My accommodation last night was named "Slip-On B&B". The reasoning behind the name defeats me, but my hostess was very helpful and friendly. She spoke reasonable English and mentioned she had visited Uluru and Sydney.
The B&B was well away from any eating establishments and I was too darned tired to cycle somewhere. Consequentially I broke into my emergency rations. I bought a pot noodle at a 7Eleven several days ago. It didn't weigh much (an advantage) and everything reconstituted with the addition of boiling water.
Unlike the pot noodles we've bought in Oz; this pot noodle actually had some reasonably sized pieces of pork in it. The taste wasn't bad either.
I had a rough night. It wasn't the bed. Numerous aches and pains from the ride meant I found it difficult to find a comfortable position.
Looking out my window at 6am I could see it would be a great day to cycle Wuling Pass <grrrrrrrrr>
At 8am my host was busy in her kitchen making breakfast for her guests. It was interesting. I've not previously had salad for breakfast. There was also fruit (orange, banana, apple, melon) three small pieces of omelette, and three pieces of bread.
She has a map of the world on a wall in the dining room with pins in it from the location of her guests. I asked her if she would stand beside it whilst I took a photo.
The front
To be honest I was somewhat surprised my bike and trailer; which had been out the front all night; were still there! The Taiwanese are very honest.
As I was leaving the B&B the hostess came out and gave me a small Christmas box and three bananas.
The box contained five small individually wrapped pieces of something soft and chewy. Emergency rations!
Only a 26km ride on the flat today. I plan to spend tonight and tomorrow night in Hualien. The plan is to take a train north to Su'ao on Sunday morning. The coast road between Hualien and Su'ao is very narrow and quite busy. It's recommended cyclists take the train for this stretch.
I reached the foreshore on the northern outskirts of Hualien and stopped to take a photo looking back towards Taroko and Taroko Gorge
Taroko township is that smidgen of white on the far side of the bay at the right. Taroko Gorge is the dip in the hills in the centre of the photo.
All night and all today I've been hearing the sound of military jets taking off. There is a Taiwanese military airfield in Hualien and it's very busy.
It's also ringed with air defence missiles and guns.
Accommodation isn't normally available until 3pm so I stopped for an hour by the harbour foreshore. The time was spent researching accommodation options.
My plan was to stay at a 3* hotel in the city centre. The price was very reasonable and breakfast was included. However when I arrived I was advised there were no vacancies.
This led me to search for a B&B or Homestay near Hualien Railway Station. I identified one that was TWD$1000 cheaper than the hotel. It was a Homestay; therefore no breakfast.
My room is on the 3rd floor
After a shower I bundled up all my dirty laundry and walked several hundred metres to a nearby Laundromat. Everything is now clean. Next task is to look for somewhere to eat.
2 comments :
That was so kind, to give you that Christmas box of goodies. Was NZ on the large map, it's often left off!
Jenny not only was NZ on the map but there was a pin in Wellington suggesting there had been a guest. There is now a pin in Palmerston North!
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