This morning, we managed to have brunch together with Li’s brother and wife in exactly the same restaurant on exactly the same table as 2015. But we ate different things this time (tasting again so well) ?
the murals were “year of the pig -branded”
if you eat complicated stuff that drips and slips and is a bit greasy, this might be the outcome
Then Li led me to a barber shop. This was not exactly the same as 2015, because last time, it was a traditional one and the lady only shaved my beard (and my skin was not sulky, because of her efforts with hot wet towels), and this time it was a more stylish shop and Li had ordered a complete treatment including the face.
The barber did a lot of complicated things with different razors on my head then also cut the beard in a kind of ritualized way, combing the hair that he would cut completely anyway.
the edge on the chin is art in itself
And finally, I got this face treatment with hot wet towels, lotion, and a tool that maybe was also a razor, but he also used it on my forehead.
normally, I am shocked that I look like my father. Here, I am not looking like him, still shocking
when I tried hard, I not only could breath, I could see a small section of reality
no idea what he is doing
renovated
Li documented not only the 2h procedure, she took some photos from the scenery around.
not sure if i got 8-0 or 6-0 or even 4-0…
…but it has Arabic writing
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” Søren Kierkegaard
In the later afternoon we went to a place for art, readings and movies and watched the film “The propaganda game” about North Korea and the special situation in and of this country.
The film was mainly English but sometimes Spanish spoken with Chinese subtitles, but I think I got it. The main point however is that you after the film still don’t know what is propaganda (of North Korea and from outside!) and what is “the truth” with the important difference that after the film you are more aware about this problem. Next on our list was splitting, because Li met colleagues while I went to the concert of “Sunset Rollercoaster” and “Yogee New Waves” (Japan) that we originally wanted to attend together but now Li had only one ticket. Normally, I would never see such a concert where I not only was one of 3 foreigners but also the only one above 30 or 31. (Ok, maybe 32, they look so young!) and with music somewhere outside my usual spectrum.
But I liked to have this experience, seeing how similar and how different people act in such a concert in Taiwan and those concerts I know (sometimes Jazz but mostly rock music). After the concert, Li completed the recording of the 10th verse of Schiller’s “The pledge” that her brother and his wife had started.
In the morning, Li showed me around in Nangxing Market
on the way I finally took a picture of some of these myriads of strange selling machines
later, all those motorcycles must give way to the Banqiao Mamya Night Market
and then we had brunch and a coffee/hot chocolate before she went to her volunteering English teaching. After that we met Simon, a former pupil of mine, and his girlfriend Sara at Le Ruban Patisserie that should offer reward-wining Taiwanese chocolate. But we only could get cakes which by the way were good. Then we went through a Tonguha Night Market but did more a version of window-shopping than buying and eating.
Here, we made jokes about “HC is everywhere”
because the “leader” of the FPÖ (right wing party in Austria) is H.C. Strache
After that, we went to the 3-floor Eslite bookstore and forgot the time during walking through beautiful and interesting books (there were enough English books, too!).
It was time to go home
when I got it right you could have “baked” a customized cake at this machine (if it would have worked)
and on the way time to say good-bye to Sara & Simon.
In the metro, Li and I realized that we had been getting hungry in the end, but in this city, this was no big problem also later at night and so we had dinner at last and then went home.
At noon, Julia and Simon, picked me up. We had met in
Bulgaria in the hostel Chi and since then been in contact via facebook and we
“nearly” would have met in Thailand, missing each other only a few 100km.
First, they invited me to a Vegetarian restaurant that they
know quite well, because some relatives stick to a Vegetarian diet. Some things
I knew before like this very soft fried tofu or some vegetables, but other things
were new to me. And everything tasted so good 😀
On the way to Yangmingshan (located in Beitou District),
Simon bought cheese cakes and Julia bubble milk tea and if I would not have
been full before I latest was yet!
