Eastern Taiwan

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Happy New Year! The New Year arrived a day earlier than at home, which is always a fun mind bender. The beautiful east coast was packed with tourists taking advantage of a long weekend. We were warned ahead of time that things book up so we booked early.

December 30th, 2023 – Daren – Taitung – 65 Kms – Home Rest Hotel

The ride to Taitung along the coast was beautiful but the traffic and noise were exhausting. Wherever we have travelled in the world there has, alas, been an inverse correlation between consideration and the price tags of the vehicles driven. Lamborghinis, Maseratis, and Ferraris take the lead in being the worst assholes.

December 31, 2023 -Taitung – Haiduan – 58kms – Jin Ping Homestay

January 1, 2024 – Haiduan – Ruisui – 58kms – Happy Forest Homestay

January 2, 2024 – Ruisui – Chenggong – 66 kms – Taitung Xingang B&B

From Taitung we turned inland to ride up the Rift Valley. Gord and I have been trying to decide whether to continue north or turn south and head back to the west where the weather is a lot better. It’s not been bad so far, but it’s been windy and rain is a frequent feature of the long term forecast.

For the first few days in this area the mountains were mostly hidden in the clouds, but today we had sun and beautiful views. We took advantage of the day and climbed up out of the valley and returned to the coast. The crossing involved a 2.7 km downhill tunnel. It was well lit with a bike lane and very safe.

Today was decision day and we are now heading south to retrace some of our route and also do some bits we missed