The Dulan Vortex

Dulan turned out to be one of those towns that anyone that has traveled has been to and maybe even found themselves "stuck".  Not that stuck is the necesarily a bad thing in many of these cases.  Certainly not for Dulan, a small, artsy, surfing village tucked neatly in a cove just north of the city of Taitung.  As for us, unable to delay our riding any longer we rolled in an evening ahead of our friend and decided to wait him out figuring that some time to blog or clean clothes would not be the worst option.  After stopping at a brick-oven pizza joint on the side of the road- an obvious sign that this place would be slightly unique- we went to the usual location, the local police station, to ask about camping foor the night.  As it turned out they had built a few small covered sleeping platforms for cyclists right on their grounds for free.  

Um, hell yeah I am ready for some pizza.  3 months+no cheese = cranky Chiara

Aparently I was looking at something super interesting on my phone in the free campground at the Dulan police station.  WHERE in the WORLD do the police have free places for you to camp?!?! Oh, yeah, awesome Taiwan, that's where.

Delighted by this we claimed a spot, showered, and made ourselves comfortable.   That evening we went for a stroll down the single drag that made up the bulk of the town and discovered this little spot housed multiple backpacker style hostels filled with westerners and locals intermingling, drinking, eating, and listening to loud music.  We even came across a couple from Denmark that we had met previously in Haulien and we spent the evening chatting, drinking,and enjoying a more traditional 'backpacker' type experience.  Awakening the next morning, feeling a bit rough from the nights libations (i.e. Chiara was pretty hungover) we made slow progress packing our gear and moving from 'camp', but we eventually climbed the hills outside town to meet our friends.  That evening we were reunited with

Aaron or A-A-ron (a Warmshowers host from Japan) 

and we were introduced to his friend, an artist also from Spain, Alvaro aka 'Boubba', who lived austerely in this little artist, surf onclave while he worked on an art installation for which he had been commissioned.  To round-off our small mismatched crew was a Chinese woman, Vivi, who was also staying at the small home through a Couchsurfing vacation.  

We were quite the internation hodgepodge- eating, drinking, swimming, debating, and sharing stories.  Quickly 4 days elapsed and it became apparent why so many of the westerners didn't appear to have any plans on leaving any time soon.  We even started becoming more acquainted with local, um, friendly insects, that used the house as at least aspart time  residents, such as Priscilla, the bathroom spider that was almost the size of my hand, and this crazy praying mantis that was not the size of my hand.  Also viewed were groups of monkeys, hawks, hawks biting the heads of snakes, headless snakes, possibly every genus and species of moth ever recorded, dark brown wasps well over and inch and 1/2 long, and tons of others crazy creatures.

    

The laid back lifestyle, the access to beautiful uncrowded beach and surf breaks, and the congenial vibe slowed us down too, but eventually we packed up and continued further south.

The Sweet Spot

Reluctantly riding out of Taroko Gorge we were taking photos and slightly lamenting not trying to ride to the 3000m pass (the highest driveable rode in Asia) but knowing deep down that the misery of attempting this on a 20inch wheeled bike is almost certain torture.  We soon cheered knowing that the best of the best was immentently in front of us.  Hualien to Taitung is well know to be biking paradise.  A more than 200km section of roads that wind through hills, along coastline, in and out of villages and all with good bike lanes and drivers well aware that you, and thousands of other cyclists, are present.  

We rode through road with shrines for relatives who had passed.

  

On a bike-only trail on the coast.  Alas, there were ome stairs too.

The easy ride to Haulien was a pleasure.  We decided too treat ourselves to a hostel, hot shower and delicious night market food and the manageable sized and friendly city of Haulien was the best choice.  We checked-in, showered and went walking in search of the street food we have grown to love.  Nothing much happed in our time in Haulien.  Most tourists use this town as a base from which to visit Taroko and other surrounding sights but as we had just came out of the park and passed or will pass most of the aforementioned sights (a perk of cycle touring) we spent a large chunk of our time eating, reading, and sleeping.  Not able to be more content we did venture out at night to the wonderful Night Markets that are part of normal Taiwanese life.  The food is always cheap, fresh and unique and we love sampling the local delicacies.  

   

Eating a bunch of veg and stinky tofu, a Taiwanese delicacy that smells like your grandpa's socks but tastes pretty good.

   

A stall selling all kinds of skewers you can have bar-b-qued, Bruce in heaven with a pork-stuffed french toast, a milk tea, and a fruit-I-can't remember-the-name-of milk.

After two restful days we staarted south again and zig-zagged our way from one road to the other across the less formidable but still challenging coastal range mountains of Eastern Taiwan.  Avoiding the main roads whenever possible we chose the local village roads which were more rolling hills but with almost no motor vehicle traffic.  At the end of the day we landed at dark at another coastal park camping ground in a village diffficult to pronounce without a smirk and snicker- Shihtiping, that we read about in the Lonely Planet book.  Everything was great- covered platforms on which to set up your tent only meters from the picturesque shore, hot water showers, and only a few other campers with which to share the accomodations.   Unfortunately we found out in the morning that the price was 3X that quoted in the book.  Not a trip ending dilemma but still a shock and slightly bitter pill to swallow.  Still half the price or less of what it would cost in the States we decided to stay and rest another day as we found out that our friend (and warmshowers host, Spanish Aaron) from Japan was coming to do a short tour in Taiwan and wanted to meet up a bit south of our location so we needed to kill some time awaiting his arrival.  

  

Scenery on the way to Shihtipeng,

  

The view from the campground, the platform we camped on, and crater-like rocky beach down the road.

We ate at a local aboriginal food at a cafe run by a wild haired and slightly crazy-eyed native island woman and slept well listening to the sounds of the waves against the rocks on shore.   The next morning we stretched our bodies, something that was long overdue, while looking over the waves (the kind of staff that would make Rodney Yee jealous) and walked arround the little park playing in the tidal pools and enjoying the peace.  We tried to go eat at a local seafood restaurant that we read about in the very tiny village but in true Taiwanese fashion they we inexplicably closed at a normal eating time.  We have started to get used to this phenomenon in Taiwan.  It has similarities to places we have visited in Central America in the past, where 'Hours of Operation' are more of a rough outline of what 'might be' and not what should be expected.  

Hitting the road early the next morning we continued south toward our rendevous point of Dulan but not exactly in a straight line.  This time on coastal Hwy 11 and again crossing the coastal range inland.  We made great time and even had time to search out one of the locally famous destinations, the hot spring hotels where for a few bucks you get to soak and relax in a private hot spring fed tub.  Needless to say ut wasn't easy to get back on the bikes but we were close to a town where we would eat and spend the night.  Little did we know that this simple task would end up being quite so powerful.