First, we visited the Grass Mountain Chateau, former residence of late President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, here called Madame Chiang. The place had to be restored after burning down nearly completely and now is a mixture of restaurant, museum and gallery.
not meant as a workout, just looking so
Then we had a walk in Yangming Park with the flower clock
and a water fountain and flowers and flowering trees even in the mid of
February.
early plums
not in the park
Next to the park is Jhuzihhu (“Bamboo Lake”), a valley with many Lily fields
no fumarole, just clouds & sun
80$ ~ 2,3€
and near to it another highlight for me (but with nearly no other visitors), Xiaoyoukeng, an active fumarole
Near to dusk, we arrived in Datsun Nature Park at that time a very calm and lonely place
and soon darkness and fog mingled with the mountains to a mysterious landscape we were driving through to our last stop before going home, the Wuji Tianyuan Temple in Tamsui, a 5 tier Taoist temple, with worship halls for different celestial beings on each level.
where is he?
ah, here!
With many new impressions and nearly 100 photos, still full
by the great lunch, after a long afternoon and evening of walking and talking
and going around, Simon and Julia brought me back and went home to celebrate
the birthday of their son.
I kept the blog entry short, because I was so tired but I
hope the photos will talk instead of me!
(With Li’s team mates SC, Davies and Cpt Roger on Ergeshan hills, motor madness, concert with Li and her colleague Rita and an eatable Valenine’s rose and the “jazz-baby”)
Li and I left to her office at 6 by bus. It was nearly empty and going very fast with only a few stops in the start and at the end, but still it was a long ride. We met Li’s colleagues CS, Davis and Cpt Rogers, rented some bikes
and went to the hillside. It was only a few streets until we were surrounded by green
and the street went uphill with slopes where we often had to push the bikes.
here bananas!
and here Taiwanese flag!
The fog became stronger with every meter we came higher and at the top you could feel the drops on your skin and see it on spiderwebs.
We had a tea break at the tea promoting center offering free tea on a kind of water=tea tap.
The fog gave the view down to Taipei a more mysterious touch and by going downhill, we escaped soon.
Along a river, we came back to the office,
Li and her team-mates went to work, and I tried to find my way back to her home by bike. Li had to work until 7+something and she, her colleague Rita and I met again at a metro station
not Rita or Li
but also a friendly person
to go to a bar with life music. It was a guitar duo singing songs between 60ies and now and the audience was spiced up by two baby boys enjoying the music.
Because of Valentine, we got a beautiful rose that we had to destroy for the great taste.
We went home, and finally I met Quincy, Li’s brother and his wife, who host me. Quincy knows a lot about history, mainly Taiwanese history and asked me what I know about “228” (= 28th of February). I knew nothing but read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_28_incident
I am sure, they would also queue up a kilometer without cheating!
There are some sounds I wouldn’t miss if I don’t hear them in Taiwan. One is the excessive use of the horn that was most extreme in Vietnam but in some Chinese cities in the South-East (1200km away from Vietnam) appeared again. The second is that combination of roaringly cleaning the throat and then spitting. Even on the ferry some men couldn’t stop doing that, it sounds disgusting, loud like a walrus and alarming like vomiting. And the third is people “talking” at the edge of there voices any time of the day. In this case, it was starting at 4:30. And it made no difference if people were standing near to each other or “communicating” through the walls of the cabins what they also did, it always sounded like coordinating rescue action in the storm. I don’t want to blame all Chinese maybe it was only a group of throat cleaners that also shouted that way. But I will not miss it. Especially at a time when “my system” only waits for a reason to wake me up. At 6, they turned on the lights and at 7 there was an announcement and a passenger explained that it is time for breakfast.
everyone got this lunch box and they were collected extra after eating (recycling or re-use)
There I saw and heard the “loud-speakers”, some men around 60 with an appearance and attitude that I am sure even in Chinese I couldn’t discuss this topic with any good result. In the morning I didn’t see Ming who wanted to take photos of the sunrise but he must be a very good photographer for that (he is, I later saw the photos!), because I only saw clouds. After breakfast, at 7:30, I saw the port or a port and asked when I should go to my bike. The answer was “no”. But after 2 more “no’s” I got the information to go there at 8:30 when the ship has embarked. By that you can imagine how big the port must be or how many ports there are.
