First, the numbers. I flew out March 3, and returned (after a 36-hour day!) on March 26, for 22 nights. I spent 4 days not cycling (3 in Taipei, and 1 in Hualien). I had an additional 2 days that were short: around Sun Moon Lake, and around Liuqui Island.
While my cycle computer died as I entered the outskirts of Taipei the last day of the trip, an solid estimate is 1,259 km for the trip, averaging 56 km/day (78 km/ day for the days that I rode all day). My longest day was 104 km. I had planned a fair amount of extra time in this trip with concerns about weather and my ailing knee. I rode shorter distances than usual, but still didn’t have a lot of downtime. I still tend to plan on an average 60 km / day. A more relaxing trip is closer to an average of 50 km / day (or get my daily cycling distances back up to 100+ km / day).
Expenses
My total expense for the trip (not counting airfare) was $1,028.48 for 22 nights, or $46.75/day. That’s more than I expected, higher primarily by a couple of AirBnb’s (which were 2-3 times more than the hostels). The only other “big” expense was (not) watching whales, at $30.
The taxis to and from the airport were about $55 (offset by staying with John and Heidi!). The metro fees were negligible. The ferry was only about $15. The train? $4.
Accommodation
I stayed in three BnB-like places, the rest were hostels (not counting the five nights with my friends John and Heidi in Taipei). That’s wildly different than usual, primarily because I never camped.
I primarily used booking.com to find accommodation. I used hostelworld.com once, and AirBnB twice (and then only the first couple of days). Booking.com was the clear leader; I could generally find inexpensive hostels in the $16-$18 range. My average cost per night was $21.51.
Food
I usually carry about a day-and-a-half’s food when touring, and prepare many (especially evening) my meals myself. Not in Taiwan. Prepared food is plentiful and cheap. Small shops open in the morning to sell breakfast. Between the night markets and small take-away like restaurants, finding food is a matter of just stopping where you are for food. These restaurants often have a printed menu where you can mark what you want to order. While in Chinese, Google Translate is your friend. Additionally, many have a similar menu with English they hand to wandering tourists. If you’re food-adventuresome, you have options such as dried duck head, pig blood cake, and fish intestine soup. I never did try the stinky tofu.
And then there’s 7-Eleven. There’s a 7-Eleven on almost every street corner in cities (some times more than one!), and even the smaller towns have several. When there’s not a 7-Eleven there are also Family Mart and Hi-Life convenience stores, but 7-Eleven predominates. In addition to what you’d expect to find in a convenience store, they also serve “prepared” food. For example, many of the 7-Elevens sell small pre-cooked sweet potatoes which serve as a staple for cycle tourists (Heidi pointed this out to me). They also sell fresh prepackaged meals you can heat up in their microwaves (with a number stamped on the packaging for how long to microwave).
It took me a few days to adjust, but eventually I carried less food and water, as I could always stop somewhere and grab food.
Transport
As always, there was a ferry (out to Liuqui Island and back), and a couple of taxis (to and from the airport). I had only one train ride, bypassing the worst 50 km of the Suhua Highway (one of Taiwan’s most dangerous but also most scenic drives). I did spend a fair amount of time in Taipei using the Metro, and one bus ride. A shuttle picked me up and dropped me off from the (not) whale watching.
Gear
I didn’t lose any gear this trip! On the other hand, I had a lot of gear I didn’t need. Taiwan is small, distances between things were short, hostels were plentiful and inexpensive. I should have left the tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, and cooking gear behind. In fact, I _almost_ left it all at John’s, and only kept it as a safety net. I also have space in my panniers for food, but 7/11 was everywhere, so after a while just didn’t bother carrying much food (or water) with me, as I could always stop, also decreasing my overall need for space. Taiwan is ideal for a bikepacking setup.
Before cycling the Suhua Highway, I went back through my gear to drop what weight I could, and left the tuna, pasta, and a half-bar of soap at the hostel.
I needed more sunscreen. While 3-4 oz of sunscreen normally lasts me 4-5 weeks, I “burned” through that much in the roughly 2 weeks of cycling.
Health
I wore a mask on the flights over and back. At a rough estimate 40% of the Taiwanese population wears a mask when out in public, even in cars or riding a scooter. I picked up a saddle sore early on, but that stayed mostly under control with Mupirocin (an antibiotic I carry for this purpose). I did pick up motion sickness meds for the whale watching (twice, as the first purchase was medication intended to be prescription for Meniere’s disease, and I just wanted typical motion sickness meds).
I had a tooth bothering me, and my knee. Ibuprofen kept both under control. I learned that that if I kept my left foot canted slightly inwards my knee didn’t bother me nearly as much. I suspect I should switch to clipless so the clip can hold my foot at that angle. I regularly thought, “My knee hurts; oh I just need to turn it again”.
Other
I did something new to create my trip map this time. I used OnTheGoMap, exported the track there to GPX, and then imported the GPX track to Google Maps.
I’ve got the Highlights Photos and the Full photo gallery posted.
Highlights
A few things made this trip particularly memorable. I spent a lot of time visiting with John and Heidi, and it was great catching up with John and getting to know Heidi. My encounter with the effervescent police chief at Sun Moon Lake was heartwarming. I didn’t stop at another police station, in part because of how long it takes and, I think, because I didn’t want to lose that feeling of how friendly they had been on the off-chance the next on wasn’t the same.
Then there’s Alex. I bumped into him early on, and (with some intent) our paths kept crossing despite the fact that I had no hope of cycling at his pace. I’ve missed that camaraderie with cyclists the last few trips, caused primarily because I just can’t keep up, and having that this trip was heartwarming.
Overall? Taiwan was an interesting adventure. Overall I prefer cycling in Europe. More castles.
