Planalto Cycles

(This time, I had uploaded and published the photos before the text, but cannot divide them, so I split the text in to halves, separated by a photo block…

Today, I wanted to leave the hotel slightly before check-out time at 12:00, because I only had to go to the agency at 13:00 and just wanted get some lunch before that.
But at 4:30, in another room someone started using the hair dryer and someone else wanted to communicate with that person at this very time and successfully tried to talk louder than a hairdryer dries. My ears reported that to my brain who was curious enough about this event that he woke up the rest of me.
Good job (as Neil in Taichung would say).
So, I had a long morning for working, but was not that energetic.
On the way, I wanted to get Australian $, but banks were closed and the only shop that I found for exchanging money had no AUD. I bought a lunch and went to the agency. On the way, I saw a chocolate shop, called “EZ chocolat” and stopped. The shop assistant was happy to have a customer and immediately served a cup of tea. I could taste small chocolate bars and quickly decided to buy them.
First of all, I got a discount, but then I also got a chocolate candy and when she gave me me my package, there were two pieces of cake in it. (I ate them in the evening and was delighted ? )
When I arrived at the agency, I got a message from another agent. It was clearly understandable, and he told me that he had first gone to the immigration office and would meet me after that in about 20min, because the ship still had not berthed.
He came  punctually, packed my luggage in his car and we both drove to the immigration office, which was only 200m from the agency. There we parked our vehicles and went to a nearby café to wait. I didn’t need to provide any documents except my passport, because he had all documents printed out and had done the paper work beforehand. So, we sat down and talked a lot, my share was 10% and mostly just giving keywords for the next monologue, but this was no problem because it was very interesting. This man knew much about Taiwanese history and politics but also about many other countries. I cannot refer everything, but I also don’t want to repeat what I remember without checking what is true.
At 3:30, we went back to the immigration, I just signed a little paper with name and passport number and without any luggage check (“because we are just a small island”) we could go to the port. The agent had asked how I would get to the port and first was a bit ok with me going by bike, but now, he wanted to pack the bike in his car, explaining that nobody was allowed to go by bike and not even taxis would be allowed.

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Well, we went there, I had a short passport control at the entry, he had to fill in a form at a second check point and soon we were at the port. The “Georgia” was about to berth, you could see how those “pusher boats” brought her to the pier, people throwing thin ropes down on which the big ropes were tied up, that only could be carried by three men. And I saw many bicycles, workers driving to and fro with them. And a taxi waiting, but the agent said it was a special port taxi.
When the stairs were prepared, I soon could enter the ship, one crew member helping with the luggage, one carrying the bike. The ship is a bit smaller than the “Columba” and it was good to know the basic arrangement of decks etc., because it was more confused and winding. I was brought to my cabin and had a short visit at the office to deliver my documents. Then I tried to find my bike and with the help of one crew member asking the next and the next we found it in a small extra room.
Not much later it was time for dinner and then I went to the cabin, writing many messages, posting on facebook, reacting to comments, uploading a video, etc, because in a few hours, I could not do it anymore. At 23:00, I was tired but glad that I had not tried to go to sleep, because there was a very loud alarm. I went out of the cabin and the captain came from one side and told me it was only a test. On the Columba, there had been 2 or 3 tests, too, but they had been announced per loudspeakers. Last time,  I had had the complete F-Deck for me, because the office etc was one deck higher, here, on F-Deck is also the office and the captains and some officer’s rooms, so it is a bit noisy.
Today, I had learned something new about the cabin: I had not been able to open the drawers and thought they were locked. Now I saw a key, but it didn’t fit, so I asked. And the drawers have an extra button on the bottom that must be pressed to open them.
Tomorrow I want to empty my bags completely in fill everything in those drawers and cabinets and lockers.

My body/brain system knew exactly that there is a reason to be nervous but didn’t know as well that it is no use to do the 5 o’clock-thing when I would not leave before 10:00 anyway.
There was not much to do before leaving: packing the mat and the sleeping bag (5min), cleaning the room (5min), finishing packing the bags (7min).
I tried to explain this to the rest of me, but it was useless, because, if my brain starts working, it finds other reasons to get up early, to use the extra hour and when my body starts working, blood pressure and heart rate are no longer compatible with sleeping.
So, I could use the time for an extra working hour. At 6:00 I was glad about getting up earlier, because grandfather stood outside the door, calling my name. His last information was from yesterday, evening when I said good-bye to them and thought I would leave at 6:30. So he had got up so early to buy and bring breakfast.