After landing, we went directly from the gate to the border control where every fruit had to be put away, I had one orange that I wanted to give LAN (=Lien, Amy, Neil) and ate it before it would be thrown away.
But at the X-ray, they stopped me, not because of a knife or the leatherman, no they had seen a can with something they supposed to be meat. I didn’t know what it exactly was, but it was from Thailand and it was for seasoning rice. Four officers looked at it, took photos, sent them, discussed and were excited, finally, they tried to open it and couldn’t and then gave it to me to open it. I tried hard and imagined that when I tear so hard that it will open suddenly and all that powder would cover, desk, floor and officers, but finally I could open it in a controlled way. Now a round of smelling and touching and proving the consistence started, they were sure that it was meat but then they got a message that it was fish. Now they sealed it with a tape with the writing “confiscated” but gave it back to me. I could go, enjoyed my new freedom in a free country and went to LAN…
spider bike man
Whenever I cycle the first time in a country, I must learn the “codes”, for example if someone stops at a red light, is he special or is it common (it is common in Taiwan). Now I got the impression that Taiwanese drive according to the same rules as Austrians, stick to them maybe slightly better but are more tolerant if someone makes something different. But it is easy to find more tolerant people than Austrians, because outside Europe I didn’t meet such unnecessary hatred and bitchiness that is common in our daily life for whatever reason. In the middle of Taichung, there is a hill, maybe 250m but exhausting enough to climb. Most of the time, it was easy to find the way, because the bike lanes are good, most of the time making less problems than solving them. I arrived nearly punctually although embarking and border control had been more time consuming than I had estimated. I only was surprised that I didn’t see the bakery on the side of the street where I had expected it and that Amy ran out of a house on the other side, waving and laughing, she had seen me through the window. She works in the office of her father above the bakery of her sister, and her parents, an uncle, her sister and of course daughter Lien were all here. Lien has changed and at the same time not changed since we had met in Vienna last Easter. She has a very strong and funny and interesting personality and you can see how her parents find the balance to care a lot about her without spoiling her.
Lien after assembling a paper pig lantern that now gets its final shape
We had lunch together and Amy helped me to get a Taiwanese SIM-card and a train ticket to Taipei. In a few days, I would return to Taichung, varying the original plan to go to Taipei first (if the ferry would have arrived there) and then by bike to Taichung to LAN (now train) and on to Marc in Pingdong (we will see if this still will be according to the plan). I put some things from my 6 bag packs into on that I can transform to a backpack and decided to walk those 5km to the train station. It was diversified with high and low, old and new houses, parts looking like villages or parks or countryside and rice fields between normal houses. I reached the station just in time, the train arrived, I entered, and we went on, only one hour later arriving in Taipei Main Station. In this big station, I tried to get an adapter for Taiwanese sockets, the only on this trip where I cannot plug in my PC. There are big shopping areas around the station, and I was walking 45min until I got one and then wanted to go to the exit where I had left the HSR, however, I didn’t. Meanwhile, Li had written that we could meet at another metro station, but I felt too lost and desperate and asked her to find me. And she did. So we met again in Taipei (and, including the initial couchsurfing stay of her and her friends 3x Vienna)! Li had brought a metro card that you can top up and also use for busses, city bikes and some shops, We went through an “art-quarter” of Taipei and then had dinner. On the way there and after it, I saw so many for me new food creations that I was glad that Li had chosen something ?
Not too late, we went home, because on the next day we would leave at 6:00 to meet some of Li’s colleagues at her office to make a bike ride. Like 2015, I was sleeping in her brother’s apartment on top of her parents apartment, it only was a bit strange to be there and sleep there before they come home, because they had announced to be back not before 1a.m.
79, 81 maximum speed?? The loyal audience of this blog might guess why!
