TAIWAN MOTORCYCLE TRIP

The time I felt the most free was during huan dao while working at ASUS. I got all my work done ahead of time, and really connected with the road and people I met on my trip.

Day 1: Packed up my KTR 150cc and headed over Yangming Mt. to Keelung. Reminisced about my manic New Zealander friend from 6 years ago as I drove through town. Made notes about a few new diving spots. I planned to rough camp/vagabond much of this trip, but ended up camping just once. Powered through about 45km to YiLan on the first day, getting a hostel in WaiAo for the same price as the Fulong beach campground. I wanted to go to Drifters pizza pub because I had fond memories from my trip with coworkers, but decided to stroll around TouCheng old street instead. Ended up buying some yummy chicken mushroom soup and shallot noodles from a Mr. A-Mao. I mentioned my itinerary and he was like 'damn thats far, good luck, be careful on the roads, the truckers are sketchy.' I asked for his picture and he was happy to oblige.

Day 2: I woke up around 7am and jumped in the water at WaiAo beach, swam some laps then flopped around in the waves like a retarded baby seal. Thought about taking a boat to Turtle island, but didn't. After stopping at a few temples along the road, I met some foreigners at the edge of Yilan outside 7-11 who said they were headed to a hippie festival. After some amazing riding along the sheer cliffs, giving the thumbs up to Harley riders and shouting 加油 to cyclists, I checked out some campsites outside of Hualien. Asked a cop if I could camp on the beach he's like 'nah, it's not open'. Poked around and then the boss of the last available campsite gave me a discount, which was chill. The next morning, my boomer campmate Mr. Kai was being relentlessly friendly and I ate a delicious breakfast with him, his Chinese wife, and their friend. Kind of glad I didn't camp on the beach cuz Kai detailed large groups of 4am ocean kayakers, whose path would have gone right through my campsite.

Day 3: Left HuaLien around 10am after a quick bike check from two cool mechanic guys. Drove past the hippie fest. It gave me the 'corpse of burning man' vibes, but I heard it was very lit on Saturday night. Kept buzzing through about 100km of mountains and coastlines on my motorcycle, who I dubbed 'Katie' (KT-R 150, get it) Stopped for a grilled flying fish and sausage snack. There are lots of coastal indigenous communities, Christian churches and farms in this section. Got a hotel in downtown TaiDong, and ate some local snacks including bonito flake rice noodles and a GuaBao. Found a craft beer place and drank heavily with a pilot. He had been around America bit before; I was tired of using only Chinese at the campsite, so I whitesplained him in English about US politics and Portland and other fun topics.

Day 4: Got woken up by a pair of fighter jets, then battled a sea of tourists trying to roll Katie onto the ferry. The boat over made me seasick, if you go by sea: buy the Dramamine! Arrived to my hotel next to the lighthouse on Green island. The owner was helpful but kind of surprised I was traveling alone without much of a plan. Got down to about 8 meters on my first dive. Met a burner who had came back from the Ocean Market and we drove up to a mountain view point to drink tall boys. The view of the stars here was jaw dropping. Drove around twisting mountain roads in the dark. Spent the next 4 days diving, eating snacks, and exploring the island. The (very depressing but also interesting) jail where the nationalists kept prisioners during decades of martial law is here.

Day 5: KenTing Grabbed some beef noodles for breakfast and continued along the coast. Up, up, up through a sketchy one lane mountain road, across MuDan reservoir, through some indigenous villages and past farm country into Kenting. The Paiwan tribe is typically from this area. In one of the terminals at Taoyuan airport, there is one gate that has walls of interesting history on each of the 16 or so indigenous peoples. I Visited "Alex's reggae bar" I've been coming to off and on since my first trip to Kenting almost 13 years ago. I met some guys from Taipei who invited me to dive with them. Bounced around hotels and town drinking, eating seafood, and diving.

Day 6: Tainan Spent my time in Tainan strolling around, went to a coffee shop. Got some delicious Turkey rice, a speciality of Tainan. The museum in the middle of downtown was fantastic; the caligraphy exhibitions are always bittersweet for me because I never got my calligraphy to the point of legibility, much less to where I would consider bending the rules artistically.