It was really early in the morning when Yu woke up. Still some jet-lag and some sort of excitement, I guess. I (Irene) was still sleepy, but as I was awake and Yu had gone for a walk, after initial scepticism I decided to join him.
Pic. 1: We watched the sunrise from the beach.
Our hotel offered breakfast, so we went back to our room and got prepared while we waited for breakfast to start. The hotel had an inner garden that was absolutely marvellous. The views of the garden and the green forest from the dining room were awesome. We still don't understand why they didn't offer any dinner, at least beer and noodles, having such a great place.
Breakfast was good. Soya milk, melon, watermelon, dragon fruit and a kind of hamburger. Being already full of energy we took our bikes, said goodbye to the hotel and started cycling.
Pic. 2: The hotel looked like an imperial building but no imperial dinner. Sorry.
Pic. 3: Stunning views from the dinning room. Why no dinner, buddy. Hello?
It was around 8:00 when we left the hotel. After a few minutes we saw a monument to the Tropic of Cancer. We stopped for some pictures. This was where we had had dinner the day before. Thanks Tropic of Cancer!
Pic. 4: Tropic of Cancer monument
We would say the scenery was even better than the day before. Or maybe we were just in less of a hurry and enjoyed it better. Who knows. First 15 km were up and down all the time. Then it was mostly flat for other 20 km. We stopped for pictures more than once and took some other while on the road. Also a few videos. We didn't want to miss anything, and we had started early enough to take it easy.
Pic. 5: Breath-taking place. Hi, can we work here? Contact us!
Pic. 6: It was at least this beautiful all the time
After those first 35 km, there was like a 6 km climb with its correspondent descent afterwards. Then another climb, only 2 km long but steeper, and finally another descent. After those two bigger efforts we stopped to eat some snacks. It was a short stop and we continued our way. Passing through one village something caught our attention. There was a kind of performance with people dressed up like... we don't know. A picture is worth a thousand words!
Pic. 7: They were celebrating something...
After a while we arrived in Hualien. It was a little before 13:00. We had arranged to meet there some friends who were also in Taiwan for holidays. It was a coincidence that we had planned to be in Hualien the same day, so we had coffee together.
After coffee with them, we went for lunch. We still had 40 km remaining and the last 20 km were uphill. Re-fuel needed, 7-Eleven needed to load snacks and plenty of water loaded. Snacks were basically rice balls.
Rice balls consists of steamed rice in triangular shape filled with different stuffing inside (meat, tuna, chicken, etc.) and wrapped in nori. Rice balls are nutritive, provide good energy, are easy to eat and above all, really delicious to eat. They are also very compact and easy to carry, so we found they were the best thing to take with us approaching the Taroko climb.
We were already thinking about the climb because we knew once you enter the Taroko there's almost nowhere to buy anything, so we needed to be prepared. Tianxiang, the place where we were sleeping that night, was the last place to buy food or drinks until almost the top of the climb. The day before we lacked water, and we didn’t want the same thing happened again.
After 7-Eleven, we retook our journey. It was a bit past 14:00. The first 20 km were totally flat. I mean, the flattest you can imagine. After those 20 km we turned left and started moving away from the coast. That meant the climb was about to start, and the real purpose of our trip.
Pic. 8: Taroko, there we go
The first part of the climb is not steep. We knew it. We took it easy knowing we had time and that the day after would be the real challenge.
As we were getting close to Tianxiang, we crossed the very well-known Cimu Bridge, one of the eight wonders of Hualien. This is the only bridge in Taiwan that's built of marble obtained from Hualien. The pavilions on both ends of the bridge were built by Chiang Kai-Shek and Chiang Ching-Kuo as tributes to their mothers.
Pic. 9: Reaching Cimu Bridge
At five-ish we arrived in the hostel. There are a couple of hostels in Tianxiang, and you need to climb a really steep slope to get to them. We went by bike to the first one just to find out it was not ours. Later, we pushed the bikes up to the one. The ramp was too much.
Once in the hostel we registered, left the bikes in a place prepared for it and went for a nice shower and some rest. When we both were ready, we went for a walk in the surroundings.
Pic. 10: The Tianxiang Youth Hostel, founded by the KMT
Pic. 11: A nice walk to relax our legs
We had dinner in the hostel. It was a bit expensive but food was good quality and we deserved it. After dinner it was still early, so we went out again to the "city centre". There was not much, so we just wandered around a bit and bought a few soft drinks and chips to take with us to the hostel. Also some more water and jelly beans for the day after.
Back in the hostel we checked again how was the profile of the route the next day. Steady and easy climb for many kilometres followed by a short 2 km descent, after which the real fun began, with the last 10 or 15 km being really hard, with slopes of up to 30% at some points. Anyway, it was time to get some good rest.