At night, another man came to the room, but he left in the morning as fast as he had come. At that time, I had been awake and read so much on facebook that I had enough for a while. So, when the alarm of Shaun, the young guy from Taiwan, rang for the 3rd time, I changed into working position and finished the blog entry and started cutting the Halong bay video (25min beautiful landscape that I want to reduce to 5-10min) When his alarm rang the 5th time, Shaun got up, we talked a little and he left. At night, I had got an email with the ticket – no, not TO Taiwan but FROM Taiwan (to Melbourne)! – which was good new or at least a good sign, because I always had got the information that I need to prove how and when I would leave Taiwan to get the ferry ticket to Taiwan. At 11h, I prepared everything for leaving and at 12h, it was time for check-out. Originally, I wanted to leave at 13:00 and now used the time to look for a print-shop to get the ticket on paper, but there was none open, then, to find my Chinese “chocolate” in a shop, but no one had it, next to buy more of those taro-dumplings that I had eaten at dinner, but I didn’t eat them, only put them in the box for later and finally I said good-bye to the family where I had eaten porridge last lunch, but they were very busy. No wonder that they were busy, because it was not only noon, it was a very pleasant, warm and sunny noon after a period of cold and windy days. In the room, I had not realized that, I had been freezing after the bathroom and needed two hours to get rid of my cold hands (not by cutting them off, but by warming them up under the blanket up to my nose. So, I had put on 5 layers of shirts and jackets and now stood in the bright sun and could only remember how cold I had felt 30min before. After adjusting my outfit to the new situation, I slowly cycled to the port. Slowly, because I always looked left and right to find a printshop and forward and down to compare reality with the route on the GPS. We lost each other only once, it was a typical situation for that: A big road with3 lanes gets another one, the directions are written only in Chinese and Mr.G “tells me to go right. You cannot see which lane actually goes to the right, Mr.G doesn’t tell you and I took the right one. The right one apparently was the wrong one. But In a city, on an island, it is not that hard to find each other sooner and later and then we stood together until the end. The end was a road with a sign telling that bicycles are not allowed and a policeman at the end of that road who smiled at me, stopped me and showed that I should push the bike from there on on the pedestrian way. This was only the last 100m or so.
At the entrance, on guard wanted to stop me with my bike, but the security man that had helped me on Sunday was there and explained him that I go to Taiwan. I had arrived at the Cosco office at 13:30, 1,5h before it should open but the place was very crowded. One family seemed to be the first queued up, but they told me that they go to Japan. And I hope, so will the rest of the crowd. When the office opened at 14:20, I was the first in the row, but one man managed to get in front of me and even my strict and disapproving look didn’t stop him, but at least the next one, who also wanted to be served before me. And to make a short story even shorter, I got the ticket (And needed only my passport, nothing else). With a little bad luck, I could have lost it a few minutes later: I put it on top of my bag and took a picture of it, then turned away because I couldn’t read the screen of my phone and I wanted to inform Amy in Taichung and all those whom I had involved in my case that I had got the ticket!!! When I turned back, I wondered about a guy in his mid-50ies, travelling since 207 days, teaching at a high school, father of 2 sons who managed to grow up beside him etc etc who left a ticket for 558Y unattended and I wondered about the patience of this ticket that didn’t fly away (ok, there was not enough wind) and the honest of the people (ok, I was standing offside, because I didn’t want to be in the way of someone, so maybe no-one interested in stealing a ticket saw it). I bought some food, tried a last time to get this chocolate, sat down in a park, enjoyed the sun and the food and the ticket and my free time until check-in at 5.
