Cycling In Fulong

At 9am the alarm went off and we snoozed for an hour. We made ourselves get up... ugh, vacation has ruined our already-undisciplined sleeping schedule, but the temperature was going to hit 27 degrees on Tuesday and we'd really been looking forward to having a sunny day that would be worthy of taking a cycling trip to Fulong. Is this too much for a Canadian to dream of in February? We took a bus and then a crowded train (but we scored seats, booyeah!) for about 2 hours to Fulong, possibly my favorite area in Taiwan, where I've already visited 4 times in the last 6 months. We grabbed a quick bento lunch and then went to rent our bikes. The price? $2/CAN for a whole day rental. Crazy. Even crazier? The security! All I had to give was my phone number and a signature... no ID or anything... and off we went with 2 very expensive, new bikes.

Biking is a pretty popular past time in Fulong and we shared the trails with dozens and dozens of other bikers. There are quite a few marked trails and maps in English to help you get around to the sights. First we went to see the Caoling Tunnel, which we'd never heard of but when we arrived we found that it was an old railway tunnel. The new trains drive through a new tunnel built right next to it. The tunnel is a little over 2km long, and it's flat which makes for fun, fast biking. It was cool inside which was great on this sweaty day, and had there was music being pumped into the tunnel along with train noises, which was a bit strange and kept us on guard for any approaching trains that might decide to join us in the tunnel.

When we reached the end of the tunnel we exited to find a little fort, a beach and the mountains towering over us. Beautiful. We rested for a bit, enjoyed the view, had some snacks and headed back through the tunnel. This entire trail was so fun to bike- for some reason it seemed like it was a mostly downhill route both ways and everyone knows coasting downhill is the best part.

Next we biked down to the beach, where we've visited many times before. The first time we were there was our first weekend in Taiwan in the summer and it was so hot. The sand was too hot to touch and the water offered no relief. The second time I was there it was nice but raining. The third time it was freezing cold, but on Tuesday it was perfect. We layed on our stolen China Air blankets and slept in the sun for a few hours.

After consulting one of the on-site maps we decided to follow another trail which led along the beach towards a suspension bridge. This is surely the best place I have ever biked. Check out the view above.

And the beach to my right as we biked along the trail.

We left our bikes at a small park and walked across the bridge, though everyone else had somehow found a different path leading to the bridge that allowed them to bike across.

On the other side of the bridge we found a tree that was apparently growing pea pods, which I didn't realize grew on giant trees.

Happy with our day, we returned our $2 bikes, grabbed an additional bento and took a train home- a deluxe train this time, with cushy seats that put us both to sleep. It's supposed to be 30 degrees tomorrow, so hopefully we've caught up on our sleep enough to get up and actually enjoy some of that sun while it lasts because the next day the forecast is calling for 14 degrees :(