Cycling Taiwan (台灣腳踏車遊)

Growing up in the Michigan countryside, I learned early the freedoms afforded by a bicycle. I explored fairly fully the dirt roads in and around Metamora and occasionally struck out for longer hauls to Oxford. I thought it a pretty impressive accomplishment when I finished my first round trip to Lapeer - some 25 miles away. My gold ten-speed offered mobility, exercise and a way to get to and from summertime lawn mowing jobs.

Once at university, however, shorter distances and the prospect of worrying over the safety and health of a bike chained to a grill outside East Quad relegated cycling to an occasional activity done more to renew the feel of high school than to commute around Ann Arbor (although I did make it out to Ypsilanti once). When during our senior year one of my best friends shared her plans to spend the upcoming summer on a month-long cross-country bike caravan (Seattle to Michigan), I could only wonder at the challenges ahead.

A move to Taiwan in the early 1990s made prospects of cycling even more remote. While Taipei, mercifully, is now ringed with bicycle paths and cyclists have increasingly taken to braving city streets (where motorists have grudgingly begun to accept their right-of-way), all this came, regrettably, after my time. Our move to Keelung was prompted, in fair part, by the prospect of more space, green views and roads to bike.

As before, I took to exploring the immediate vicinity and first saw much of Keelung and the Northeast Coast's green interior from a bicycle seat. While the region has some of the island's most rugged coastal terrain, roads tend to follow valleys as much as possible, making for treks that rarely exceed a "moderate" level of difficulty (of course, there are also plenty of hills to navigate if one so desires).

If I have set an example for others by pedaling out on the weekends, many have since outdone me. A few of our friends now often commute by bike from their homes near Keelung to jobs in Taipei (about an hour+, over heavily trafficked roads) and several families in our church meet nearly "religiously" on Saturday mornings to cycle over increasingly challenging courses in Keelung and Taipei County. What's more, with our children now increasingly able and willing to participate, cycling is being embraced as not only a family activity, but as a way to face and beat new challenges, develop a rapport with the outdoors and give (and receive) support as part of a team.

Over the past two months, my daughter and I have had the pleasure to join in two challenging cycling activities. The first, described briefly in a previous post, was organized by the Chinese Christian Relief Association (中華基督救助協會) as an event to draw attention and donations to the CCRA's ongoing work with disadvantaged families and after-school tutoring for children with special needs. Nineteen teams of two set out early on December 14th from the Eluanbi (Erluanbi, 鵝鸞鼻) Lighthouse at Taiwan's southernmost point – hopeful that they would achieve Taiwan's northernmost point at Fuguijiao (富貴角), 700 km away and 9 days later. The challenge of the trip was enhanced by our riding tandem (2-person) bicycles and the participation of primarily non-seasoned cyclists (including us). Nearly half the teams had pre-teens on the second seat. Quite a few in the group were over 60. The youngest was five.

The route was planned so as to pass through major towns, where brief PR events, often attended by local officials, helped publicize the CCRA cause. We stuck largely to main county roads, which took us through Taiwan's industrial heartland. Actually, getting away from industry along the western coast is difficult without either navigating the awkward web of roadways that skirt the Taiwan Strait or heading into the Central Mountain foothills. Both present challenges best left for another cycling trip.

The weather cooperated to a surprising degree, with sunshine following us nearly all the way to Taoyuan County. Tara's initial nonchalance about the challenges ahead (she'd heard that kids could ride in the chase car [小蜜蜂] if their legs gave out) turned into impressive determination. She biked behind me the entire 700 km, growing in self-confidence and experience.

We reached Fuguijiao on the North Coast late on December 22nd after a day under overcast, occasionally drizzly skies. Tara proudly remarked that she wouldn't mind continuing on down the East Coast – mostly because she wanted to continue traveling with this tremendous group

and partly because she felt that more biking beat, hands down, the prospect of returning to school in another two days. Thirty-eight individuals had come together as strangers and were to part as friends. The support team fielded by CCRA handled the difficult logistics necessary over the entire trip, which included escorts from county police, event organization, overnight arrangements, rest stop and lunch arrangements and the handling of myriad details of which we could only appreciate the results. Their dedication, given to help ensure the CCRA can continue in its main mission, testifies most strongly to the value of CCRA work in Taiwan.

Soon after returning home, we were invited by the abovementioned group of weekend bikers to join in a planned cycling trip in February from Keelung to Taitung (Taidong, 台東), down the East Coast. We agreed, but with consternation over the weather – which had (and has) been atrocious (rainy and cold) for the past month across northern and eastern Taiwan. As our departure on February 1st drew near, the weather simply got worse.