you would see: Martin, enjoying sun, food (taro dumplings), ticket and free time, but the camera also enjoyed free time and was too lazy to focus…
After a while, I wondered where my bike keys would be. I remembered that I had done something when I had changed the jackets because of the warm weather but the keys were not in the pocket where they should be. I also remembered that I had put all my money in that pocket (and it still was there) so I looked in the other pocket that was open (it should not e open!) and no key inside. Now I was ready for a little panic because there was no good reason to put in in the other jacket (that was in the bike bag, but without keys) and even less reason to put it in the other trousers (that’s also, why they were not there). In such a situation, at least I look in every bag and pocket a second time, but normally things don’t change their position just because you wish they would, so the keys still were not there. I saw myself writing an embarrassed email to Doron to organize a new key again and I wanted to contact the cleaning personnel whether they had found the keys. Before that, I thought it was worth to take a second look in my front bag on the bike. As I said, things don’t change their position only because you wish, but if you look a bit harder the second time it might seem as if. I don’t know why the keys were there and I only can wonder why I didn’t see them the first time, but I was ok with the result. I went back to the port, changed most of my money to Taiwan $ and waited in front of the check-in. I was the first but a little bit on the side and the queue grew a little bit left of me, so I was sure that I would have to be very strict to defend my position. Now, there were only 20 persons in the row, so I thought, better be friendly and relaxed , because with my bike I anyway would slow down everything and then I don’t want to have a bad reputation additionally. And then, “my” security man came to me and led me aside all the others, opened an extra gate and I was the first at the X-ray. I put down all bags, put them in and at the other side an officer asked me to open the bag with the food. I wondered about it but on his screen, he showed me a thing in that bag that he wanted to see. At first, I only knew that my spork (spoon-fork) was inside but then I remembered that the leatherman that Doron and Marvin had given to me for the journey, was in that bag. The officer looked at it turned it around, tried a bit to find out the function and gave it back to me, it was ok for him. I fixed the bags on my bike moved on and soon came to a second X-ray. I put down all my bags, put them in but this time no officer wanted to see anything. I fixed the bags on my bike and moved on. After a passport control with the well-known problem that they couldn’t scan it because of a reflecting foil, I could go on to the ship.
it looks as if the cars would go from the bridge into the ship
…and from the ship on the bridge (but they didn’t)
Last difficulty: I had to use an elevator down and they wanted me to enter the bus that brought the passengers from the building to the ship (maybe 300-400m). But in the end, the officers saw that this was not possible and one of them called someone on the phone and after that took a bike to lead me to the ship. In the ship, I should store my bike on a lower deck, which meant to lift it down some stairs and I should leave my luggage on it. So, I just took a few things (and later saw what I had forgotten to take, but too late). In my cabin (to share with 5 other passengers),
was a young man from HK who showed me around on the ship
i saw women entering the powder room but I didn’t hear any Karaoke noise 😀
and told me that the restaurant would close in an hour, so we went there, because I had not enough food in my small bag. At the money exchange, they didn’t take all my money, only enough for full 1000 $ notes, so I had still smaller Yuan notes and this was exactly the price of the food. On a table, I found half a Wiener Schnitzel and took it to my fried rice with vegetables.
We talked for a while and Ming showed me award wining photos he had taken in Tibet and told me a bit about his views on HK and China and Taiwan and China. China has bought many newspaper and other media in both countries and massively influences the people. Some of Ming’s friends are political activists that cannot go to mainland anymore but he “is only a photographer” and China so far didn’t care about him. I wanted to know if he fears the future, but it doesn’t seem like that. We went back to the cabin, because I was tired anyway and he wanted to catch the sunrise. At 21:30, the light was turned of and surprisingly people became silent, too.