Can the words “thank you!” express what I felt?
I said thank you, more than once and still felt helpless in view of so much kindness.
I tried to explain the again changing situation but was not sure, if he could understand.
Mark and I went to the – and now: definitely! – last working session in the garden, last day only for me, the work we started is still unfinished and gardening/farming in itself the more.

We went home and there was grandma, helpless and desperate with my bag of chocolate and 2 pairs of shoes of me. She had thought I would have left without these things (and I wonder what she thought about my 4 big bike bags!)
For me this was cute and I felt pity, but Mark was a bit angry with her (I couldn’t understand, but you could hear it and feel the atmosphere..)
So, I had even more mixed feelings when I really left half an hour later.
After my experience from last time, I am a bit more careful with the words “never again”. 2015 I thought I would see them never again, because the idea to make this bike trip was only a nucleus, a wish.
So, we said “hope to see you again!” and why should we not hope and wish…
The 30km to Kaohsiung were flat and without wind, it was just getting rainy and cooler.
I was only 500m away from the office when the agent called to inform me that berthing should be on 9^th and the procedure of boarding should start at 13:00. So, I could have spent another day in Pingdong but for my nervousness, it was the right decision to go to Kaohsiung.
So, I went to a hotel and stayed there until early evening to go to the nearby night market.
I wanted to get a last taste of Taiwan and I wanted to buy a cake, because I had read too much about birthday cakes and was ….inspired.
I bought roasted sweet potatoes & taro and a kind of veggie-omelette and a cup of bubble milk tea with grass jelly and managed to get all of that in my own containers instead of one way packages.

On the way to the cake shop, I refilled these things to my very own container but still was looking forward to eating a cake. There were two sizes, normal and smaller ones, and at least I was reasonable enough to take a small one.

In my room, I started eating it with delight, but after half of the cake I needed a break.
In this break (and before) I read and answered messages and posts for my birthday and admittedly this was a nice task, even my brother Markus in a way had reacted to that ?
(But I would also be ok if not – our brotherliness is not depending on the exchange of wishes).
I could stop writing here but I am sure that at least someone wants to know what happened with the other half of the cake.
When there is something I have learned on this trip, then my motto “do what has to be done” so I saved the poor creamy thing from getting corrupted in a warm room overnight, it just took me another break after 75% and after that I was satisfied in the certitude of not having missed out eating cake on my birthday, I really could feel it!

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It was raining in the morning and when I came down for the toilet, I didn’t see anyone and thought that Mark would sleep longer because of the rain. But at 7, he came to fetch me and we went to the garden for an unexpected last time.
Betty came after a while with a breakfast and also helped for a while.
I cannot report many news until afternoon, but then Mark wanted to go with me to a village. I had packed my bags as far as possible and didn’t want to unpack it, so I went with him just in t-shirt and shorts. But because of the weather and the wind it was a bit cool. I thought I could stand it for a short tour, but later Mark told me we would go to a beautiful garden and dinner, too. So, I was glad that he had an extra jacket that he could lend me.
First we made a pineapple cake research. The situation is this: everyone knows them in those small packages, but no one so far knew fresh ones and my theory was that before you could get the factory-made packed once there must have been fresh ones, too, and most probably still exist. We went to a bakery with so many beautiful cakes that I would need 2 weeks for testing all appealing ones and found a pineapple cake with the diameter of a CD and one in the typical square size of the packed ones. I am scientist enough to know that I must have both to get any meaningful result and bought them. At a booth at the afternoon market, I found another species, tiny things, a third of the volume of the industry standard in slightly modified cylindrical form. With this data base we could move on.

We went through a landscape looking like a mixture of park and nature and got the first cold shower, but not from rain, it was an automatic lawn sprinkler that “blocked” the road for those who want to stay dry. We saw a new built big temple and I wonder how all those old and new temples can be maintained, renovated or even been built when thy depend on donations.
We made a stop for a dessert, a very soft tofu variant with sweet red beans (in my case, Mark took the pure one) and a brown sweet liquid, in some way made from sugar cane.

Mark has a friend who is manager of the garden of a very rich couple half an hour from there and we went on. The garden is big enough but even more remarkable is the composition.

