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Home > Trips, photos > South Cross-Island > 1st and 2nd days: Taichung-Tainan-Lidao

The ride down to Tainan was uneventful.  We got slightly lost at one point but soon found the way again.  Tainan is well known for its local culinary specialities so that night we went out to a night market to look for them.  We didn't really find any there and settled for some "real Indian milk tea" which, though poured from a great height, tasted just the same as regular Taiwan milk tea.

Later, though, the Taiwanese friend we were travelling with guided us to a shop which sold delicious zongzi; pyramids of sticky rice filled with meat, peanuts and vegetables, wrapped in bamboo leaves.  Though zongzi are sold everywhere these were some of the best I'd tasted.

7-11 with C.N.Y. decoration

Stop shop -- the name of this convenience store is "Stop" so they put a big sign above the road to advertise it

At Chikanlo in Tainan -- the stone tablets have historic inscriptions

Stone turtles carrying the tablets on their backs

The next morning we walked over to the Chikanlo, originally a Dutch fort and subsequently a temple and a governor's residence.  It was nice to see this well-preserved historic building.  Though there are quite a few other historic sites in Taiwan, they are not always so well looked-after, and there are fewer than might be expected.

A country cottage with C.N.Y. lucky red paper decorations

Tough guy -- looks like he has all his camping gear with him

We came round a corner and were surprised by this huge temple complex

Not really the last petrol station

We loaded up the bikes, went out of town and started on the South Cross-Island Highway.  We passed through the bucolic scenes of Tainan County and gradually gained height.  I'd had two concerns about this route.  One was the real possibility of ice on the road at the highest points.  Luckily the weather was fairly mild so we had no problems in this regard.  The other was the distance between petrol stations.  People quoted different distances from 130 to 150km.  My bike would do at least 180km on a full tank, on the flat, but in the mountains, laden, it might be different.  In addition it would be nice to have to choice to "potter around" without worrying about running out of petrol.  I believe the large sign next to the petrol station pictured above reads "last petrol this side of the mountains" or some such.  I filled the tank up and also filled up two containers.

As it turned out there was another small petrol station some way further up the road.  We stopped there as well and I managed to get another 50NT or so's worth in the tank.

Later it got foggy; a usual occurrence on this road.  As we came out of the tunnel at Yakou, the highest point, we could see a mountain peak shining brightly ahead of us, above the fog.  We couldn't see any other scenery but enjoyed a coffee and a sausage with raw garlic as an accompaniment.  Then we started down the road.  The fog closed in again and we took it extremely carefully in the dark around the unknown corners.  We were booked in at a guesthouse in Lidao, a small village.  We found the place alright then after unloading the bikes found a restaurant where we ate wild boar and drank aboriginal millet wine.

Go to the next page: 3rd day: Lidao-Taidong