Around 4:30 my system (is it my brain or my body) said it is time to wake up. But as there was nothing like a time or a need to wake up, I had turned off my phone and tried to continue sleeping, because I was sure it was too early. At 5:00, I turned on my phone to prove that I am right and then managed to sleep or snooze until 6:12. I felt better than yesterday but not ready to jump out of the bed (an uncomfortable one, if you sit on the mattress, you can feel your bones getting in touch with the wooden construction beneath it and the most unsensitive princess would find a pea under it), so I read something about Uganda in Wikipedia on my phone and got up at 7 for not committing another of the 7 deadly sins, sloth or inertia. In a classic dormitory, you have no space to sit than your bed, additionally it was cold in the room (15°C), so I went back there again, but in working mode, cutting videos without lust (I tell you that to move on in the list of the seven deadly sins!) and answering longer emails and shorter other messages. At noon, I decided to go out for lunch. The streets around are full of restaurants, partly (I guess) because of the nearby University and student’s homes. I was not that hungry (Gluttony would be the according sin otherwise) but I thought it is better to eat now before I get hungry later, because Tang Xie and I would meet for dinner. In the restaurant there was a girl talking in fluent English and suggested a porridge to me. Her father told her she should talk with me and so we talked about travelling and her wishes to go to Africa and maybe Europe (which is expensive), so we connected on WeChat and later on couchsurfing in case she would come to Vienna. I was not allowed to pay for the porridge so I hope to be able to cook something for her in Vienna. I combined this excursion with looking for a music store that should be nearby. My plan was to buy a Ukulele for the 3 ship passages that will be 57 days at sea all in all. But the shop was closed, (In the list, wrath would match the situation a bit), so I returned to the hostel on another way, through very narrow lanes and successfully guided by google. At the hostel a young lad checked in to the dormitory. He is from Taiwan and came by bike and with the ferry from Kinmen. in the evening, I met Tang Xie and her family. The whole family came about 30km to meet me! And not only meet, we went to a restaurant and they invited me and gave me some snacks for travellng and brought an equipment of tools if I would have a bike problem. The parents had been travelling in Africa, including Uganda which is a remarkable coincidence for me. It seems that it had been adventurous, but they found smart ways to deal with problems, getting help by Chinese companies or shelter by churches. For me, it was also interesting how the family acted in the hostel, where we went after dinner because it was so cold outside.
finally I got those ears, too
the camera thought I am not a human and dont need them
I got the feeling they know the place better than me although I had been there one day longer. It was so natural and easy-going, I could learn something by that (maybe I will not… I could bring in the sin of envy now, but it doesn’t fit, so I only mention it and last but not least (?) greed, then all 7 deadly sins are mentioned. For those who want to fill a knowledge gap.
In my last big hotel of this trip, I even got breakfast. You get a card at the check-in that you have to present at the entrance and there was written 7-9:30, but at 7, an employee was quite unfriendly, and I needed no Chinese language skills to understand that I was too early. So, I packed my bike to safe that time of waiting and when I passed by after that, the lady allowed me to enter. Not everything met my taste but, in the end, I had a little more on my plate than I needed and just finished it, because otherwise the food is wasted (I saw it on a neighbouring table where people left enough food for another 1-2 persons.) During cycling, I didn’t feel well and wondered why eating a bit more than necessary could have such an effect. I saw only one advantage: I could do the complete 75km without a break for eating, I was not hungry at all. Normally the effect of too much food is “cycled away” after 2-3 hours and after a while it was clear that there was something going on, because I felt a bit bad and weak. The tour originally would have been 104km and would have included a bridge where according to Tang Xie, a WS host from Xiamen, cycling is not allowed. So I changed the risk of being stopped by the police to going to a ferry that komoot doesn’t know, but Tang Xie had told me about and I had seen reports from 2014 telling about an hourly schedule, so I tried to be there at 13:00 which meant to keep up an average speed from more than 15km/h for those 75km, because my start was later than 8 and I needed some reserve for orientation and buying a ticket. So, I was not amused about the hilly surface, donating me 610m on that relatively short tour. And after 34km, I saw a road sign to the port showing only 32km, but Mr.G wanted to go another way. According to that sign, it would be 9km less, what also means ~35min less. But I didn’t know if there would be any street included that is forbidden for bikes, so I didn’t risk it. As a reward for this decision, I got a long hill to climb and my average speed fell to 14km/h. With that bad feelings in my stomach I was near to give up the 13:00 ferry to have less stress, but at the same time, I wanted to reach Xiamen Island early to finally get my ticket to Taiwan.
interesting: the first picture doesn’t show much of the beauty of that landscape…
…and this was meant as example for the opposite of “picturesque” but doesn’t look that bad now 🙂
I arrived at 12:50 and buying the ticket was easy. On board a family came to make selfies with me, and so I felt entitled to do the same.