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There are little hills and paths on and between them, even the stones of the path looking expensive, a pond with water lilies and most remarkable, very old trees, huge bonsais although the garden only 3 years ago was a banana plantation. I could enlarge this list of display of richness, could mention the house, but you also can let your imagination run free, it makes no difference.
It had started raining and we stayed in the office of the manager, drinking hot water to stay well-tempered. At 17:00, the restaurant, that Mark had chosen for dinner, opened, the rain was a bit less so we went there.
Rain:
I had no rain for many weeks and in Taichung, Gorilla had cleaned my bike two times from head to toe (or so) and I could have bet, it will get dirty again before I reach the ship. It is like cleaning windows to provoke rain. I hope the farmers can appreciate my contribution to plant growth….
It is essential for arriving in Australia to have clean shoes and the shoes of my bike are the tires, so I will (have to) clean them again on the ship.
We went home in again stronger rain and I tried to go smoothly to avoid dirt sprinkling on the bike, but this was more a matter of feeling than of effectivity, I guess.
here some notes, regarding the ship… (partly copied from a facebook post)

planned departure to Australia: Thursday

THU morning, agent calls:

ship to AUS belated, new information in afternoon.

no new information in afternoon, so, in the evening I plan to leave FRI, at 6:30 to be at the port authorities’ office at 8:30 or 9:00.

30min later, call of agent:

ship is in waiting position for a free place in port. berthing might be at 8:00 but could be even Saturday.

I hope that the schedule of the ship and the opening hours of the authorities overlap and I hope that the agent can find a window of opportunity for my to embark and I hope he is aware of the situation! (last time, in Dubai, it was a matter of minutes that I came on board before the ship left, and I had been waiting the whole day – dont want to have this again….)

so, plans again changed, stay longer in Pingdong

…or not?
The freighter “Georgia” should have arrived on 7^th at noon, then midnight, last information: maybe even later.
I wonder why this is so unsure, because on the route Dubai to Kuala Lumpur, the crew knew days before the exact hour of arrival, and the auto-pilot of the ship controlled the optimal speed of the engine to be there at the time given.
Now, the situation is like this:
Originally I should have arrived at the port authority on 7^th at noon and 12 hours later, the ship would leave. Then I had been told I should be there ad midnight, according to the new schedule. But then learned that the port authorities’ office (of course) is closed at that time and I should come to Kaohsiung overnight to wait there.
But why should I wait there?
I could arrive in Kaohsiung when the office opens, it is 2 hours cycling from Mark’s home….
I will get more information on the next day, but the communication with the agent is a bit exhausting:

Dear Sirs,

on ~7th of March, “Georgia” will leave from Kaohsiung to Australia.
I have been told to establish contact 3-4 days before departure to get further information.
I stay with a friend in Neipu Township (~28km = 2 hours by bike) and would arrive by bike at any given location at the port at any given time. 

Kind regards,
Martin Ebenhöh

Dear,Martin

-PLS URGENTLY ADV KAOHSIUNG HOTEL FULL DETAILS TO US

FOR ARRANGE TO ONBOARDS AFTER CHECKING BY KAO PORT AUTHORITY

Dear Sirs,

thank you for this fast reply!
But I am a bit confused now.
I am not in a hotel in Kaohsiung. (I stay at a friend’s home in Pingtung)
But I would come to Kaohsiung port.
Please tell me the address where we can meet or where I should go.
Please tell me the date (still 7th of March?) and the daytime for meeting.
Thank you!

Dear,Martin

-PLS SENT COPIES OF PASSPORT TO US.

Here are the passports!
I needed two, one has the Chinese Visa and I used it for entering Taiwan

one has Australian Visa, so I will need it for disembarking

U24265320 for entering Taiwan

U2884790 for entering Australia

Dear,Martin

 -BEFORE JOIN VSL.WL ARRANGE TO PORT AUTHORITY

FOR DISEMBARKING.

PLS ADV YR FULL DETAILS AT KHH FOR ARRANGE PERSON

MEETING TO YOU BEFORE VESSEL ARRIVING.

Dear,Martin

  -FYI,UPDATE THE VSL SCHEDULE FOR YR REF.

  Based on latest below expected KHH schedule.

