Keelung

November 28, 2014

It's Election Eve!

We awoke today to yet another beautiful morning. We can't believe our luck with weather for the end of the trip - for most of the trip I've been mentally preparing myself for rain when we rounded the north end of the island, but it looks like we are fated to enjoy great conditions from here to Taipei. We haven't gotten wet on the road since our ride to Dawu, almost two weeks ago.

We started our morning with breakfast at one of the waterfront Starbucks stores in Tamsui, and then moved on to a bench by the shore where I replaced Rachael's break pads and tuned them up. By some minor miracle this went well (I'm a rotten mechanic) and soon we were on our way northeast along the coast. Our first stop was about two miles away at Tamsui's Fisherman's Wharf, a romantic spot famous on the island for its great sunsets. No sunset today for us obviously, but we found it beautiful anyway.

Hustling into the frame - I need a few more seconds on my shutter delay.

We enjoyed an easy ride around the north end of the island. The route flips back and forth between somewhat busy but well-shouldered highway 2 and various quiet bikeways. It is a lovely stretch of coastline, with some sections dramatically beautiful. Standouts for us included the fishing harbor at Jinshang and the remarkably colorful cliffs at Longdong Cape.

Rice ball vendor camped atop the cycle path. Seemed almost like a toll booth, so we had to stop.

Jinshan's marina has by far the best assemblage of old fishing boats we saw on the island

Vicious pack awaits the unlucky cyclists

This was a fairly short day, but there was so much to see and so many reasons to linger or stop that we nearly ran out of daylight. We arrived in busy Keelung about 5, just before sundown. After a few miles racing along through dense traffic we were quite happy to pull up at our hotel, yank off our shoes, and rest a bit before dinner.

Keelung is well known for its night market, recognized as one of the best on the island. We agreed after wandering through it and marveling at the remarkable variety of edibles and wares on display. Most memorable for us though were the election festivities. The election is tomorrow, and organized supporters were out in force for a last demonstration. Loud, raucous processions marched and cheered their way through town throughout the evening and showed no signs of letting up by the time we headed back to our hotel late in the evening.

Keelung's famous night market lived up to its reputation. Best of the trip. Better than Alice's Restaurant.

It's Election Eve in Keelung! Their elections look way more fun than ours do.

Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 983 miles (1,582 km)

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