In the last days, it had become colder every day and on the ferry with the wind I was freezing. But I was sure that I had seen two dolphins and one of them was white or pink like a pig. So, I stood at the side of the ship in the strong cold wind with my camera, but of course I didn’t see them again.
surprising to see hear dolphins at all…
the camera didn’t want to focus
but in the sacs are ducks, kind of “living”
At the port, I easily found the departure building for Taiwan and for the second time on the trip I used my bike-cover to protect my bags while I tried to buy the ticket. The first time was In Romania, when I went to a supermarket and also locked the bike with my bike lock in alarm position (there is a normal position and the alarm position) and when I removed the cover, the alarm started because it is sensitive to touch and movement.
This time, no alarm. The building is big like an average airport, but only counter 10-11 is for “international cruises” what means only Taiwan.
And there was no one. A security guy showed me a small booth of Cosco (the ferry company) in a corner and told me that the only open at Tuesday at 15:00. That means uncertainty until then if I get the ticket easily, with problems or not at all.
on the way to the hostel I saw this beach
will it be even more crowded when you can go swimming?
I went to the location of the hostel, but – you know it -, there was none. No one could help me and when I tried to call (using the number from the booking by copy&paste) the number was wrong. But then someone tried the same number (without international code) and then it worked and a guy from the hostel came to fetch me. Now I know that even with the best location I wouldn’t have found it, it is perfectly hidden, and I saw not a single sign with English writings. I soon went to the room, a dormitory with 6 beds but no one else there. And as soon as possible I lay in the bed and kept on sleeping and dozing until evening. I felt cold and still not good in my body center, so I was not very energetic. After doing some things on the PC I continued sleeping, first because I had enough for/of that day and second for the magic recovery that a longer sleep can bring. Longer sleep in my case only means an earlier start, I usually am happy for every minute longer than 6.a.m and proud when I manage to sleep longer than 7. But pride is part of the 7 deadly sins and you shouldn’t conjure an evil.
When I left the hotel, no one was awake, the reception was closed. I took some photos of the place to have a prove that I had been there (if necessary) and left the key on a hidden place.
On today’s way I only took photos from strange fruits that you could buy along the streets every few 100m. On the trees, the are covered with bags, in some cases with old newspaper and even on the tree in that bag they, they also have this Styrofoam net around in which they are sold.
Later, I tasted them and want to say this is not the fruit I would leave Paradise for. And when I started to write about it, I also looked it up in the internet. Its name is Loquat.
Today, I finally photographed one of these many playing cards you find along the streets. Besides money, you also could find them in Vietnam. This card was a bit special, because so far, I only saw numbers.
Today, most probably is my last stay in a big hotel
The bathroom with the only window and glasswalls
(the last two China nights should be in a hostel) and I hope the last time with a problem. This time, Mr.G brought me exactly to the right building, I only had to find the hidden entrance. But inside, they told me that they cannot host foreigners and they didn’t get any reservation anyway. They helped me finding another hotel, even accompanying me there, but that hotel wanted 800Y/night (the other hotel would have been 189Y). But now, they employees from this hotel helped me to find a 3rd one and made a reservation for me for 198Y. They even would have called a taxi to get me there. So, in the end it was only time consuming and I just hope that booking.com doesn’t take any money for a stay in the first hotel. In Xiamen I had booked the hostel only for Monday, but now will arrive on Sunday. I had an offer for hosting me one night and now contacted Tang Xie. We also talked about the ferry to Keelung and so, by chance, I learned that there is no ferry on Tuesday to Keelung, only to Taichung and only on Thursday to Keelung. At least two persons had given me this information! But now I had to find a good plan B, because everything was arranged according to an arrival in Keelung on Wednesday. I had to cancel a CS hosting and a meeting with friends in Taipei, I contacted Amy & Neil in Taichung and luckily also got in contact with Li in Taipei. After some intensive hours of asking, talking, researching, planning, my new plan would be to go to Taichung leave my bike and most of my stuff there and go by train to Taipei and after some day back again. But now, I don’t want to say “will” instead of “would” because, first I have to reach Xiamen (Tang Xie told me that my route included a bridge to Xiamen Island that is not allowed for bikes and so I looked for an alternative and here is again a ferry involved) and then I want to hold the ticket to Taiwan in my hands before I believe it might work well…
this is the way God tries to talk to us since always…
but we need it more striking!