KHH	etb	Thu	07-Mar	12:00
	etd	Fri	08-Mar	0:05

Dear Sirs, 
I hope I could understand the message, (please, would you mind writing the full words, because I am unfamiliar with these abbreviations – thank you very much!)
1) Is it enough to come on to Kaoshiung on 7th of March around 12:00?
(I can come earlier or later – no problem

2) shall we meet at the port authority?

3)is port authority here:
No. 62 Linhai 2nd Road. Gushan District, Kaohsiung ?  
https://goo.gl/maps/mm3YCzTqKAy

4) which details do you need now? I can send what you need!
I will bring all documents and papers when I come to the port.

kind regards,

martin

Martin Ebenhöh <mrt.eben@gmail.com>	Di., 5. März, 15:45 (vor 1 Tag)
an YANG; Vicky; PAO; bko.vesselops

Hello again!

For better planning I would like to know where I should arrive in Kaohsiung on 7th of March and at which time.
For the time being, I try to be in  No. 62 Linhai 2nd Rd at the port authority’s office at 11:30. 
I will arrive their with my bike and luggage and all documents.
Then, I can cycle to the port.

Please tell me, if this ok that way or what else to do.
Thank you!

Dear,Martin

 -RYMAIL WITH NOTED.

-THE VSL WL ETA KHH BETWEEN 07^TH/1200-1400LT AND RVTG BERTHING SCHEDULE.

-KINDLY PLS TO OUR KAOHSIUNG OFFICE FOR WAITING VESSEL AND

 ATTACHED ENGLISG/CHINESE FULL DETAILS FILR FOR YR REF.

-PLS ADV YR MOBILE PHONE TO US.

-PLS CFM RECEIPT.

Dear Sirs,


I hope I understood well (I have difficulties with the abbreviations!)
and try to confirm:

I come to the office in 

22F-2, No. 29, Haibian Road, Lingya District  

https://goo.gl/maps/ekgAk9UwsPw

I suggest to arrive at 12:00, is this OK?

My number is 0937027744

Kind regards,
Martin Ebenhöh

__(call of agent: ship will arrive only at midnight)________________________

Dear Sirs,

if the authorities office is closed at the time of meeting,
I suggest to meet near the entry of the port, 
maybe at this place:

萊爾富便利商店高市漁港店

No. 42號, Yugangzhong 2nd Road, Qianzhen District, Kaohsiung City, 806
I can be there at any given time.
I suggest 23:00
please, Mr Pao, if you call me, could you call between 15:00 and 15:30?
a friend can talk with you an explain later to me.
Thank you,
Martin

Dear.Martin

  -RYMAIL,PLS NOTE NOT COMPLETED JOIN VESSEL PERMISSION FM IMMIGRATION OFFICE

YOU CANN’T INTO HARBOUR.

-AFTER COMPLETED THE VSL BERTHING PROSPECTS.WL INFORM

 MOVING TO KHH STANDBY FOR WAIT VESSEL.(EXPECT ON MARCH/08^TH/2019 MORNING)

 -PLS CFM RECEIPT

In the morning, as a small variant of our routine, Marc had bought the breakfast before I came down to his apartment, so we could go to the garden directly. We could finish the first part of preparation for new planting projects, that is removing the high grass and shrubbery carpet that had grown over the foils on the rows. And the second part, removing the foil and the staples for fixing the foil is done half.

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Mark went home, and I wanted to go to the near-by post office. On the way, I found a little shop for “Taiwanese chewing gum”. The man smiled uncertainly and asked me (only in Chinese) if I really want it. Then he gave me a package of 8 gums for 50T$ (I think, Mark had told me it should be much cheaper!) and when I was about to leave, he gave me a bottle of water for free.
I went on to the post office but after some minutes wondered where it is. I went on for a while, the next city was near and thought I will find it there. In the city I stopped and started the GPS on my phone and saw on the map that I had missed the first post office and was 20 meters in front of the next one (I would have missed that, too, because it was not directly on the road).
The lady at the counter needed a long time for the letter to Iran and a while for the wooden Taiwanese postcard that I had got in a school, but finally it was done and I went back.
Again, I didn’t see the first post office and this is interesting, because only by seeing it a few days ago I thought that I easily could deliver the letters.
At home, I came back to the true routine of these days of homework interrupted by lunch and a chewing gum session.

