Yesterday was our last ride from Lukang to Taichung with a brief stop at Rainbow village. As I write this Larry and Grandma Friday are nestled in their suitcases ready for our flight home tomorrow. 

After over 1900 kms,  here are some of our thoughts about cycling In Taiwan.  First,  I would say this has been a fantastic place to explore by bike and I would love to come back and see some of the places we missed and return to our favourite spots. I would recommend it to anyone as long as they are comfortable with city and highway cycling with traffic. 

Language 

Taiwan is a very easy place to travel in. The people are amazing friendly and helpful. We had lots of fun, slow conversations with Google translate and also encountered a fair bit of English spoken. Road sign and many business signs are in English as well as Chinese. In noodle stands and food stalls our Google translate App with the camera function steered us clear from the organ meat and always recognized dumplings!

Road

The traffic felt much safer than at home, even if that is not reflected in their accident rate, which is quite high.  The road surfacing is generally excellent and there is usually a separate lane for scooters and bikes.

Our pictures are somewhat misleading, in that we generally photograph beautiful places and not the ugly ones.  Taiwan, especially western Taiwan, is very built up. Cycle Route 1 is primarily on highways  and runs through a lot of fairly unattractive urban sprawl. Our best rides were on small roads, some of which were designated bicycle routes, and bicycle paths.  There is a rich network of cycling infrastructure, including rest stations with washroom facilities.  Police stations were often designated as rest stations and we found the police very friendly and helpful.

Weather

Although Taiwan is only 375 kms long, there is a considerable climatic difference between the north (particularly the northeast) and the south.  During December and January the average high temperature in the north is 20 degrees, and in the south it is 26.  It is likely to rain a couple of times per week in the north, but only once every 10 days in the south.  The dominant wind is a northerly, and it can be fairly strong, particularly in Tainan and the Penghu Islands.  

Like most people we decided to go around the island in a counterclockwise direction.  Unfortunately, when we were three-quarters of the way around (part way up the east coast ) we realized that we faced an extensive period of bad weather.  We turned around and went back to the south and half way up the west side. For anyone planning a trip here we would suggest that you keep your options open. If the weather is good in the north and east coast, start with them and go around clockwise.  If not, as was the case for us, head down the west coast from Taipei.  There is a good chance the weather will be better by the time you reach Taichung.  Generally speaking, the weather in Taiwan in midwinter is like summer in Canada.  Unlike Southeast Asia or Cuba, it is not excessively hot, and for most of our trip it frankly felt perfect.

Food 

Food is a passion of the Taiwanese, and a treat for visitors.  Food is available everywhere there are people, offered by everything from a cart, to a simple noodle or dumpling stall, to a large and expensive restaurant.  It is possible to eat a tasty meal of noodles or dumplings in a simple stall for three or four Canadian dollars.  The lunch time Bento boxes are also great for cyclists.  They offer a buffet of dishes you select from, including many vegetables, plus rice and usually sweet tea and miso soup.  You pay by the weight or number of portions, but even hungry cyclists can sate themselves with tasty food for three or four dollars.  We particularly recommend the Asian eggplant and green bean dishes that are almost always offered.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is quite possible to spend quite a bit on food.  In larger centres there are an abundance of high end restaurants, and items such as desserts, fancy drinks, baked goods and imported items can be quite expensive.  There are lots of Taiwanese richer than you and I, and there is a general willingness to spend on food.

Taiwan has a great climate for agriculture, so the markets are full of beautiful (and often shockingly large) fruits and vegetables.  We tried a number of tropical fruits that we had not previously tasted, such as sugar apples, wax apples, and several that we don’t know the names of.  One Taiwanese woman told us that the fruit in Taiwan is just a little sweeter than elsewhere, and indeed some, like the papayas, were better than I recall tasting elsewhere.  I have a papaya addiction to deal with when I return home.  For the most part, however, fruit and vegetables aren’t cheap the way they are in Southeast Asia or Central America.  I’m not sure how much fruit many of the local people are able to afford.

Accommodation

We found all of our accommodation through Booking.com.  There are plenty of clean, attractive hotels, as well as many home stays and hostels.  Many places include breakfast, which may be ordered from a nearby restaurant or prepared onsite.  The larger city hotels often offer truly excellent buffet breakfasts.  Some of our best lodging experiences were in homestays.  Our hosts usually took a real interest in what we were doing and we had lively exchanges with them, often with the aid of Google Translate.

The cost of accommodation is surprisingly high, and it probably amounted to two-thirds of our trip cost.  The price of a room varied widely, though generally I feel it is comparable to Spain (about $50 to $100 Canadian for a double).  There is also a weekly cycle to room rates, with significantly higher prices on weekends, particularly Saturdays.  Rates also spike around holidays such as New Year’s.