Cycling in Taiwan·The second day, Zhunan → Lukang Town (90.5 km)
Woke up again at 5:30 in the morning. One of the benefits of traveling halfway around the world is maintaining a healthy schedule - for others, jet lag means morning and evening are reversed, but for me, a night owl, it means going to bed early and getting up early.
Yesterday, I deliberately left a crack in the curtains so that I could observe the sky outside the window. It was still completely dark outside the window, and it looked like the sun would not rise until after 6 o'clock. I originally planned to squint for another half an hour, but as soon as I closed my eyes and remembered the nightmare crash yesterday, I decided to set off early to leave time for possible accidents. .
The first thing I do when I get up is change the gauze. Since the injury was on my knee, I couldn't stand to change the dressing, so I sat by the bed and cleaned the wound. At the same time, I put the trash can under my knee to catch the iodine and saline that flowed down to avoid making the room dirty. After cleaning the wound and putting gauze on it, I suddenly realized that I didn’t apply any ointment – I wasn’t skilled at my job! I had to remove the gauze and start over.
After I changed the gauze and went to wash up, I discovered that there was also a small wound on the eyebrow. This confused me. It was obviously protected by a helmet, and my forehead and nose were fine. How did the eyebrow get injured? ? ?
It was almost 6:30 after I washed up and packed my things. When I hit the road, it was still dark and there were no people on the street.
On the way from Yi Confucianism to Provincial Highway 61, I took a turn to see the two large statues of a male and a female on the Wugu Xiandi Palace and the Houcuo Longfeng Palace - these two temples are considered the most famous attractions in Zhunan Town. They are both historical monuments built during the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, Qing Dynasty temples are everywhere in Taiwan, so for a long time no one paid attention to these two small temples in Zhunan Town. It wasn't until the 1980s that Longfeng Palace invested in building the world's largest Mazu statue, which was very popular for a while. Inspired by this, the Wugu Palace also built a huge statue of Emperor Shennong in the early 1990s, just a little taller than the statue of Mazu, and it became a new religious tourist attraction. The two temples are completely different from each other, and the two statues, one male and one female, are facing each other from a distance - given the shortness of the local buildings, I doubt that the sight of the two statues is not blocked and they can see each other.
Unfortunately, I only stopped briefly at both temples. I just took a look outside and then started on my way in a hurry. I didn't have time to climb to the top of the temple to verify it.
One night later, when I went on stage 61 again, I had come out of the shadow of yesterday's crash and became lively again. Today is a cloudy day, perfect for biking - no sun or rain. In addition, today is Sunday morning, there are no vehicles on the highway at all, and I feel like the whole world belongs to me.
I rode leisurely on the service road, stopping to take pictures from time to time when encountering good scenery - of course, I looked back before parking to make sure there was no car behind me - even though I didn't see a car all morning.
Provincial Highway 61 is not the sea view I imagined, but is surrounded by farmland and villages. Occasionally when passing several large rivers, you can also see the estuary not far away. I rode for more than an hour in this repetitive scenery of farmland - upper bridge - river - lower bridge - farmland.
At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the clouds began to disperse slightly, and the sun finally emerged from the gaps and sprinkled on the earth. At the same time, the clouds were not to be outdone, and forced out a light rain, and the drops began to fall. I was immediately confused: How unlucky must I be to encounter the fusion of two killers on this bike!
I muttered in my heart, but I didn't dare to relax on my feet, but it became more and more difficult, and then I realized that I was on a long uphill slope. Since the slope was not that steep, I didn't even realize it was an uphill slope and I didn't change gears. The few minutes after I changed to the uphill gear, I immediately felt that riding was much easier, but ten minutes later it started to feel strenuous again, and the ride became slower and slower. Finally, I simply stopped on the shoulder of the road and started pushing the bike.
Now it seems that training in the gym alone is not enough. I can ride with a lot of resistance for an hour in the gym, but I can’t do it in actual combat.
After I adjusted my breathing and felt less tired, I got in the car again and looked back to confirm the situation of the vehicles behind me before riding from the shoulder of the road onto the service road. As a result, I saw the first car on the road today - a little sheep riding slowly 50 meters behind me. So I stopped on the shoulder of the road for a while, until the little sheep passed me and once again confirmed that there was no car behind me, I rode on the service road. The little sheep also had a half-meter-high Hello Kitty tied to it, and he kept watching me with a smile while riding.