This stuff is bitter and after a while I didn’t feel well, first a kind of heat around the cheeks and then dizzy and a bit sick. But I was awake for the next few hours, the main reason why people chew that. It is in fact betel nut and it is a normal reaction of being poisoned by the alkaloids contained in that nut. Not sure what I will do with the other 7 pieces, but I know that some people chew up to 100 of them every day. When I had recovered we had a recording session with Betty, Mark’s wife,  now completing the 11^th verse of the Bürgschaft. In the evening Helen the teacher of the school in Pitou, sent me the recording of Betty, the student who’s recording had failed or was gone! I wonder how Betty could do that without any help with German pronunciation and I am happy and grateful to both Helen and Betty, but even more I was embarrassed that I cannot use it, because the voice cannot be heard in the first part. I sent back a recording for studying and hope they can repeat it in some days.
My route to Sydney is now nearly completed, I looked for places to stay every 200km = for every second night, and I found so many willing and friendly hosts, one family offering their yard for camping and access to bath and kitchen although they possibly would not be at home.
Mark had a class in Herbal Medicine in the evening and I didn’t go out for dinner, first, because I continued finishing my nuts that are forbidden to bring to Australia and second because it was raining.
When he came back (luckily the rain had stopped at that time) we talked about plants, what was sometimes difficult because we both didn’t know the English names, but at least regarding mint we could compare th application in TMC and in traditional healthcare in Austria.

no photos about routine (but why not – will take one another time)

It was a bit different start, because Marc was late and we didn’t buy breakfast before going to the garden and eat it before gardening, but alone that this is a difference worth telling shows that things had a quite usual way to be.
So we worked for a while, had a break (eating or better: chewing sugarcane) and when we were finished, Marks mom came by bike. So we cycled home together.
I had my gopro on the bike and wanted to film it, but the gopro didn’t want because the battery was empty. The battery should be fully charged, so this was strange.
At home, I found out that the gopro had filmed the staircase for 90min. The only action to see was 5 sec of Mark leaving the house and 6 sec of his mum doing the same. On that day, Grandfather had carried my bike in the house when I had left it locked outside. Maybe he had switched on the camera by that.
The rest of the day was the routine of digital work interrupted by lunch and dinner. I had contacted some “warmshowers”-hosts along the route Melbourne – Sydney and even got replies the same days, and all were kind and positive!

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Mark had been somewhere overnight but only in the evening, I saw that he had written a message on “Line” to meet in the garden in the morning. I wonder if people in 100 years (if they survive climate change) still will use a dozen different apps for messaging or if WeChat will rule over China and another app over the rest of the world. For me, one would be enough. And “Line” is not my favourite, because it didn’t work well on my fairphone. But maybe, they will not need any device extra to be called “fair” in 100 years, because there is no more coltan or gold to be mined under slavery conditions and everything else is done by machines.
So, we didn’t meet in the garden, Mark was working there alone, and I did my homework.
Today I was in contact with the agent of CMA CGM , the cargo ship company, or, to be honest, I felt as if we wouldn’t be in contact, because four times I was asking the two simple and basic questions “Where will we meet?” and “When will we meet?” and got four replies but no answers. At least, I know that the ship will arrive in Kaoshiung on 7^th of March at 12:00 and leave 12 hours later, further, I know that within the process of coming to the port and sailing, I must come to the port authorities and I found out this address and there are two days left to ask again my basic questions or to wait until the agent feels the need to tell me that on his own.
At noon, mark went with me to another vegetarian restaurant and later we made our Bürgschaft-recording. Statistics: “Die Bürgschaft” has 20 verses with 7 lines each, so all in all 140, and so far, 61 are recorded. Maybe I will have to switch from my hosts on this trip to my future surfers in Vienna to complete it.
After another work session, permeated and overgrown by some procrastinating facebook scrolling – when I got a message I did not only read and answer it, I clicked on the “start page” -if it is called like that in the English version- and scrolled down until I either had seen too many useless things or get stuck on something interesting (which costs some additional reading time), so I would prefer another messenger without this timeline feature, but maybe I then would find other ways to procrastinate?
Where was I?
Ah, after another work session, permeated and overgrown by some procrastination, we met for dinner at Mark’s flat. His wife had come back from volunteering at the temple or monastery and it was the first time after Vienna that I saw her, because during my last (shorter) stay, she was at the monastery, too.
The last set in front of my PC was shorter but more dramatic, because I learned that I would arrive in Singapore one week later than I had calculated in my planning. I don’t know when and why and how I had “corrected” the now again correct dates to the wrong ones, but for now, I only can hope it will not come worse, because it will become even harder to organize a stay and meeting in those remaining days.

