Chenggong

Terrace of the three immortals

A well deserved rest day that started with a leisurely breakfast served in the hotel.  We are the only people staying so have the place to ourselves, with the owners only there to check us in and then returning briefly to make our breakfast.  As Jonno doesn’t eat breakfast, we divvied his up between us with Simon eating most of his egg toast, whilst I ate his fruit.  We arranged for only three breakfasts tomorrow.

Simon had work to do on the bikes including replacing one of his spokes that had snapped and repairing Jonno’s pedal which had come apart completely.  Fortunately we carry spare spokes so that was easily repaired.  Jonno’s pedal was a little more challenging and Si ended up removing the toe clip and screwed the rest of it back together,  Hopefully it will stay intact for the next couple of days until we can get to the Giant store in Hulien.

It was time for a coffee, and we headed to Coffee Actors, a short ride away.  Si and I opted for his special feature pour over coffee which was a local coffee - Taitung Small Farmers medium roast.  G tried his special tea known as fragrant marigold and shared it with Jonno, declaring that it had a strong taste of rosemary and was very nice.  The coffee was quite different and really delicious.  He gave us a small bowl of nuts and we also tried his homemade cinnamon bun and brownie.  He then gave us a taste of his ice drip coffee but neither of us liked it very much.

We cycled through town and down to the fishing harbour.  Some of the shops had their fish on display, including tuna, salmon and mahi mahi.  We cycled round to the far side of the harbour for a good view of the harbour building which was designed like a ferry boat.  On our return there was a catch of sharks on the ground and a crowd had gathered to take photos and check out the local catch ahead of the auction that takes place each day around 1pm.

We decided not to wait around for it, and continued out of town past Chenggong Coastal Park with its interesting sculptures of dolphins and three human-shaped structures made from waste. We also climbed the mosaic-tiled tower for views along the coast and towards the mountains.

We continued along the bike path to Sanxiantai and the small island that was once connected by a neck of land which has since eroded.  It is now connected by a red, 8-arched footbridge which is designed in the shape of waves, like a prostrate sea dragon.  The local legend is that three of China’s eight immortals once spent a time on the island and left three large stones there. As we parked our bikes a group of Taiwanese asked if we were travelling around the island and the usual questions about how long had we been travelling and how long were we taking to do the circuit.

J and G climbed to the lookout whilst Si and I returned to our bikes. On our way back, we noticed the lilies at the side of the track. A passing Taiwanese woman told us that they typically bloom in April and that we would see a lot of them around Hulien.

We headed north towards Pirisian, an Amis tribal village. We found a restaurant that was still serving food after 2pm and were able to get a table. We messaged the kids but they had headed back to town in search of a late lunch. We ordered fried rice, clam chowder (which turned out to be a fish broth with 7 little clams at the bottom of the bowl), some delicious dumplings and a Szechuan roll, which turned out to be a cut up squid tube.

The name Pirisian means “goat herding” and we soon found the driftwood goat that marks the location of the Pirisian Cultrual Centre which was unfortunately closed.  We returned to Chenggong and found a supermarket to pick up dinner supplies for a quiet dinner in for a genuinely restful rest day.

  Prev entry - Home - Next entry