Fulong and Jiaoxi- 福隆跟焦溪

Starting on Sunday I’ve been sick, so I’ll try and hammer out the last couple of blog posts I’ve been meaning to, although nothing of quality was ever rushed.  I have a feeling if I don’t write by the end of this week then it will be forever lost as more and more awesome shit piles up (that’s the hope anyway).

Anyway, Friday I didn’t really do much.  I had no way of instantly contacting people (first world problems), and was pretty much glued to my computer in case anyone tried to reach me (or that was the flimsy excuse I gave myself).  It did give me a lot of time to pour over my pictures from the previous night.  While dicking around on Facebook, Nina messaged me, saying she and her husband were going to meet up with Paul, and wondering if I wanted to join.  You mean Nina the sweetheart DTF trainer I hadn’t seen in almost two years?  AND they want to meet up at a buffet where I can eat expensive fruit and not have to bitch about the price?  Oh hell yeah!  The story behind Nina and her husband Jia Rui is pretty romantic even if you’re not into that stuff- they both worked in Taiwan at DTF, but at separate branches, and might not have met each other but for the fact that they both came as trainers to the Seattle DTF,.  Not long after they get back I think they make it official, which couldn’t have been more than four months.  How’s that for a ‘how we met’ story?  Chatting with them was almost surreal, because so many things had changed in our lives and yet here I was in their country now, hanging out like I was a freshly-minted server at DTF.  Their son Ryan is about three months old now.  If everything goes right, I’ll be attending their wedding near the end of May, and maybe I’ll get a chance to see some other old friends.  One can only hope.

Nina and Jiarui with their son Ryan at 饗食天堂, a buffet located near the Taipei Main Station

Paul came late to dinner, his bus from Taichung taking over four hours instead of the usual two due to a combination of poor traffic and retarded highway planning.  After dinner we said goodbye to Nina and Jia Rui, and hit up a sports bar to while away some time and drink some overpriced Smithwick’s clone.  Aside: fuck Taipei’s prices, at least if you’re from Seattle.  Expect to pay way more for foreign beers, fruit, phones, and other bullshit.  If you pay less then you’re getting a piece of shit product, like oranges that have the juiciness of that ball of pubes which gathers around the shower drain.  I’ve pissed out beers that have more body than Taiwan Beer (which is funny because at DTF back home they treat it like it like this exotic brew).  Obviously I’ve only been here a month and have much to learn, but I almost want to take a trip to China and see if shit hasn’t risen in price there too since 5 years ago or if Taipei was always this goddamn expensive.  At least in China I just ignored foreign shit since it wasn’t readily available (or prohibitively expensive if it was), but here it’s available and just unreasonable enough for you to get it anyway.  I’ve got to keep a tighter fist around my wallet. 

It was a good thing I ran into Paul because he ended up crashing at my place, his friend having come down with the stomach flu.  We got up in the morning, our route already planned out: from Xizhi to Fulong where we’d ride bikes around the coast, then to the famous hot springs of Jiaoxi.   I felt like shit sitting on the train, my head sore and my stomach queasy from stuffing my fat face with all-you-can-eat sushi and fruit and other bullshit.  My patented technique for getting the most for my money, honed from my brother’s advice, succeeded in satisfying the gods of thrift but kicked my intestines into overdrive.  Oh, you want to learn these secrets?  Maybe in another post.  You guys probably aren’t tuff enough to handle the information anyway, I’m a buff ass motherfucker and I still felt shitty.

Fine.  Eat the starches at the end.  Also, don't drink anything with sugar in it.  Beer and milk count.

Jiaoxi is in the red part, that's Yilan county.  Right above the narrow tip of red at the top of Yilan county, you see that small cape that juts out?  That's where Fulong is.

 I wisely decided to sleep until our destination and got up feeling a little better.  The weather, while not sunny, or even clear, had at least been rainless, but a light trickle changed that when we arrived at Fulong.  We rented our bikes for $100 NT (hell yeah) and got some water and helmets with the deal.  The woman even kindly threw in some parkas, offering to take them back without charge if we didn’t open them.  That certainly appealed to both my jewish and manly sensibilities- I didn’t think we’d need the parkas in any kind of weather, much less the current drizzle, but with it certainly wouldn't hurt to take them anyway just in case.

Just starting, feeling good.

Entrance to the Old Caoling Bikeway Tunnel (舊草嶺隧道）

Bike seats comfortably adjusted to our asses and we're off biking towards the old train tunnel.  Serving as a train through the mountains, it has been converted into a pretty sweet biking trail, replete with speakers blaring traditional Chinese music.  If they had installed atmospheric green lighting I would’ve thought we were on the Mainland, minus the garbage everywhere.  A quick ride through and we emerge to a magnificent view of the coast.  Behind us, a mountain of green rises loftily, and we take the time to admire our surroundings even as the rain picks up.  With no clear indication of where to go we followed the touristy railroad track design on the bike path, all the way to a small naval base.  Then we backtracked and found that the actual trail wove behind the tourist information hut and through some low-hanging trees.  Wow, all that funding on some fancy path but you couldn’t put up any clear signposts?  Maybe I’m just being hasty and there were indicators…but that sounds unlikely.  No one blames their own incompetence on others, right?                                                            