When I was climbing uphill hard until I was about to collapse, I finally saw a sign in front of me saying "End of Uphill". It seems that this slope is quite difficult, otherwise the government would not have to put up a sign. I comforted myself in my heart.
Finally, we climbed to the sign that said "End of Uphill Road", and our vision suddenly became clearer. I just breathed a sigh of relief, but before I had time to be happy, my heart was hanging again, because I found that the road was divided into two 10 meters ahead - the main road began to go downhill, while the auxiliary road connected another road with a steep slope. Provincial Highway 91 is another road at a 90-degree angle. This road passes above Provincial Highway 61 and is used for vehicles to cross Provincial Highway 61. Its height can be imagined.
No matter how steep it is, this is the last section of the uphill road. I cheered myself up in my heart and rushed over with all my strength. As I struggled to climb, there was a roar of motorcycles behind me, from far to near, and soon one after another the motorcycles overtook me. Since the group of motorcycles was extremely large, and we were all crowded on a path dedicated to motorcycles and bicycles, many motorcycles passed me within 20 centimeters of my left arm. After more than a dozen motorcycles passed me, the roar behind me did not diminish at all, and I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. I had seen the car with the huge Hello Kitty parked on the shoulder of the road, and the rider was standing on the roadside talking on the phone, so I rode over and parked behind Hello Kitty, waiting for the motorcycle group to pass by.
When I stopped and looked back, I couldn't help but click my tongue - there were twenty or thirty motorcycles following behind. Fortunately, I got out of the way, otherwise it would have been quite stressful to fight for the road with the group of motorcycles. Especially this section is too steep. If I can't ride anymore and stop halfway, it will be even more dangerous.
After the motorcycle group was completely gone, I had enough rest and climbed the remaining slope easily. When we reached the highest point and looked at the endless downhill road below, I felt so excited.
At first I just pressed the brakes slightly and enjoyed the speed. After accelerating for a while, I soon discovered that the speed was too fast, the car was a little out of control, and the front of the car began to shake violently. I didn't dare to brake suddenly, for fear of overturning the car due to the sudden stop, so I kept braking slowly, and finally slowly controlled the speed, and I broke out in a cold sweat. After this long downhill stretch, I consciously held the brakes and never dared to act recklessly again.
I have another worry in my mind - the front wheel of this car is very badly worn, and the tread on the tire has been completely worn away. I am very worried that it will blow out on the road where I am descending at high speed, and the consequences will be Unthinkable.
Unfortunately, the places I visited yesterday and this morning were too remote. Most of them were rural areas or suburban areas of a certain town. The only city center was Zhunan Town, but I arrived at dusk and came out at dawn. No bike shops were open at all.
When it was almost 9 o'clock, I finally arrived at a place that looked more prosperous. Some shops, restaurants, and a gas station began to appear on the roadside. I pushed my bike up to a worker who was repairing my bike and asked if there was any place nearby where I could get my bike repaired.
The staff at the gas station thought my car had a puncture, and told me with a worried look: "The nearest bicycle shop is next to the Tongxiao Town Railway Station, more than 10 kilometers away from here. You may not be able to get there. ”
I breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly clarified: "My tires are fine and I can ride over. It's just that my front wheel is too badly worn and I plan to change the tires."
The staff immediately breathed a sigh of relief and enthusiastically began to point out the route. At the same time, he dipped the tools in his hands into water and drew a map on the ground: "Just go straight along 61, and then turn right when you see Zhongshan Road. You can see the all-night train station by riding. The intersection in front of the all-night train station is Zhongzheng Road and Zhongshan Road. I don’t remember which road the bicycle shop is on, but you can see it if you go there. It’s easy to find. ”
After thanking me, I followed the instructions and continued riding along 61. I secretly regretted that I had to take a detour to Tongxiao Town.
When I got to Zhongzheng Road, I discovered that Provincial Route 61 and Route 1 had already merged without me noticing, and they separated again here. Continuing along the highway is Provincial Route 1, and bicycles are not allowed to enter. All bicycles need to turn right onto Zhongzheng Road and continue to Route 61. Signs of "Huantai Line 1" also began to appear on the ground. These signs make me feel safer.
