Sunday Ride With Nigel to WuTai and Beyond, but not too far

Johnny didn’t want to ride today so Nigel and I took off for WuTai. I took that route a few weeks ago with ZhiSheng, my LBS friend and a few others. This time I wanted to introduce the area to Nigel, get in some good exercise and go to the end of the road instead of stopping in WuTai.

Great tree for a treehouse

We made it to the top of the hill after a couple rest stops, signed in to enter the Aboriginal area. A couple of friends of ZhiSheng were there, sitting at a table under an umbrella waiting out the drizzly mist. They didn’t want to ride in the rain of which there wasn’t much, but it was more than a fog. They were going to the left and we had planned on going to the right after entering the area. I have ridden my motorcycle to the end of the road on the left fork, but not to the end on the right. Because of the rain we figured they would never get going so we started in without them and continued with our original plan. I immediately realized I didn’t have my sun glasses so we went back to the checkpoint. They weren’t there. Discussing it, I thought I might have left them where we stopped at a closed café on the way up. We rode back down the hill, halfway to the bottom, only to find they weren’t there. We rode back up the hill, checked again at the checkpoint, and entered without them. That is the second pair of prescription glasses I have lost in a month.

We coasted most of the way to the bottom of the hill to WuTai. It was early so we thought we would eat at the next village. The end of the road wasn’t too far away according to the map….. We started out again, and up. And up some more we went. This contimued on for what seemed like days. We did pass some nice creeks, waterholes and waterfalls, but no village or place to eat.


Oh yes, it had also started raining on our way down the hill and continued, off and on though not hard, the rest of the day. After what seemed like 100Km past WuTai with no end in sight, I flagged down a motor scooter and asked how far it was to the end of the road. 30 or 40Km was the answer. And the next town? About 7Km.

Nigel while I flagged down the motor scooter

Amidst the rain and fog we decided to return to Wutai and have lunch.

On arrival we found that there was no place to eat in WuTai. We were pointed in the direction from which we had just come and told “10Km”. Been there, done that, and there wasn’t any. So we headed back out and up the hill, hungry. Still no joy at the checkpoint as we exited, we went down the hill almost to the bottom before we found a good placed to eat. The area and its people are known for their wild boar so we had that and a coke. Dellicious. It cost about NT$450.

Still rainy and cold we stopped at the bottom of the hill for a coffee. Two coffees were about NT$300, making lunch a bargain. There are no free refills in this country.

Back home Nigel had a new set of brake pads installed and I got mine adjusted. I should be able to do an endo now.

Again my GPS Edge 705 showed me riding 69.51Km but only showed 57Km in the profile. Luckily it only missed the approach to the hill that is identical to the tail of the ride. Ah, the agony of da feet

Back on the Long Haul Trucker

Richard was able to get away from his Mr. Mom duties long enough for us to go on a short ride. He didn’t want to take the ride to FangLiao which is the equivalent of riding to KenTing but not having to ride home again: about 110Km. So we went in the general direction and went up along a river to a place I knew we could jump in and cool off.

First of course we stopped for breakfast across from PingTung Technical University and enjoyed the scenery while we ate. As it is a usual stop we chatted with the owners and they wondered where Johnny was. At school of course, but I promised to bring him in again soon. My son: the chick magnet.

We arrived at the river and sat in the water while solving the problems of the world. The temperature was just right, not too cold yet cool enough to lower the body temperature from riding. And the sun was warm enough to give Richard a little sunburn.


Upon leaving I wanted to check out the other fork of the river to see what improvements had been made. I didn’t want to go far as the road starts climbing away from the river quite radically after a little ways. We saw some people following the river on the right side past where the road goes over a bridge and continues on the left (and proceeds to start climbing) so we followed them. In doing so we found the river had been dammed up creating a beautiful swimming hole. We stayed there and swam for another hour, talking with some of the other swimmers and a cyclist. This has turned out to be a new destination that can be accessed by both bicycle and motorcycle, even a car. Hopefully it is not too far for Johnny to ride to. I will remember to take pictures of the good swimming hole next time……..

6 Weeks ago I Culdn't spel Draivar and naow I are one

Well, what do you know? I actually passed my written test, but only by arguing. I took the test a third time rather than waiting for the results of my arguing the second test and that time got an 80%. I needed two more correct answers to get the necessary 85% but had four questions that were real questionable. They agreed to let me have it and then I pointed out that I didn’t have to take the driving test as my foreign license was current. The logic was taken from one of the test questions. They looked for half an hour to find out if I did or not when I decided not to rock the boat and take the test anyway. Surely I could pass a driving test.
Well Ok, they said, but I would actually have to wait for them to get approval for my written test from someone of authority, apparently they had none. So home again I went. That was Wednesday.
The next Wednesday Richard took the written for the fourth time and actually passed with a 92.5%. He took the driving test and failed. Go figure. He is a 40 year-old police officer from Brisbane. That day Hsien-Ling also called to see if my second test was approved. They thought they would hear soon. She talked to them about their English translations and the fact that Richard was a police officer and failed the driving test. They admitted that his car was large and he should have taken the test on the large car course. Swell. They then called Richard and told him he could retake the test on Thursday at no charge, on the bigger course. Then they called me back and said that my test was approved and that they would have written verification by Thursday or Friday so I could take my test on Friday or Monday.
They got it Thursday and I scheduled the test for Friday. Richard and I went to the course on Friday morning before it opened and he walked me through it. No problem.
At 1:20 I was there, paid my money and took the test in their car, a compact stick shift. If I took the test in my Chrysler Voyager, an automatic, I wouldn’t be licensed to drive a stick shift. So I rented theirs for NT$84 (US $2.50). The tester had me sit in the car during someone else’s test so I could see the routine. He was impressed that I spoke Chinese. When I took the test he also had someone in the back seat learning the route. In the US we take the test on actual streets with actual traffic. Not here. We merged into a lane and went around a corner, seeing if I could remain in a lane without touching the lines. Then there was a signal which only by luck was red so I stopped. No loss of points there. Then a left turn two right turns and then back into a perpendicular parking place without running over the lines that trigger an alarm. There were no poles to simulate the cars to avoid. Then out to the left, tight and left to an “S” curve with alarm lines on the side. Once through I had to back up through it. All the while the tester kept saying “beautiful, beautiful”. He was obviously easily impressed. After backing out it was then a right and a parallel parking test. Again no poles just push down the mirror and watch the alarm lines. “Beautiful, beautiful,” again. Then we made a left turn and a stop for the “pedrestrians”. Around the corner we had to start up a hill and stop on a red mark while keeping the wheels between a double set of alarm lines. After stopping we had to start without stalling the engine. (When the tester was showing Richard through the route he stalled the car three times). Now down the hill, a left turn and stop for the “train”. Last was straight ahead and stop for a 15 meter straight away where we had to get the car into third gear.
I scored an 88%. Thinking it was so beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I asked where I lost points. He implied my driving was jerky. I could live with that.
But then at 3:10 was the motorcycle test. This involves driving straight for about ten meters along a narrow track lined with alarm lines in a time not less than seven seconds. Then on a wider track on one must stop for a red light, go around a curve, stop for a train, then stop for a pedestrian and then finish. I took my two tries to get through the first track and then zipped through the rest. Actually I cut the corner exiting at the finish but they gave it to me anyway. Now I can ride motorcycles up to 25cc. For anything bigger I would have to take a course and pass another test. Those that have them still drive like they are on scooters......