Golden Week in Taiwan

This year`s "golden week" in Japan had holidays on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, making for a tempting long weekend.  Since my children`s international school does not take many of the Japanese holidays, it prove an irresistible temptation to slip away for some cycling.

Some searches of flights to destinations close by revealed cheap fares to Taipei, even for the holiday period.  When the discounted fares proved available not just on United but also Japan Airlines, that sealed the deal.  A little searching of various blogs and websites about where to cycle led me to book a hotel for the initial night to the northwest of Taipei, which proved a masterstroke.  A brief summary of the trip:

Day One:  Friday, May 1st

I left work mid-afternoon to catch a train to Narita.  As usual, had shipped the bike box ahead and then picked it up at the airport.  No charge for checking the bike box (which also held most of my clothes) and an easy 3-4 hour flight to Taipei.  Despite all the holidays, the airport did not seem particularly crowded.   Arriving after 9 p.m. in Taipei I was met by a minivan taxi someone in the Hong Kong office of my firm had helped arrange with the hotel so had no trouble making it to my destination.

Day Two:  Saturday, May 2nd

Hotel was an odd hot springs resort right on the main road up the river northwest of Taipei to Danshui.  Right along the main drag was very busy, but as anticipated it was very near some potential turnoffs into the hills.  I assembled the bike and took a short, steep ride up some quite small side roads.  Was able to find the main route up the back side of Yangmingshan, the national park and mountain just north of Taipei.  After returning to the hotel for the noontime heat (and a work call) went back and road all the way to the top of Yangmingshan.  The road tops out between 800 and 900 meters, although the peak proper is around 1,100.  The road up the back side is a treat:  quite gradual and winding through a forest filled with birds with stunning views down to the river and coast.  

Day Three:  Sunday, May 3rd

Having already ridden up once the day before, I was able to start confidently and head over Yangmingshan again and continue on to the Keelong side.  The fabulous descent all the way to the coast makes great use of the altitude gained.  Then I was able to follow the coast, including branching away from the main road partway right into downtown Keelong proper.  The town was quite bustling and then past the station and on towards Ruifang the road remained fairly busy.  From Ruifang, it was an ascent, amid increasingly hot weather, to the historic mining town of Jiufen.

Apparently Jiufen is quite the tourist mecca now and because it was also a three-day weekend in Taiwan the place was packed.  I was able to pass the hottest part of the day there (from 1:30 to 3:30) enjoying lunch and then a coffee up in the real old part of town.  From there the road continued up to the ridge at over 500 meters.  The views to the ocean northeast of Taiwan were spectacular and then on the far side of the ridge there were nothing but mountains into the distance and a winding road down into the next valley.  It was a fantastic jaunt down through the rice paddies and on to the main coastal road.  At the coast, there was quite a jam of cars returning to Taipei but little traffic in my direction and wide shoulders on the road.

I had vague ideas of stopping at one of the small surf spots along the intial stretch of coast or perhaps continuing farther south to where there were supposed to be hot springs resorts.  In part due to a misreading of some of the signs, I committed to the latter.  But by the time I reach Qiao Hsi it was past 6 and beginning to get dark after 150 kms or so.  The new, massive highway tunnel from Taipei dumps out there so there were lots of short-stay hot spring motels that did not seem too enticing.  So I gutted it out to go all the way to the turnoff Wufenchi falls and headed into the darkness up the hill.  Around the curve and, voila, an absolutely gorgeous modern Japanese-designed onsen resort.  I wheeled the bike right into the lobby and was met with every courtesy and checked in posthaste.  Sheer indulgence.

Day Four:  Monday, May 4th

Monday dawned rainy and misty at sea-level.  The original plan of traversing a 1,000 meter ridge seemed less appealing than the current very luxurious surroundings.  So I caved and made good use of the baths, pool table, internet room and TV (NBA playoffs) for the morning before an easy spin to the waterfalls and then down amidst the rice paddies on the plain in the afternoon.  All I can say is:  Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi, go if you have the chance.

Day Five:  Tuesday, May 5th

Tuesday was nothing but clear skies.  After construction of the new tunnel, the old highway 9 over the mtns towards Taipei has little traffic.  Another peach of a road:  very gradual climb to over 500 meters through the forest and then winding along the valley to the historical tea center of Pinglin.  From there, I ventured on to smaller roads (106yi and 109).  They had looked appealing and the sight of some serious cyclists headed the other way confirmed I had definitely ferreted out a prime route.  It dumped me out into Nangang at the east of Taipei.