When I arrived at the intersection of Zhongzheng Road and Zhongshan Road, I couldn't find a bicycle shop, so I had to ask an old man on the roadside. The old man enthusiastically pointed out the direction and asked me to ride 4 intersections eastward. I had just ridden two intersections when I saw this grandpa passing me on a motorcycle. When he passed me, he shouted: "Remember there are two more intersections."
When I arrived at the fourth intersection, I found that my grandfather had stopped at the intersection to wait for me to prevent me from missing this intersection. The old man didn’t continue riding on the road until he confirmed that I saw the repair shop.
The car repair shop is across the road. After I handed the car over to the master, I ran out to find breakfast. The town center is different, there are several breakfast options near this intersection alone. I ran diagonally across the street and ordered fried noodles with large intestine and clams. Although there were 4 or 5 people queuing up, the boss lady moved very quickly and finished a portion of noodles in less than a minute.
After having breakfast and going back, the master had already helped me change the tire. After I paid NT$450, I happily hit the road again.
Coming out of Tongxiao Town is a small piece of farmland. GPS doesn’t work very well here. Once it pointed me directly to someone else’s home. The housekeeper, Xiao Huang, barked at me. Fortunately, its owner was chatting with others not far away, stopped Xiao Huang in time, and guided me to the stage 61 with a smile.
As I was walking through the fields, it started to rain lightly, which was much heavier than the rain in the morning. Normally I'm not worried, but now I'm worried about my wounds getting wet from the rain and getting infected. My worries stopped when I arrived at Provincial Highway 61 - a long section of the service road of 61A is under the 61A viaduct, and the rainwater is blocked by the viaduct. And when the viaduct no longer covered the service road, the rain had stopped.
After that, there were several stretches of road where I encountered road construction on Route 61, so I had to take a detour and inevitably pass through some farmland and farmyards. Speaking of which, this trip has cured me of a little refreshing problem - I have always felt that farmland and country roads are very interesting. Once when I was traveling in Bali, I would go around to see the rice terraces, and I was traveling with People often look down on me with a look of retardation: "What's so good about farmland?!" After this trip to Taiwan, I have no interest in the rural landscape. I will speed up if I accidentally get on a country road to avoid encountering it again. Vicious dogs.
It's true that whatever I'm afraid of comes, when I was cautiously guarding against vicious dogs, I actually met another one. Learning from yesterday's lesson, I immediately stopped the car and stared at it. Although he was still barking bluffly under my gaze, he still took a few steps back with his tail between his legs. But as soon as I turned around and got in the car, he immediately followed me again - this was troublesome.
Just when I was at a loss what to do, a passerby helped me hold the dog's neck and let me go first. After I thanked him, I immediately turned around, got in the car, and left quickly.
Later, I encountered a vicious dog again in a small town. I couldn't bear it anymore, so I immediately stopped the car and stared at it fiercely. The little black dog was stunned, and immediately pretended to be nonchalant, stretched out in front of me, and then He walked slowly in the other direction.
I rode like this on Provincial Highway 61 for nearly 3 hours. During this period, all my attention was used to pay attention to whether there were wild dogs around me, and I was not in the mood to pay attention to the surrounding scenery. Of course, the scenery is just ordinary.
Most of the towns or villages we passed during this period had no characteristics. If it weren't for the signs in traditional Chinese that can be seen everywhere on the roadside, I would sometimes feel like I was riding in the countryside of Hunan. I sighed repeatedly in my heart that the development of our motherland is so fast. If I didn’t go out and walk around, I wouldn’t know that we have caught up with these developed areas that we used to look up to.
Occasionally, a few villages will surprise me - such as the small graffiti on the wall of the farmhouse in Antianzhuang, which adds a bit of liveliness to the rural scenery here. Even the guardrails on the roadside are painted in colorful colors, like a rainbow. I also met several cyclists here - all of them were forced to come here due to road construction projects.
As I was approaching the town of Lukang, the GPS instructed me to turn from Provincial Highway 61 onto Provincial Highway 17. 17 The dog on the road has obviously seen the world and is doing whatever it is supposed to do. It doesn’t even look at me.