It had not improved by the time we gathered in Guogang (過港 / 暖暖) outside of Keelung on Friday morning. Two families, including ours, opted for the warmth of the chase cars, in which we followed those (three families, including 5 kids!) who had elected to brave it out. We met up in Fulong (福隆) for lunch, after which the bikers followed the coast southward to finish up the 95 km scheduled for Day One at Wujie (五結鄉), south of I-Lan City, and we surrendered to an afternoon at the hot springs in Jiaosi (礁溪).

The rains petered out, and everyone, including Tara and I, made the remainder of the 5-day journey by bike (although we all opted out [per plan] of biking the 100km-long Suhua Highway (蘇花公路) – known for its dramatic scenery, sharp curves and careening gravel trucks).

The East Coast from Hualien City down through Taitung is a wonderful ride. We took the relatively level Rift Valley (mostly down County Route 193 [193縣道]), passing mile after mile of newly planted rice paddies before heading into the Coastal Mountains south of Yuli (玉里鎮). After a steady, but manageable, uphill climb of 5 or so kilometers, we passed through a newly completed 2km tunnel on Yuchang Road (玉長公路) that opened onto Taitung County and marked the start of a brisk downhill ride to the Pacific shoreline. We ended our journey at Sansiantai (Sanxiantai, 三仙台) north of Taitung City, piled the bikes into our two vans and headed northward the next morning toward home.

Unsurprisingly, in light of eastern Taiwan's unpredictable winter weather, the day we drove back was the first to see sunny blue skies. We stopped off at several places, including the coastal scenic area at Shihtiping (石梯坪) and a special bed & breakfast place (Houhu, 後湖水月) that serves up great views of the coast and wonderful morning coffee – thanks Wendell (!).

Tara and I look forward to continued biking adventures. Our two experiences this winter have taught us that distance biking around the island is both doable and fun. Passersby were always ready with a thumbs-up and a smile. We saw many other biking groups on the road as well - most traveling without a support vehicle and their gear and travel essentials strapped across the back tire and under the seat. No matter where you find yourself in Taiwan, chances are you aren't excessively far from civilization – particularly if your definition of such covers 7-11s, ... which truly are everywhere.

- JM

A Warm & Caring Christmas to All

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We wish you warm holiday wishes,

a Christmas infused with love

and forgiveness and a New Year

in which to help neighbors in need

and invest in helping mankind

live once again within the earth's

generous, but limited, means.

- JM

Riding with the CCRA (1919愛走動，協力車活動)

From 12/14, My daughter and I will participate in a week-and-a-half CCRA (中華基督救助協會) charity tandem bike venture starting at the southern tip of Taiwan (Kenting 墾丁 / Eluanbi 鵝鸞鼻), following the western (Taiwan Strait) coast and ending 10 days later after reaching Taiwan's northernmost point at Fuguijiao (富貴角). Nearly twenty bikes and forty people are participating and, hopefully, the ride will enjoy weather that is just a bit overcast and cool but dry. Is this asking too much? I hope not!

I'm looking forward to spending ten days on the road with Tara! ... A real father-daughter adventure.

Basic information on the event is posted (in Chinese) at: http://www.ccra.org.tw/active/content.asp?ID=46

Opening Shot / 第一炮

Please bear with me as I take a first few tentative steps onto the Internet.

I am an American, a native of Michigan, who has, since childhood, been drawn, transfixed, perhaps, to cultures very different from my own. It was most likely simply the contrasts presented by ancient Egypt, India and other cultures that tickled a deep curiosity. In relatively rural Michigan, a long way from either seacoast and comfortable in its Midwestern ways, the sheer distance of the outside world simply added to the allure.

I came upon the "Mysterious East" through a variety of routes, one of the most oft related being philately. True to form, I'd always left stamps garnished with pretty butterflies, bright colors and Marilyn Monroe in the box in favor of mono-colored, but much more interesting, selections from German Kiautschou, French Indochine and strange places like Boheme et Moravie, Manchukuo and Tannu Tuva. The latter fascinated me in particular, but information was scarce and my attentions drifted eastward toward China, the nation to which Tannu Tuva had been appended on and off since the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. China in the early 1980s was at a crossroads between the train wreck that was the Cultural Revolution and the reworking of relationships with former adversaries in the West. Marilyn Monroe and bright colors had yet to make their impact felt on China's sober landscape, but the door was opening on a mono-colored world that had been off limits to much of the outside for decades.

