Taipei, the End of the Line

Leaving Hsinchu, I felt like I just couldn't be bothered to think about it. The drivers are terrible, the city isn't very pretty and neither is there anything interesting there. The headwind is truly one of a kind. It's the windy city.

I didn't want to go on the Provincial Highway 3 as I was supposed to because I've been there on motorcycle and it was a bit too hilly for my taste. I was in a rush to hit Taipei because that's where the good stuff is at.

Rain, rain, GO AWAY

So I decided to find my own route. I did the 15, and then 108. I thought the 15 would take me to a nice scenic coastal route, but all it did was take me through more shitty traffic and the number of lights there were in that area was comparable to the 1. Which means the road is shit and intolerable. And it rained throughout the whole trip. The worst part was that along this route, everybody who supposedly served food was closed, so I had to starve and finally gave up and ate instant noodles.

Where I'm heading in a few days

I passed by the perimeter of Taoyuan Intl Airport and you know when you were getting close because the planes were closer and closer to the ground.
But once I turned on the 108, it was so different. The road was relaxed, had less annoying lights, and it was more frequented by cyclists, which is a good thing. And the rain temporarily stopped. Then I turned back into the number 1 most hateful road - the Provincial Highway 1. But at this point of time, it was so beautiful. Because it was the road that I had to take to get into Taipei. It was a joyous occassion.

Taipei, baby?

On this day I pedaled through three counties - Hsinchu County, Taoyuan County and into Taipei County. It was so surreal to do this in a mere 100km, when, in the last few days, I usually went through a single county.

Canadian, American and Singaporean eating smelly tofu

So what to do at night? Go out with laowai!