Soon I rode to the town of Lukang. When I looked at the time, it was less than 2 o'clock - I completed today's task 2 hours ahead of schedule! I couldn't believe it, so I looked at the GPS carefully, fearing that I was in the wrong place. It is 5 minutes from Lukang Tianhou Temple, 10 minutes from Lukang Old Street, and 15 minutes from my B&B tonight. That's right here.
At this moment, all the confidence I had lost due to a bad start on the first day came back.
I can.
Since the cycling mode of Google Maps is not available in Taiwan, in order to avoid the GPS leading me to a viaduct dedicated to motor vehicles, I have been using the walking mode for the past two days. The GPS led me into a small alley.
After entering, I found that the alley was crowded with people and there were vendors on both sides. I couldn't ride at all. It was difficult to even turn around. I had to get down and push the cart. Even pushing the cart felt difficult. I couldn't help but marvel in my heart - Lukang is so prosperous. Later I found out that the alley I was walking down was the legendary Lukang Old Street. Lukang is especially crowded on weekends, with many people coming from other cities to pay their respects to the Temple.
The B&B I stayed in Lukang was only 5 minutes away from Lukang Old Street. The proprietress of the B&B is a very interesting person. She grew up in Taipei and later went to Lukang to open a pastry shop called "On the Road". Just by the name, you can tell she is a travel enthusiast. At the same time, she packed up the room above the pastry house and used it as a B&B. She ran the pastry house from 7 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. After the business was over, the children started running the B&B after school. Moreover, their children cleaned the rooms to earn money. Get money for your next trip.
When I arrived, several of her children were leaning on the sofa watching the NBA. The proprietress told me proudly: "Business is very good today, and the children are very sensible. They have been helping in the pastry house until it just ended half an hour ago. Then I immediately went to clean up the B&B, so I’m exhausted now.”
The landlady turned to her son and said, "Take this sister to the room upstairs." The child stood up from the sofa, but reluctantly stood in front of the TV and refused to move until the landlady warned, "I'm going to be angry." ", he left angrily and got a little emotional. When I tried to talk to him and discussed which two teams were playing today, he also lowered his head and said nothing - probably because he was unhappy that I interrupted his game. Bar.
I went to the room to put down my luggage, changed my clothes and prepared to go to Lukang Tianhou Temple. It happened that the proprietress and her children were also packing their things and preparing to leave. The proprietress smiled and told me that they were going to Lukang Creek to pick up garbage soon, in order to educate the children to protect the environment and at the same time make them familiar with the mountains and rivers of their hometown. It sounds quite interesting, but it's a pity that the children don't think so. I think about her son's eyes that want to be glued to the TV, and I find it very interesting.
After coming out of the B&B, I went straight to the snack street in front of Thean Hou Temple. After riding all morning, I was already so hungry that I didn’t even bother to visit Lukang Old Street or Thean Hou Temple, but headed straight for lunch.
There is a lot of incense inside Thean Hou Temple. Almost all the streets in front of the temple are selling shrimp and monkey cakes, and every stall has an advertisement saying thank you for the interview with a full page of photos. I was almost deceived by this advertisement and went to the one closest to the entrance of Thean Hou Temple. When I walked to the door, I found them acting like they were soliciting customers at a tourist attraction, shouting loudly, "There are still seats, please come inside, please come inside." Many encounters at tourist attractions made me disgusted with this kind of soliciting behavior, so I turned around and went elsewhere.
I saw a restaurant called Songrong Clam Omelette online before, and it is said that it has a good reputation. I walked on the snack street twice before I found this store - I don't know if it was because of the time, but the business here was terribly deserted, and I was the only customer. If it weren't for the rave reviews online, I probably wouldn't have entered this store. I ordered their most popular clam omelette and the Lukang specialty shrimp and monkey cake. I don’t know if I’m hungry. I think their food is super delicious, but every time I chew it, my back cheeks feel a dull pain—— I don’t know if it’s the sequelae of yesterday’s crash.
After eating and drinking, I finally had the energy to visit Lukang.
I circled back to the popular Thean Hou Temple. Lukang Tianhou Temple is said to be the crown of more than 500 Mazu temples in Taiwan, and it is said to be particularly spiritual. Not only does it have a long history, the Mazu statue enshrined in it also has an extraordinary origin - it is the only temple that enshrines Mazu, the founder of the Meizhou Ancestral Temple.
