From Taipei to Suao

Yesterday we cycled from Taipei via Keelung to Juifen. Today we continued to Suao. A beautiful path on the Pacific coast awaited us, some even with a cycle path right along the sea.

But first things first. The way out of Taipei was pretty relaxed. The traffic is very orderly. Only the traffic lights are red for a very long time and there are a lot of traffic lights. In the first hour we had 30 minutes of standing time. We were in Juifen early, but we didn't find the hotel that easily - the place is laid out in terraces with lots of stairs and Google was overwhelmed (and so were we) The entrance was inconspicuous and only signposted with characters...if we had any questions, it worked , much to the delight of the Taiwanese, as we were basically at the door..

The place resembled a fair. We had read something about old mining towns and old streets and beautiful views, but what we found subtly overwhelmed us. Crowds of people pushed their way through narrow streets with countless food and sales stalls.

Today we went beautifully along the coast. Partly on the road with a lot of truck traffic, partly on cycle paths on the road or completely separate. Unfortunately we were not allowed to travel through a 3km long tunnel because it was closed. In terms of scenery, the day was an absolute highlight - I had to fight back tears, I was so moved. This morning I was still thinking about whether it wasn't all too tiring for me and the traffic and the long flight and the jet lag and finding the way and not missing anything nice and finding coffee and food and not ending up in front of the truck... everything forgotten by these sights.

So we sink into bed satisfied and Taiwan was already worth the trip!