lin Rong Shin Kong Station (林榮新光火車站), at the 41.8km mark. We had pineapples for snacks this time. The weather remained cool but dark clouds hung overhead, threatening to pour at any moment.
We continued cycling after a 20-minute break. It started to drizzle but we pushed on and reached our third rest stop at Ji’an Township (吉安) at 10:54am, at the 62.7km mark. We were mindful of the time so we didn’t rest here for long. At 11:47am, we reached Hualien City and completed the first part of today’s ride, covering 70.3km thus far. We arrived on schedule, with enough time for lunch before catching our 1:00pm train.
Once again, lunch was a simple affair, a bento box meal of rice with grilled chicken, egg and veggies. We had our lunch inside the Giant retail and bike rental store, which was conveniently located just opposite the train station. It wasn’t very big but the 39 of us managed to fit inside the store, sitting on makeshift tables and chairs.
After a quick lunch, Jacky brought us to the Tzen Chi Mashu (曾記麻薯) shop located two streets away to buy some snacks. It really helps to have locals around because they know where all the good stuff is! Jacky said that mochi is one of the most famous local specialties in Hualien and we cannot leave Hualien without trying the mochi.
The shop was quite big, with the racks fully stocked with boxes and packets of local snacks, sachima, chocolate and crackers. The highlight was of course, the mochi, which are all handmade fresh daily in the store. The mochi came with different fillings like red bean, matcha, sesame and peanut. Jacky asked us to choose something we liked and he bought it for us as a treat. Super kind of him. I picked the traditional peanut filling. I could tell that it was very fresh because the mochi skin was soft and the peanut filling was still loose and dry. I also bought a couple of gift boxes to bring home.
After the speedy shopping spree, we wheeled our bikes to the Hualien railway station. Only 30 bicycles were permitted on the train so 10 of our bikes had to go on the Dabai support van and be driven over to Yilan. The heavier e-bikes went on Dabai so the rest of us pushed our (lighter) hybrid bikes up the escalator and onto the train platform. We then stacked the bicycles neatly and as compact as possible inside the train carriage. It wasn’t a dedicated carriage for bicycles but a normal one with bench seats. It’s amazing how bicycles are allowed to go on trains, which reflects the cycling culture in Taiwan.
At 1:00pm, our train depart Hualien for the approximately 100km journey to Yilan. The scenery en route was quite stunning as we passed by mountains with lush greenery and wide river plains. We also passed by lots of farmland and padi fields. However, it was a rainy day and some of the views were obscured by fog, so we ended up glued to our mobile phones for most of the journey.
We finally arrived at Yilan City at 2:56pm. We unloaded our bicycles, went for a quick toilet break and resumed cycling at 3:15pm. After sitting in the train for nearly two hours, our muscles had completely cooled down and it took a while to overcome the inertia to cycle again. But it was a short ride through the city and we arrived at our hotel at Jiaoxi at 3:43pm. My Strava showed that we cycled a total distance of 82.63km today, with an elevation gain of 297m. Everything felt disjointed today so this was my least favourite day of cycling.
Our room at Sun Spring Resort (山泉大飯店) wasn’t very big but the 4-star hotel is better known for its hot springs. After taking our showers, we went on a mini tour of the hotel’s facilities. There was a large open-air area with two spa pools where swimwear is required. There were also two separate nude baths for men and women.
At 5:30pm, we headed out to explore Jiaoxi together with our local guides Jacky, Gary and Steven, as well as Taurus and our new Japanese friend. This was one of the three nights where dinner was not provided by Giant Adventure so we could have the freedom to choose where we wanted to eat. This would also be our last night together because our Tour de Taiwan cycling trip would be coming to an end tomorrow. Hence, we were determined to have a good time tonight.
Jiaoxi is famous for its hot springs and it is named as one of Taiwan’s Top 10 small tourist towns. The town centre is compact and lively, dotted with many hot spring hotels and public footbaths where people can soak their tired feet in the natural hot spring water for free.
For our first stop, Jacky and co. brought us to Yu Jen Babao Bean Thread (玉仁八寶冬粉), or more accurately translated as Yu Ren Eight Treasures Vermicelli. The humble restaurant is famous for its glass noodles and “eight treasures”, which refer to the eight types of toppings including mu er (wood ear mushroom), meatballs and shrimp.
It was evidently a popular restaurant as business was brisk on this Saturday evening. The noodle dish was simple but hearty. We also tried scallion pancake (蔥油餅), one of Jiaoxi’s famous street snacks. It is essentially a crispy flatbread like roti prata but with chopped green onion/spring onion as fillings.
Taiwan is a street food haven and there are simply too many interesting things to try. Our stomachs can only take in so much food, but there’s always room for dessert. Next, we went to Wei Jie Bao Xin Fen Yuan (魏姐包心粉圓) and ordered the shaved ice dessert with bean curd, red bean, green bean and yam paste fillings, topped with warm tapioca starch balls (i.e. boba) served on the side.
After the sweet treat, we went for a walk around the Tangweigou Hot Spring Park (湯圍溝溫泉公園), which had many free public footbath pools. Indeed, dozens of locals were dipping their feet and legs into the pools and chatting away, like how normal people hang out with their friends on a Saturday night. There were also a few shops offering fish spa services, where fish nibble away at the dead skin on your feet. We didn’t try any of the hot spring facilities but we tried our hand at the old-school arcade games like the pinball machine and shooting darts at balloons. However, we weren’t very successful and didn’t win any prizes.
After walking a bit more, we were hungry enough for one last round of dessert. We went to Jia Bing Ice Snow (冰雪), which specialises in shaved ice dessert where the ice is as fine and light as snow, like a Korean bingsu. We ordered a few bowls of mango and peanut with additional pudding and fruit toppings to share. It was so sinful but so good.
Finally, after all the bingeing, we returned to the hotel just before 9:00pm. We went to the hot spring for a dip but as my wounds were still not healed, I could not enjoy it fully. And that wraps up Day 8 of Tour de Taiwan. One last day of cycling before the adventure comes to an end tomorrow. Boo hoo…