From Nangang, it was in theory possible to go to the river and take the Taipei--Keeling cycling trail all the way through the heart of the city.  After wandering a little and ending up under a bewildering mess of flyovers, I took a stairway (labelled do not enter) over a small wall to find the newly paved beautiful portion of cycling trail.  3 meters wide and not a soul around.  Then I happily cruised all through the center of the city in the river parks all the way to the vicinity of the Grand Hotel.  Probably over 90km from the scenic onsen to the heart of Taipei with maybe 1km or so of traffice.  Those (seemingly many) who think Taipei is impassable may not be trying hard enough.  From there it is a short ride via major thoroughfares to the vicinity of the palace museum.  After a small hiccup or two, I reached the vicinity of the palace but it was already past two.  Hungry and hot I figured to stop at the first reasonable restaurant when I came to the large sign "Cafe and Bike Info".  With bike stands and pumps in the front and trendy food (and mango smoothies) on offer I had definitely reached my destination.  Quite the place to wait out the heat for an hour or two and refresh.

The walls even had maps showing some of the recommended local routes up the front of Yangmingshan.  The one mistake I made was to ask some other cyclists for advice.  Afraid I would get lost, they advised me to go back to the main road straight up the front of Yangmingshan.  While that worked fine, it was relatively busy at 4:30, at least until I passed out of the more populated districts.  Up on top of the mountain, I meandered amidst some of the flower fields that are one of the tourist attractions in addition to the sulphur vents.  Then over the rest area and down the now quite familiar back route to Danshui.

Too exhausted to head out again, I just enjoyed the spa at the hotel, had a quick dinner and packed up the bike.  The place did not seem busy and probably never gets overseas guests, so I was an interesting challenge.  The staff was very helpful in calling to double-check the time of my flight and arrange a van again to get to the airport.

Day 6:  Wednesday, May 6th

An easy taxi ride to the airport.  From curb to check-in and through security (no fee for bike box; one hour prior to flight time) might have taken 5 minutes.  Still left time for some souvenir shopping for the family.  The swine flu fears had really hit so there were plenty of people in masks on the plane but the trip was uneventful.  In all, fabulous scenery, pleasant people, good roads and very accessible from Tokyo.  Not much to complain about.  I am already plotting a return to the south of the island.

Omnivore's Dilemma

My sister recently sent me the book of the above title. It is quite well-written and enjoyable. The light it shines on the industrial farming practices in America is uncomfortable illuminating. A recommended read.

It does, however, tend to make any alternative seem wildly unrealistic. The lengthy description of the exceptional Polyface Farm in Virginia (yes, my home state) and the author's own attempts at being a hunter-gatherer are described as thoroughly unorthodox. In the end, as a US urbanite, the author states he is willing to stipulate that an industrial meal and a naturally gathered meal are "equally unreal and equally unsustainable". He also describes his hunted/gathered meal as "physically, intellectually, and emotionally costly."

From the perspective of someone who has not lived a rural lifestyle on a more human scale I guess that would be the logical conclusion. Yet there are many parts of the world where a more connected food culture remains. Even in the US, it was not so long ago that such a food chain was much more mainstream.

I think of my island mother-in-law, who rarely eats anything sourced more than a kilometer from her residence. (But also of my nieces, for whom she buys processed foods when they visit from the mainland of Honshu.) The staples on Oki are rice and seafood. Until last year, my mother-in-law grew all of the rice for herself, our family and my wife's two siblings and their families. While I am sure there were some external inputs in the form of fertilizers, she raised the seedlings in the greenhouse out back and watched over the plants growing in the sea breezes during the summer.

In addition, she has always had a chaotic, yet wildly productive garden. Imagine the Japanese farmers in California who dismayed the locals with their ability to achieve much higher yields. Even now, we receive kiwis, onions, potatoes and shiitake regularly. Earlier there were chickens and ukoke (cornish hens??). The ukoke eggs are supposed to be particularly nutritous and so would be fed to my infant daughter when she visited.

