Day 13: Xincheng to Luodong

Time: 9:57pm

Location: Luodong, Yilan

Weather: clear 19C

Today was the toughest day of riding both mentally and physically but also one of the most rewarding. I woke up later than I had planned at 6:45am, and packed up as quickly as I could as students were actually already at school. It wasn't raining with the roads mostly dry and a cup of coffee later I felt ready to tackle anything. We left Xincheng around 8:45pm, rolled downhill over the bridge and was along the road over Qingshui Cliff in no time.

Pretty soon the tunnels started, of which I counted 9 or 10 in total. The thing with tunnels is that they are narrow and cars sound loud even though they are far away. You just have to ignore the noise and focus on pedaling as fast as you can. Going through each of them was like interval training but thankfully they were all well lit. With the exception of one truck driver who repeated honked at me even though I had nowhere to go, everybody else gave me lots of space and I never had a close call. Just outside of Nanao, I caught up to four other cyclists riding from Tainan while waiting for the train to cross. We made plans to have lunch in Suao but unfortunately that didn't end up happening.

A significant climb started after Nanao followed by a fast descent, and this repeated after Dongao. I can't count how many people had warned me how dangerous this road is and to avoid it completely but I honestly didn't think it was that bad. Sure it takes a lot of intense focusing especially descending and yes there are lots of buses and trucks (I found out later that the best time to bike it is actually in the afternoon because there are a lot less tour buses) and possible rockfalls, but the views of being on a cliff over the Pacific Ocean are worth it all. The sun even came out towards the end and the descent into Suao overlooking Nanfangao will remain one of my most memorable sights.

With Suhua behind me, the afternoon was a walk in the park in comparison. Suao is famous for cold springs but the park seemed to be closed today perhaps because it's been so cold. I had the cheapest but most satisfying meal of braised pork rice for lunch and then biked to and around Meihua Lake, a small pretty lake with an overlooking temple, where I laid around the sun for a while. In the late afternoon I headed over to my host Joyee's place in Luodong. Joyee used to work as a tour guide and has traveled to many countries so we had a lot to talk about! Tonight just happened to be the weekly local night market down the street so we walked through that after dinner, something I haven't done in a while!