Wulai to Yilan - The hard way

A group of friends whom I'd met last January was getting together to do another bike trip.  Jeremy, the guy who typically organizes these bike trips is leaving for the summer to go fishing in Alaska and so this was to be his last bike trip before he leaves.  The proposed journey: a 40-45km bike ride from Wulai up through the central mountain range of Taiwan and back down to the other side, arriving in Yilan on the eastern coast of Taiwan.

The day turned out to be unforgettable and now lets let the pictures narrate the rest of the day!

Met up with the crew at Gonguan MRT station.  In order to get onto the public bus system we had to remove our front bike tyre and pack it in a bag with the back tyre.

The ride from Gonguan to Wulai is pretty far.  We're fortunate we were able to take the bus (less than $1).  Otherwise the taxi ride could have easily been $15.

Arrival in Wulai!  I've never been here before but it's a town known for their nature hikes and hot springs.  Wulai is probably only a 30 minute bus ride from my house.  Really easy to get to and I plan on going back.  Really cool place!

It's hot out!  Must be sunny and high 20's.

We had some time to burn before the rest of the crew arrived in the second bus.  Maria and I walked up and down the main strip checking out the food and wares for sale.  This roast pig looked pretty good but we found out it was 300NT$ for one small package ($10!) too expensive!

Lots of candy and alcohol shops!

Yummy mochi!  My mom would have loved this place :D

Still don't really know what these are despite seeing them everywhere.  Maybe I should ask someone at work

The view at the end of the strip.  I believe most of the hot springs are more easily accessible from the far side of the river

I hear there are both hot and cold springs here.  I'm thinking those ones there are the cold ones!  They make sense for the weather though.  Who wants to sit in a hot tub in the middle of a hot day?

heading back through the strip

Once everyone arrived (9 of us) we sat down for lunch together.  Here's some bamboo rice.  What they do is fill a piece of bamboo with uncooked rice, some light spice, and mushrooms, and then they steam the rice in the bamboo.  Really nice flavours!

We also shared some green vegetables, and a bunch of fried pork.

Meal turned out to be about $5 per person.  More than I normally pay for lunch, but it's a tourist place so higher prices can be expected

lol... benz

she was driving soooo slow!

We were headed for the Tonghou Trail!  This is the start of a 17km uphill ride...

The road was only 1 lane wide, and there were numerous pullouts along the way in case cars needed to pass each other

The ride was filled with lush greenery, and the path followed along the cliff side and we always had a view of the river.  Felt like I was in Jurassic Park!

Waiting at the Police checkpoint for the rest of the team.  Cordie's bike was having technical difficulties which caused a minor delay

who the heck is poisoning the fish?  And what the heck is over-building??

beautiful views while we wait

oh!  there they are :D

good to see them catch back up with the team!

Hey! What the heck!  Turns out Cordie ended up getting a tow from Jeremy the whole ride up.  What a nice guy!  That white cable is actually a discarded extension cord that Jeremy found in the dump yard not too far from where Cordie started having problems.

self portrait

We crossed the river on a large bridge

Left to right: Chandra, Toby, Maria, Cordie, Mickey, Steve, Jeremy, Me, Mark

View from the bridge.  Several fishermen hung around here

Mickey met Cordie on a random couch surfing event the day before (the day Mickey arrived in Taiwan) So after only 1 day, Mickey was already in the thick of things biking through the mountains in Taiwan.  Very cool!

back on the road

pit stop

I'd met everyone here before on previous xpat events, except for the two guys on the right who were pretty hardcore bikers.  Toby was from Germany, and Mark was from L.A.  Both I believe were doing their graduate studies (I could be wrong though)

I should mention that 4 of us who rented bikes got a bit screwed.  The bike shop froze the front gear on all of our bikes so we were essentially stuck with a 7 speed bike.  It made for some killer thigh burning going up some of the hills.

big waterfall!

action shot!

Suspension bridge at the entrance to the difficult 8km vertical climb that we were about to head up

We dismounted our bikes and Jeremy looked into the distance and said "look at that!"  There was a wall of rain flying towards us!  It took a matter of second before it approached and everyone scrambled to put away their electronics and put on their ponchos.

Within a few seconds everyone was drenched!

With only 1.5 hours of daylight left, torrential rain, and the fact that no one had every been up the treacherous trail ahead of of, we decided that we would save it for another time and head back.  It was the smart, grown-up decision to do

We biked back absolutely soaking in the rain for about half an hour.  Then it stopped raining and the sun came out for a spectacular sunset.

To be honest, this view made the whole day worth it.  It was stunning, breathless, one of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever experienced.

It's difficult to capture everything in a photo, but I hope you enjoy these snapshots of the moment

Please check this panoramic in full screen mode (click on it!)  It'll be much more impressive!

We arrived back in Wulai by dusk.  It was an almost magical ride back into town as the lights on the little hotels and onsens lit up.  It felt like we were riding back into a fantasy land from a ghibli movie.  Neon signs darted the trails, steam rose from the rooftop chimneys and the reflection of the water twinkled all of the reflections back.

Exhausted, we started to dismantle our bikes for the bus ride home

surprisingly (and luckily) the bus driver let all 6 of us on with bikes!  3 of the other guys ended up riding back into town.

We took the bus back to Gonguan and dropped off our rentals.  The rental place was close to the Mexican Food Bar so that was our destination for dinner and drinks!

All of the seating is outdoor and the "restaurant" is really just this bar window.

I had the chicken enchilada.  $6.

Drinks were flowing!  Most restaurants let you bring your own drinks so we ended up darting across the street to the 7-11 to buy packs of beer.  $1.25 a beer is much more affordable then buying directly from the store!

What an incredible day!  Looking forward to next time!