Bikeride on the Taiwan Coast

While in Taiwan, Katie and I decided we wanted to see more than just Taipei so we took a 3-hour train to the city of Hua Lien on the eastern coast of the island. We wanted to see the Taroko Gorge and get a look at the ocean. After a slightly disappointing trip to the Gorge (we were there a little too late in the day and it was very overcast and the mountains tops were completely hidden by dark clouds), we decided to rent bikes and see as much of the coast as we could. We happened on a map that showed a 15km bike trail running straight along the coast of Hua Lien. After going a little too far and ending up in what seemed like the industrial end of town, we finally figured out where the bike path started and enjoyed a gorgeous ride.

The city of Hua Lien and the cloud-covered mountains .

At the start of our trip, we found ourselves riding behind this man. We started up a conversation with Mr. Liu and found out he's Taiwanese but has been living in Texas for the past few years teaching Chinese at a university. He spoke decent English, but was happy to talk to us in Chinese and even said our Chinese "ting hao de" (quite good . . . a high complement from a Chinese teacher!). Hua Lien is his hometown and he was back for a visit. Mr. Liu was friendly, chatty, and in amazing shape for being in his 50s (Katie and I were really struggling to keep up!) and he helped us not make any more wrong turns or lose the trail. It seems that when Katie and I travel and it's just the two of us, we tend to meet friendly, local people along the way who go out of their ways to help us even though we're complete strangers and who end up making our trip so much easier and more fun.
At first, I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a clear day. But, it turns out that the dark foreboding clouds decided to only occupy half the sky and we did have patches of blue sky peeking out. And in the end, I think the swirling gray skies made the scenery more beautiful, dramatically set against the foaming blue-green ocean and the dark, fog covered mountains.
In the end, we think we rode 20 - 25 km which I was pretty proud of. I was worried I'd be so sore the next day that I couldn't sit down, but I guess all the biking we do in Mengzi has gotten my rear in gear, so to speak.