Sure for years that I would study Chinese in Beijing, ... I arrived in 1986 as a college junior in Taipei, Taiwan … a one-way ticket (used) from Tokyo and admissions letter from the Taiwan Normal University Mandarin Training Center firmly in hand (two boxes of clothes and "stuff" would arrive by sea another month later). Beijing - my University of Michigan language exchange partner confided - was a city still largely unsure of how to handle foreigners in its midst. He assured me that Taipei, his hometown, would be a much better place to study Chinese.

I stayed in Taipei (at the International House [國際學社] – a 1960s-era dormitory later sacrificed when a full square city block between Xinyi and Heping Roads was reclaimed as urban green space) for a year, during which full-time studies improved my Chinese tremendously. I met the girl of my dreams, came back for another year of study in 1989 and chose in 1993 to move to Taiwan for a few years after finishing graduate school to get some practical business experience in Asia. We planned on a 7-year stay and the clock is now nearing the 14-year mark. I hear that we are not the first to find Taiwan a difficult (more or less in the pleasant sense of the word) place to depart.

Over these 14 years, I've found a comfortable groove in "cultural bridging". "West" and "East" continue to be puzzled by one another, not so much by the big issues anymore, but by the myriad little things that can stymie, impede and even end a relationship. Standing at the interface between Greater China and "western culture", I've found a positive role to play in bringing very different perspectives closer together, resolving misunderstandings and presenting sometimes difficult realities in ways more likely to be accepted by the recipient. Thus, I see my varied professional roles at the American Institute in Taiwan (the U.S. representative office on the island), Andersen Consulting, Unisys and a cool little start-up company called Productivity Asia (now Pacific GeoPro) as sharing a common "cultural bridging" denominator.

Living today in the outskirts of Keelung, with fern-cloaked hills pleasantly interspersed between high rise condominium communities predictably faced in uninspired pink or white tile (what was that about mono-color?), I enjoy hiking and biking whenever possible. Scratch the drab surface of this port city along the Northeast Coast (about 25km from Taipei) and there is significant charm and beauty to be found. Keelung was a Treaty Port from the 1860s until almost the turn of the century; French Legionnaires and Bat D'Af soldiers occupied the harbor for nearly a year during the Sino-French War (1883~1885); it is home to the first transportation tunnel built in the Chinese Empire (in the late 1880s), through which China's first commercial railway passed (linking Keelung to Hsinchu); and it was ringed by modern artillery batteries in the first decade of the 20th century to fend off, of all things, a potential attack from Imperial Russia.

While I enjoy sharing findings with fellow foreign (i.e., non-Taiwanese) friends, I enjoy sharing such even more with Taiwanese – who are nearly always taken unawares by the history and natural beauty to be found not far from their apartment. There seems to remain a lamentable lack of appreciation here for what lies beyond the living room TV set or favorite department store haunt.

At the encouragement of good friends, I've set up this blog where some of my accumulated findings, thoughts and insights on this corner of Taiwan and Greater China can be organized and posted. With my enjoyment of the outdoors, I will look forward to finally putting into some organized fashion recommended hiking trails and historical pointers. I intend to keep political commentary down to a minimum, not so much out of tact, but out of relative disappointment at the deafening silence heard from both/all sides of the spectrum on the "bread and butter" issues (education, infrastructure, clean governance, etc.) certain to make or break Taiwan's viability as an economy and as a voice worth listening to in the region and beyond. Taiwan's future still remains in its own hands ... and, while so, politicians here should be even more tightly bound by duty and mutual honor to steer this island forward to the best possible future for all of its people.

I intend to make this a bilingual blog, and will draft Chinese translations (not word for word, mind you) at another site, probably on Lifespaces. For those of you who are bilingual as well, don't judge the Chinese text too harshly, as I won't have an editor to streamline the presentation. I just hope to share my information and experiences with two major online language communities.

Now, on to a personal plug ...

I am now a full time freelancer and SOHO type (having ended out a 7-year position in mid-June working for the USDA at the American Institute in Taiwan). I have significant experience providing market and cultural consulting; cross-cultural content development, design and layout services; and Chinese-to-English translation. Other tailored services to bridge East and West can be provided as well ... I will be glad to quote prices (reasonable), provide references and send along a colorful PowerPoint presentation of previous work experience and results to those interested.

Thus ends my first blog entry … jm.keelung@gmail.com