PS: For more information, please click 👉 Taiwan Island Tour and Lukang Guide
It's a pity that I'm a layman and don't know how to look at historical sites. When I mention Mazu, what comes to mind is Mazu, played by Liu Tao, who speaks fluent English. I walked around the Thean Hou Temple and then went out. I also happily went around to the back of the Thean Hou Temple to look for the small grocery store selling incense that Luo Dayou sang about, but naturally I couldn't find it.
After leaving Mazu Temple, I entered Lukang Old Street again. Less than 5 minutes after entering, I found another Mazu temple, and the incense was very strong. Everyone lined up to offer incense. I was immediately confused - which Mazu temple I wanted to go to? I immediately Googled it and discovered that this was another good thing done by Qianlong. After suppressing a civil uprising in Taiwan led by the Tiandihui, Qianlong asked Fukang'an to build another Mazu temple in Lukang, and proudly regarded this platform as one of his ten complete martial arts. Since this Mazu temple was built at government expense, not only is there a stone tablet at the door that reads, "Civil and military officials have dismounted here," but even the clairvoyants and shunfenger enshrined in the temple wear official hats and official boots.
Lukang Old Street is lined with traditional Minnan-style buildings, and the floors are paved with red bricks. This place is like a miniature version of Lijiang Ancient Street, with quaint streets, bustling crowds, and a dazzling array of stalls. However, the homogeneity here is far less serious than in Lijiang, and there is no fresh music that can be heard everywhere - the year I went to Lijiang, tick-tock was played in the streets and alleys, accompanied by Lijiang tambourines.
Several snack vendors here are doing very well, but unfortunately my back cheek still hurts and I have no interest in food. I watched the making of large intestines wrapped in small intestines, bought a cup of Old Street black tea, and left, walking along a small alley in the Old Street neighborhood to the Osmanthus Alley Art Village.
Osmanthus Alley Art Village was formerly a Japanese-style dormitory built during the Japanese colonial period, so the whole village has a distinct Japanese style, with white walls, wooden roofs and window frames, and many cute colorful paintings on the walls. Compared with the old streets full of life, this place is much more sunny and snowy, and it feels quite deserted.
I saw it was still early, so I went to Moru Lane again. Because the lane is extremely narrow, both parties must turn sideways to pass. When men and women pass by each other, it is easy for boys to touch girls' breasts, so it is nicknamed Breast Touching Alley. A 1985 pornographic film "Lukang Breast Touching Lane" made it famous and became a tourist attraction. Due to the huge success of the movie, the company took advantage of the situation and released the series "Changhua Trousers Shop", but it did not cause much splash. Fortunately, the sequel didn't become a hit, otherwise I would have had to visit one more attraction.
Embarrassingly, when I was halfway through Molu Alley, two men and a woman came across from me. Normally this would be fine, but we're in an alley that's a little wild at the moment. I had no choice but to turn sideways, pressing my chest against the wall, and let them pass behind me.
There is also a Longshan Temple next to Moru Lane, but I was a little tired and didn’t want to visit anymore, so I went back to the B&B to rest. After surfing the Internet in the room for more than half an hour, I calmed down and ran out again to watch the dusk in Lukang.
When I went to Thean Hou Temple again, I encountered a big surprise - there was a ceremony in front of Thean Hou Temple. About ten people in costumes, carrying the statue of the goddess, opened the way in front, and someone behind them carried two sedans to invite the Queen of Heaven out. Both sides were crowded with onlookers, all worshiping. I finally know why there are so many people today.
After dark, I walked around again and found an electronics supermarket similar to Suning. I wanted to get an accessory to fix the GoPro on the bicycle. After hearing this, the clerk kept shaking his head and told me that it would be difficult to get one in Taiwan unless Make a reservation, and then they go back to gopro to place the order. After hearing this, I really miss Taobao - in mainland China, I only need to click the mouse online and enter the address of the B&B the day after tomorrow, and the GoPro will be delivered before I arrive.
Since I couldn't find what I wanted, I had to go back to the B&B. It was completely dark now and there were neon lights everywhere. I wonder what Mr. Luo Dayou, who sang "Taipei is not my home, my hometown has no neon lights," would think when he saw this scene?
January 15, cloudy
Cycling distance: 90.5km (56.26miles)
Discover More
Comments
No comments yet