This post nearly would have been without photos, because my “explorer fooled around, flashing different signs and was not to stop, so I had to restart and the folder of today was gone, including all photos that I had transferred from the camera. And normally, after transferring I delete the photos on the camera. But this time I had forgotten…

Mark had prepared a paper for me that I could show at a street food booth to get the good rice like yesterday. But first I was not hungry to get out early enough to get a portion for sure and second a little later Mark’s father was standing in front of the room with a breakfast. And a little later he came again, with coffee!
It was such a big cup that I had to be honest and say that I don’t drink coffee, but he also drinks mainly tea – I felt so sorry…
I did my work and at noon Mark’s father again was standing here, you can guess – with lunch ?
Mark came home for a short time and went back soon to his friend, because the car was broken. And I went to a second cocoa/chocolate place.
On my way I again saw a cemetery with many destroyed graves. You also could see new or well preserved graves so I was the more irritated by the others. For me it is not so much the lack of honor for the dead, because they don’t feel it, but how is this for some relatives and how does it fit into a attentive and soft society?

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https://damecacao.com/guide-best-chocolate-taiwan/#Joyce_Chocolate_Cafe_Workshop
“Joyce chocolate cafe workshop”
is a small place, with only some cocoa trees, not enough for there production, because for the fermenting process they need around 100kg and maybe produce a third of that, the rest is from other farmers.

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They grow different sorts of cocoa trees, so you see leaves and fruits in many colors, and by the way also many different colors on the trees themselves, because depending on their age, the fruits can be green, red or yellow. The shop or café is also not big, but to my surprise the whole process of chocolate production is made in the kitchen behind!

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They have two or three small machines (looking like normal kitchen devices) to help and the rest is hand-made. The result is award winning chocolate!
I got something to test, between 68%-85% cocoa and my milk-chocolate-spoiled palate still can handle 68% best, but 68% is still more than I normally would prefer and, in this case, even I could say it was fine!
The whole café was filled with chocolate smell but now I learned that this came from the cocoa tea!

I took a cocoa plant and a coffee plant for Mark and his garden and hoped he will like it, but we will meet only on Monday again, because he had to go somewhere overnight.
And, to make the full-board menu complete, soon after arrival both grandparents had again climbed those stairs to bring me dinner, too.
thank you, xièxiè! 🙂 ?

We had our morning routine with breakfast (this time I got the last portion full grain rice before they were sold out), 2 hours garden work and then homework.
I have finally changed the booking of my last freighter, because my friends in Indonesia had not answered my messages for some months and I don’t want to go down to Bali and up again when I don’t know if I meet somebody. Now I just have three weeks between arrival in and departure from Singapore and hope to meet Lulu and Hasmik, maybe even at the same time.
It is so new to me and a bit strange, but now I would again have the chance to go to Bruxelles and again would not come to Marseilles and Switzerland and I am not ready to inform my friends about that. As a first step to get accustomed to the new situation, I deleted the Indonesia-routes from my GPS.
After morning business, Mark and I met for going to a Vegetarian restaurant. This place was great – you could choose from more than 15 different dishes, put them on your plate, pay per weight and enjoy!

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Then I got back my repaired shoes and hope that they can survive the rest of the trip. We went to Mark’s bigger and more remote garden, worked for a short while

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and then set down. I immediately got sleepy and also Mark lay down for a rest. I had a mixed quality of sleep, because my free-floating head ached and the flies were nasty, but for a while I was tired enough to manage that during the sleep. A bit later two friends of Mark arrived and professionally prepared everything for a picnic dinner.

During the proceeding preparations the number of cookers grew, and I counted 6 in the end.

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The food was good, the friends were nice, the garden atmosphere pleasant (except the mosquitos who had the night-shift after the flies), but it was hard to integrate me in the conversation which mainly ran in Taiwanese. The friends know each other since around 30 years because of their common interest in outdoor activities and they would stay in the garden overnight. Mark went home with me to get some things to join his friends for camping and I sat down to write what you now read.

At 7:00, Mark and I went to buy breakfast and then to the garden. We worked there hard for 2 hours and the difference was not stunning, but the long grass and herbs had made such a tight tracery that it took time and strength to loosen it.