This night, I had strange bad dreams about keys. I just want to say, if there were a reliable alternative to lock and open doors (etc.) without keys, I would be ok with it. It is easy to lose keys and if I would get back every minute of my life that I was busy with searching for my keys, I nearly would life eternally. In my dream I had to deal with difficult situations, because had lost my bike keys and the keys of the hotel. The simple truth behind that is, that I had put those keys somewhere, and had forgotten where. The result of that was an early morning, starting with looking for (and finding!) both keys. Then, I took advantage to go to the restroom before someone else was awake, not only to have a better rest if nobody is waiting, but also because the door is frosted glass and still you see the person, though blurred, and the door doesn’t close completely, so you can see un-blurred through that gap. My best moments in restrooms are when I am unobserved because there is no one, and if there were someone, (s)he couldn’t hear, see or whatever me. Ok, I was early enough, did what had to be done and left the hotel.
again, Ming City wall, this time along outside
The tour had no many aspects that would be new for a reader of the China part, business as usual with wind, detours, street mirages, crazy drivers who didn’t watch the traffic before doing something, some people just gazing, others waving, smiling or giving a thumbs-up.
but before I leave China…
….I want to photograph those bamboo constructions
in its better days, this zebra crossing might have been effective
something I knew from Thailand (or was it even Malaysia?!) I thought i can take an interesting bike pic, but there was not much to see
nearly a village of “house-boats”
Not new but not mentioned so far, is the street food as I call it. On many days, I find fruits that still can be eaten and sometimes I pick them up. Today I found 5 oranges on the street, dirty but undamaged and later tested one so I can tell you that the taste was great!
I don’t like star-apples that much and there were too many anyway but they also tasted good compared to those I had eaten before.
When I had my first break, (today, I divided 111km into parts of 50, 40 and 21km) a couple with a motorcycle approached me. The chain had dropped, and they needed a tool to fix it. I could help them out and after repairing she said thank you but he didn’t say anything, not even good-bye.
In the city, I came near the location of the hotel, but couldn’t find it. I went to a restaurant to ask and the cook came out of the kitchen to help. He looked up the address on his phone, crossed the street with me and went into a narrow lane that opened to a court. I am not sure about what was the problem there, because we needed a translating app and some parts were confusing. First it seemed that it was the wrong hotel on the correct address then I should cancel the booking, then I could stay there, but they had no information (but I had a confirmation). And then I saw that the cook gave money to the owner and later he told me that I can stay and he had payed in advance I could give it to him tomorrow. We went back to his restaurant where my bike was and I tried to pay him back the money but he didn’t tell me the price and didn’t want to take what I offered. In the end, I could pay him 50Y, maybe half the price. He wanted to do something good and help me… IN the evening I went back to the restaurant to have dinner.
In the evening I went back to the restaurant to have dinner. At the hotel, I had asked for the price that my new friend had payed -160Y. Now it was clear for me, why he had said there was no reservation and I might be too suspicious, but maybe he found a way to force the cook to pay for me, because I would have refused to pay more than the price written in the confirmation, 108Y. My “cook” was the manager of the restaurant and he came to my table to take my order. The food was delicious, and you could watch the people working in the kitchen, also the manager doing the same work. And you could see that the sometimes were laughing, it looked as if the atmosphere was friendly between them. I had noticed, that all other customers had the bill at there tables and was prepared for new complications. When I asked for the bill, another man who also had worked in the kitchen came and on the phone showed me the translation “20Y altogether”. This was impossible and I told him the price should be higher. He walked away, came back and said it is ok, it is a special offer of his manager (that was the moment when I officially learned that he is the manager). But at least I saw the bill (65Y) and when he came back with 80Y change I hid this and another 100Y under the bill and left a note saying something like “thanks for your kindness, please share the money with your employees”. I think one of them saw my trick but didn’t tell the boss and I could say god-bye to him and leave (I was the last customer, they were about to close at 21:00) I hope that this solution was at least not offending him. But I could not accept another invitation after getting the room payed without being in need.