Besides the agriculture, Oki has a magnificent fishery. While my father-in-law was a carpenter by trade, everyone engages in a little of everything in the countryside. On visits, we would fish off the point and, with my brother-in-law, dive for abalone and sazae. When my father-in-law tired of chickens, he gave away the rooster and was given a giant abalone in return. At peak times, the harvesting of seaweed is also a big local industry. At times my mother-in-law helps and so the care packages often include bags of arame she has received in turn.

A typical meal for her would include vegetables from the garden, soup with flying fish flakes as the base ingredient and some sashimi bought from the truck of the local fishing cooperative down the hill. As well as the rice of course. In the spring, there are fresh bamboo shoots from the grove down by the family cemetery and other plants such as fuki and warabi.

With no particular claim to virtue, I have been one of the great beneficiaries. You often see commentary on what Japan will do with its aging population. The much more important question, from my perspective, is what Japan will do without its aging population.

Bicycling: sport, pasttime or transportation?

I've been fighting off a cold the last week or so. A friend invited me on a challenging ride this Saturday. Default response would be always say yes, but I had visions of streams of mucus slowing things down.... Made me realize I haven't been on a good "ride" in a while.

Made me consider what cycling is. By not going on a real "ride" I mean the long 100-200km weekend rides that were a staple of last year. But that does not mean I have not been riding at all. In Tokyo, we have managed a lifestyle in which biking is the primary transport. A typical day involves:

7:45, ride the shopping bike and trailgator attachment towing my son to the bus stop. Ride back towing his bike and with my daughter's Razor scooter draped over my shoulder.

9:00 (well, maybe later) ride road bike to office. Generally around 10km, although longer if I decide to take a loop around the imperial palace.

evening: cycle home.

random times: quick trips to the convenience store, video store or grocery store are all easiest by bike. There are also a number of museums and other cultural attractions (not to mention Yoyogi Park) within a short biking distance.

There has not been a day when I did not "ride" at all.

The assumption in some US biking literature that cycling is something you do after driving 90 minutes to the trailhead has always seemed strange. Fortunately, that is not the case for us. To be fair, it seems there are finally a number of places in the US that are realizing that cycling is a real piece of a comprehensive transportation network, particularly one that is developed on a more human scale. I would urge anyone to check out the League of American Bicyclists ratings of bike-friendly communities. By spotlighting areas that have gotten things right, they have really created momentum for spreading best practices. Some of which could even be useful here in Shibuya-ku!

Tasty Tokyo Tour--January 12

We are back after a week's vacation in Cambodia. Monday here is "coming of age day" when there are ceremonies for all the people turning 20 years old. It is also one of those Japanese holidays that my kids do not have off from school so present an opportunity for cycling. I bailed on a more ambitious ride when the missus suggested an urban tour. Given I am always encouraging them to cycle, the basic rule is to say yes if the rest of the family wants to go on a ride.

We ended up rambling through Yoyogi, Shinjuku, Yotsuya and down along the imperial palace moat. The morning was sunny and clear like so many winter days lately. We decided to continue on through Ginza and Tsukiji down to Tsukishima. We wandered along the canals and toyed with looking for the microbrewery down there but as the clouds came in it got bitterly cold, so instead we doubled back to Tsukiji. Dining in Tokyo is really a delight; the general standard is so incredibly high. We ducked into a place where you get three mini-don as a set: say salmon roe, grilled eel and mackerel. We also picked up some crab and salmon roe so the kids can enjoy some seafood this evening.

We cruised back next to the Parliament building (including the hordes of police protecting the LDP headquarters from something, disgruntled voters I suppose?) and along Aoyama dori to Jingumae. The finals of the national high school soccer tournament were on at National Stadium so we passed by the crowds and dropped by the Narushima Friends shop. http://www.nalsimafrend.jp/cgi-bin/cms/index.cgi　Have to put in a plug for them as it is a really friendly shop with reasonable prices. We actually passed one of the mechanics cycling the other direction in Shinjuku at 10:30 or so. He had repaired my bike prior to the Izumo century last fall. When we showed up at the shop three hours later he was like "didn't we pass each other over in Shinjuku this morning?" Kind of funny in a city of 30 million people.

Sneaking back past Harajuku station to come home there was some young, flashy model being photographed in the middle of the street and blocking traffic. You never know what you will come across.