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Then I had a digital working unit before we again went out for lunch, eating Hakka noodles. For me, it is quite convenient eating with Mark, because he is Vegetarian and so he knows where and how to get appropriate food.
After another digital work unit, we left for chocolate research to the Cocosun Cacao Farm, one of 10 places in the bigger area of Pingdong related to chocolate.

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We took a coffee and a chocolate ice cream (guess who took what) and the ice cream was sobering from to high expectations. But we tried three tiny 75% chocolate cuboids for 50T$ and I don’t know what the price of 100g would be. The taste was hm….good. Maybe excellent, but I am not used to eating chocolate in homeopathic doses. There were some cocoa trees, but the real farm would be another 4km from the store and no one around to show or explain, so we went back.
On the way back, Mark found a shoemaker to fix my normal shoes. Maybe the problem had started earlier, and I just didn’t notice, but today I saw that the soles became loose.

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Mark thought we could eat dinner during the repair, but the cobbler said that the shoes must stay there overnight. I was not prepared for that, but it seemed better to ride home barefoot and have the shoes for tomorrow than waiting until they completely fall apart. It was a challenge for me, I feel unprotected und exposed without shoes and the pedals have sharp spikes for better grip.
That reminds me on something I wanted to tell yesterday and as often had forgotten when I sat in front of my PC: Yesterday, I was going down fast one of those hills when I got a stich from an insect. It had crashed on my body and was caught in my t-shirt and it soon was clear that not the crash, but some bites were hurting. I had to initiate an emergency brake and free that animal that was big enough that I didn’t even think of slaying it and just was relieved when it flew away. It burned for a while but less than from a wasp.
And this story reminds me on an experience of today that I would have forgotten to tell:
In the garden, I touched the sugar cane with my arm, and it burned. It looked as if many small thorns would stick into my skin but it most probably my skin itself, because I didn’t read anything about thorns thin as hair one sugar cane and after a while, I didn’t find anymore thorns, only burning skin.
Marks mother had prepared food and she and his father came up the stairs to the rood several times to bring something additional. And that reminds me again on something to tell: When Mark and I were in the garden, a man on a bike approached and I was very surprised when I saw that it was his father, aged 84! He brought toast bread for the two dogs which live in the garden. I am not sure how good toast bread is as staple food for dogs but at least Mark had told me, that one of them catches mice but they don’t eat them. Most probably they would if they needed something apart from bread.

Peggy helped me to get my fresh-packed bags down to and on the bike and soon I was gone…
For my first break (today I wanted to divide the 124 km into 52+41+31) I bought some food and could fill up my bottles for free. The temperature was pleasant and only later I wished to have the short bike trousers, because it started to be hot, at least in the sun. For those who want to know, I had been to the toilet at 6:00 and even after arrival at Mark’s house, I felt no need to find the restroom although I had been drinking 3 liters and “eaten” another 0,5l in my Muesli. (Sorry for those who didn’t want to know).
The road again was very pleasant and belief me or not, I had tailwind sometimes! Only 2 or 3 short climbs slowed me down, the rest was most of the time more than 20km/h and including my 2 breaks and all those often long stops at traffic lights (although I must admit that I ignored some) I arrived after 7,5 hours without extra efforts to be fast, except when I tried to keep behind a guy on a racing bike.

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Some names of regions or cities are the same like in China and reminded me on that continuous slight pressure I felt in an un-free country although it nearly didn’t affect me directly.

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When I arrived, Marc was sitting in front the house and a-waiting me. He showed me a room at the top of the building. He is on the 2^nd floor [that would be the 1^st one in Austria because we start at the ground floor with “E” for the German Erdgeschoss (=ground floor)] and his parents on the next level.
They had had a accident with their motorcycle and some injuries on shoulders and knees limits their agility and so, Marc has moved to them. They are still so nice and caring persons and extra came up to the roof to bring me a blanket and a pillow and several water bottles.
Marc showed me the market and then we shortly went to his “old” garden that looks completely different.

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The worst thing for me: there are no more dragon fruits! First I had to accept that it is not the season for mango, and so no mango sticky rice available (I had been waiting for that since 2015) and now this – life can be so cruel sometimes…
We will come back for some work tomorrow morning.
Mark invited me for a dinner and then I sat down to – you know it, because otherwise you could not read it! – write my diary.