Day 15 - The Trip has been Completed!

Last night I wandered through the centre of Fulong township looking for somewhere to eat.  On the edge of town there was a small and empty restaurant with an old lady (yes… she was probably my age) standing at the food area.  She enthusiastically invited me over to look at the array of dishes she had on display. 

I thought "Why not!" and pointed to one of the meat dishes and two vegetable.  To this she added two more side orders, rice and a bowl of vegetable soup.  The meat was chicken and; as usual; came with its bones.

I was unable to eat all the food on the plate.  Using sign language I asked for the bill.   TWD$90.  About A$4.50.  Probably the best value for money meal I've had during the trip.

My homestay room was a disappointment.  It was cold, damp and the room smelt musty.  Fulong is a summer beach and surfing destination.  This is winter, so the "off season".  It suggests they don't get many guests. 

Breakfast was supplied with the room.  When I came down from my room the owner ran off down the street.  Obviously my breakfast was going to be bought.  It consisted of a cold fried egg and a bun.

By 8am I was on the road and pedalling towards Taipei.  Only one 400m steep hill to climb.  I didn't recharge the battery last night.  It was at 72% and I need it to be around 30% charged if is to be accepted for shipping.

The hill seemed to go up forever and then there was a slight levelling.  However the top of the hill hadn't been reached.  Then I noticed what appeared to be a tunnel portal.

It turned out to be one of two very long tunnels through the mountains.  All downhill until the outskirts of Taipei where there was a bike path beside the river.

The elevated Freeway was above the opposite bank.  Eventually the gps navigation app *Google Maps) had me cross to the Freeway side.  Bike are forbidden on the Freeway but that didn't matter as there was a cycle path.

 

I made it to the AirB&B by noon and promptly cleaned the battery in preparation for shipping.  Then I started cleaning and disassembling the bike and trailer.  By then it was 2pm and I hadn't had anything to eat of drink since the egg and bun.  Unpacking my hydration bladder pack I discovered the Latvian chocolate bar given to be by Marias.  That was lunch sorted. 

Kiri arrived and accompanied me to the local post office where she thought I could send the battery.  It had been delivered by Taiwan Post and she thought they would also send it to Australia.  They wouldn't.  In fact we spent an unsuccessful afternoon attempting to find a company that would.  FedEx told me they didn't ship from Taiwan to Australia.  If I correctly labelled the battery as Dangerous Goods and had the required documentation they could ship it to the USA where I would have to find someone to then take delivery and re-ship it to Australia.  Total cost was in excess of A$750.  That's what I paid for the battery!  UPS wouldn't accept it.  It's too small a consignment for any shipping company to be interested.  I'm looking for a local freight forwarder. 

For every problem there is a solution!

The cycling part of the trip is over.  It's gone faster than I had planned.  I conservatively estimated I would cover 30-40km daily and I've actually been doing twice that distance.  There were some long days and two very hard days.  However it's been interesting.

The Taiwanese people I have met have been friendly, hospitable and courteous.  Taiwan is clean and tidy.  I never experience or heard of any crime.  My experience was Taiwan is safe to visit.

I now need to find out if I can change my flight details and return to Perth early.