Yuli to Fenglin

Rice paddies and mountain views

Despite all the coffee paraphernalia in the Airbnb, we opted to use the simpler, reliable AeroPress.  Once again we left Jonno in bed and sent him the check out instructions.

It was a slightly warmer, clearer day and we had magnificent views across the rice paddies to the surrounding mountains, just slightly draped in cloud.  We came across the remains of a concrete bridge and debated whether it had been destroyed by floods or earthquake.  Turns out that the Kaoliao bridge was broken into several pieces during a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit eastern Taiwan on 18 September 2022. 

We continued along route 193, a quiet backroad with minimal facilities and lovely rural views.  It was very pleasant cycling. We made our way into Ruisui knowing that there were minimal coffee options. We ended up at a 7-11 stocking up on lunch provisions for a planned picnic in the Matai’an wetlands.

We were near the station and G got chatting to a young couple travelling around Taiwan.  Soon after they left, an American arrived on his bike and stopped to chat.  Turns out that Greg, from New York State, had booked to join a Spice Roads tour only to find that it was a private tour and he wasn’t welcome.  He received a full refund and used the same itinerary as the basis for independent travel.  He asked if he could tag along with us for the day and we readily agreed.

Just outside Ruisui we picked up the Ruisui bike path that wound its way past a menagerie of animals and a random dinosaur.  It was a pretty tree-lined path, though the promised flowers were not in bloom.

We ended up back on the main road and the rice paddies gave way to pineapple fields, and we passed an interesting artwork titled Endless Life.  After a few kilometres we turned into the wetlands.  The bike path ran along some canals and we found a place for lunch near an Amis restaurant. Being near a pond meant that there were a few mosquitoes around but it was a pleasant lunch spot. 

We followed a few more canals and emerged near the Guangfu sugar factory, renowned for its icecream. We picked up the list of options in English.  As the ice creams were all pre-scooped, there was no option to mix flavours, you had to choose from the list. Si and I had vanilla and chocolate, whilst G had red bean and matcha. Just as we finished, Jonno arrived and joined us with a roselle icecream before heading off again.  I had a wander around the site, noting that the fish pond had little boats that you could control via steering wheels on the side of the pond.

It was a quick ride along the main road into Fenglin and after farewelling Greg and a quick stop for breakfast supplies, we were soon at the Futurosa BnB, arriving just after Jonno who continued along the hillier route 193.  We were able to take the bikes into the lobby and headed up to our big room. The view from the balcony was lovely in the late afternoon light, with just a little cloud on the mountains

Given that we were a little distance from town,  we hopped on the bikes in the drizzling rain and found the closest restaurant which served Hakka cuisine, a type of Chinese cuisine.  The Hakka people are the second largest ethnic group in Taiwan and comprise 15-20% of the Taiwanese population.  We had prawns, omelette, and some pork dishes with noodles and rice.  Fortunately the drizzle had stopped for the ride back.  A family with young children had arrived, also on bicycles and we chatted briefly to them before heading to our room. 

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