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Jiangiyun to Somewhere East of Beigang.

PHOTOS FOR DAY 22: 3097 3098 3103 3105 3106 3111 3115 3120 3123 3124

Oh, how different was the daylight Jiali. Last night, we could have been in a ghost town, with only that crazed, tortured grump of a proprietor for company. Today, Jiali is a buzzing mini-metropolis with markets, food stands and stalls everywhere you can see. Drinking coffee in the hotel, Dave is debating running with Neil today. However, on finding, possibly for the first time since I’ve been in Taiwan, a star sign section in the newspaper he’s forced to reconsider:

Neil’s Cancer star sign reads thus: You’re full of energy and enthusiam today. You want to go places and you want to make things happen. It won’t be easy for others to keep up with your pace.

And, Dave’s Taurean prediction: You’re so enthused, energetic and eager to do things today, be careful you don’t trip over your own two feet. Slow down!

In the sunshine, boosted by our enormous appetites that only rose ten-fold on finding a restaurant that served Western food (hallelujah!), we took tables outside, armed ourselves with newspapers and sat down to enjoy the early afternoon and gorge ourselves stupid. (more…)

Tainan to Jiangiyun.

This morning, Neil indulged in some well-earned entertainment and went to the cinema to watch a film called Street Kings (which he recommends) and I had a quick stroll around Tainan, a city jam-packed with temples providing evidence that Taiwan existed before 1980. We had a late start today but the first part of the marathon passed Tainan’s long sandy beach at dusk. Soon Keelung Dave is on the phone as he’s coming to help out for a few days. He is excited to have arrived in Taichung and hired a bike. Heading south towards us, he feels he must be near at road kilometre marker number 62. Sadly I tell him we’re at 194. He still has some way to drive.

Meeting Neil at 12km or so, it seems that the Vaseline that has served him so well for the last three weeks is taking an early retirement on its duties and our runner is somewhat irritated by a case of what we might call boxer fatigue. In England, where many men don’t know about style, there exists an item of underwear called a Y-front. It is Y-front time. I promise to look out for a clothes shop to purchase said item and Neil continues to run through the city. Soon he calls to tell me, weirdly enough, he’s at European Clothing, where his miming (hands forming a V-shape at the groin area) to the stunned female shop assistants eventually leads (more…)

Kaoshiung to Tainan.

Far too enamored with the Pig and Whistle not to squeeze in another visit, we return for a long, lazy Sunday brunch where Sky Sports shined heavenly from the TV and fried eggs shined sunnily from our plates. A crossword race between Mattus and I did not end bitterly and Neil reveled in the delights of doing nothing. We take Neil to the start line and are glad to have Matt’s company for most of the day. His clever witticisms are welcome to Neil and me who have tired, disintegrated brains now and find hysterical humour in things as ridiculous as a football commentator saying “…and it’s Smolov of Frolov…” or something.

We are soon leaving Kaoshiung behind and, after a small road-confusion fatigue episode, are on Route 17 and heading north again. Surrounded by corrugated iron and industrial towers, the roads are busy, polluted and unappealing. Matt heads back to Taipei to continue with real life on Monday morning. We are sorry he is leaving us so soon. The 17 leads us through village after village of neon-lit betel-nut stands, where girls in tiny clothes (more…)

Jiadong to Kaoshuing.

We faced some trouble finding a hotel last night that wasn’t a pay-by-the-hour Lurve Motel (exceptionally popular around here). Luckily, the comedy value of these venues prevented the search fatigue becoming a nuisance. We stayed in Donggang and went to Dapeng Bay, chilling there a while by a lagoon. After further difficulties locating a beach (I know, how hard can that be when you’re on the ocean’s edge?), we sunbathed foreigner-style amongst fully clothed fisherman with hats and umbrellas and back to front jackets and gloves. Neil cooled his pistons in the warm sea and we enjoyed the koch.

Starting back in Jiadong at 4.00 it was still hot but quickly cooled as evening came. We expect a friend named Mattus today. He is making a weekend bus trip from Taipei, and we hope he will bring tales of the city. In other tales, Neil had a dream that he was prevented from finishing his marathon by midnight (the last two kilometres of which were up and down a flight of stairs) due to being intertwined amongst a rioting pack of Spurs and Arsenal fans. When football and marathons meet in dreams… (more…)

Haikou to Jiadong.

The day began in a relaxed fashion, watching rain fall in Kending where we’d returned one last time after yesterday’s adventures. The woman at our hotel, a round and ever-happy Taiwanese woman, was delighted to see us again and we even got upgraded to a room bigger than the cupboard we had stayed in previously. After a leisurely lunch we head back to Haikou. This turned out to be no small task as the wind that day was so strong that even with two people on a motorbike it felt a take off may be unavoidable. Passing through the towns, we saw that the south-western coast is to onions what the south-eastern coast was to custard apples. Countless shacks along the highway sell pink, brown, red and white onions in differing sizes. I realised why my tomato salad was 95% onion at lunchtime. The fierce wind blew onion skins from the seller’s stalls, the fields and the large piles of onions at the roadside, onto and across the highway. Driving through, the peels danced comically around us as though they were autumnal leaves.

Neil starts to run and finds the elements are up for a fight. Battling against the wind (apparently there was a typhoon in the Philippines), he is blown back through the air with each strong gust, much to the mirth of passing (more…)