I made an early enough start that the breakfast place down the street hadn’t opened yet. I headed out, comfortable and correct that I’d find another one in reasonably short order. While wild dogs–alone or in packs–litter Taiwan, this morning I had to pass different guardians to leave my AirBnb.
The ride into Taitung was short– only 15 km. I’d poorly chosen a hostel that did not permit any type of early check-in, so I spent the day wandering the streets and parks of Taitung.
M
Mostly a kind of meh day. Happens sometimes.
Low-flyer fighter jets were almost constantly overhead.
While I had planned to stay in Taitung for two days, I spent the day wandering this smaller town, so I’m heading out tomorrow. This makes the second time I’ve changed a reservation with success despite being non-refundable, just by being polite. For the first time in a while, the forecast shows rain tomorrow, in the early afternoon.
Another reason to head out tomorrow is that in theory Alex and I will meet back up! He’s coming in from Green Island via feert, and not leaving Taitung until noon. With that kind of head start I might actually manage to get to our hostel before him. My plan is to leave Taitung early and hopefully beat the rain.
That won’t save me the day after tomorrow, which shows more rain. Problem for future Rick. I still have a couple extra days built into my schedule. I also still have to decide whether to cycle (and/or which sections) the Suhua Highway (Provincial Highway 9), infamous for landslides, narrow sections, and dangerous cliffs along the eastern coast. A 38.8 km, largely tunnel-based improvement project was completed in 2021 to improve safety and travel times; a lot of the data on-line is outdated.
As I sat in the common area, a woman arrived to check-in, and spent the entire time loudly complaining about the check-in process. American of course.