Probably right in the middle

After leaving the old bikeway, you can see the current tunnel in use

Whoops, wrong way

Now following the correct path, right away we felt the wind and rain picking up.  It wasn’t long before we stopped at a public restroom and ran into a German fellow, his bike fully decked out with all manner of packs.  Turns out he was taking a 2.5 week vacation to bike around Taiwan, going west through the Taroko Gorge and heading south…he had everything planned out.  Lucky bastard.  At the same time, I admired him for taking the time to map out a route, one that had obvious advantages over a lame ass guided tour.  This was a view of Taiwan few foreigners (and natives for that matter) would ever see, one to show the grandkids someday.  Maybe one day, God willing, I shall embark on such an adventure, with a few friends by my side.  When the German departed Paul and I made the fateful decision to don the parkas and forfeit the twenty NT they would cost (OHHH NOOOO).  This decision would play a large part in our survival, though to be fair it was mostly Paul’s decision, I only grudgingly agreeing to put mine on with my Seattle pride on the line.  Only after a few hundred meters, with my pants wet despite the parka it was clear that without the woman’s offer we would have been completely fucking drenched.  Even if hadn't been raining that hard, the wind was drenching us from every angle with gale force.  I could feel my bike slow to a crawl, and my legs burn to push past this invisible force.  And despite it all, I was laughing like a kid.  Being next to the sea, with clean, cool rain dripping down my skin, brought out a mirth that had lain expectant, unfulfilled slouched in front of my computer.  In such a short time something that I had taken for granted had turned into a blessing, a relief from the sludgy, acid rain in the city that felt like it left a trail of grime, a thousand miniature slugs oozing down my face and arms.  Paul said he felt young again, and while we're both only 28 I knew what he meant; that invincible feeling as the wind whipped the sea and rain into a frenzy but failed to bow our heads, the sweat sticking to the inside of our backs- a tangible badge of our exertions.  Back when I was young I felt I rode my bike all the time, and I don't know if it's because I was young, or rather a child of the 90's, but I feel like kids today have drifted away from the kind of simple, physical fun that everyone should engage in.

Rain's getting heavier...oh no.

Would've liked to head out and climb on these

My tuffness index enjoyed huge gains that day, as we were just about the only two people on the bike path.  Aside from the German we saw one biker.  The people driving by us must've shook their heads, wondering where these buff-ass motherfuckers came from.  All signs of my previous unwellness were gone, joy and exertion deftly excising my headache.  It was just good to get out of the damn city and exercise, and with an old friend to boot!

Note: One of my Taiwanese co-workers has since told me that it may have been all in my head, because the rain by the NE coast is still supposed to be as bad as the rain you feel in the city.  I don't think so, because I'm definitely not a romantic; the rain felt cleaner.

Near the end of our circuit, the bike path started weaving down towards the coast, near the homes of fishermen.  You could literally hold out your hand and touch the spray from the ocean waves raging against the wall.  Paul remarked about typhoons and I imagined what would happen to this place...how could they possibly have time to prepare?  The waves were already close even without storm conditions...these people might very well be fucked during a major typhoon.  But then why would they live here? Sometimes people hold on with grim tenacity to a way of life, even against all odds.  Not because they treasure it, but because it's all they know.

The beach by the visitor center was closed because of the rough weather; standing this close it was easy to see why.

These people didn't give two shits.  My kind of folk.

Would've stepped in if they had been open.  Who would pass up a chance at the Fubar?  Nice little play on words, with the Fu being the same 'fu' in Fulong (福).

Not too long after we coasted into town.  Dropping off our bikes and thanking the woman for her kindness with regards to the parkas I picked up a couple of bento (apparently Fulong's famous for them) and we caught the train in just a few minutes.  More than the bento, which I wolfed down without really tasting, I was looking forward to our dip in the hot springs.

A little small, but gives you an idea about what the bike path (in red) was like. 

Bye Fulong!

The train ride towards Jiaoxi grants a wonderful view of the NE coast.  I can imagine on nicer days how the ride itself would be a real treat, but having just biked for two-hours right in the thick of it I appreciated it less than I should have.  When we stepped out into Jiaoxi, we were immediately greeted by a touristy miniature hot spring:

Looking away, hm?  Ah, you know of my reputation.

Paul asked if I wanted my picture with the beautiful girl.  How could I say no?

Yeah, this reputation.

Anyway I could bore you with the details of our soak, but there's not much to it.  We forgo the $40 NT ($1.30 US) public bath, opting for a much nicer nude one at $150 NT ($4.60), still dirt cheap.  Enjoying the garden immediately outside the entrance, we knew we made the right choice.  The old men inside seemed comfortable enough to sit limbs splayed and dongs resting limply.  Some people are really uptight about public nudity, but after getting my taint scrubbed by a speedo-clad skin specialist, I can say with confidence that dicks don't bother me, as long as they're not eye-level.  We stayed there for a long time just enjoying the cool air and the mineral water (Jiaoxi is famous for having sulfur-free mineral water, the odorless kind.  I'd have pictures for you, but dicks, remember?)

How could you know go up to a place with a garden like this and not have a good feeling.

Naked dong here I come!

I will definitely be back

After that we headed back to Taipei to meet up with Paul's friend Alex, and had some pickled vegetable hot pot (酸菜火鍋).  $400 NT ($12 US) a person, cheap for an endless amount of meat.  Since this was the second day in a row I was going buffet style I decided to tone it down, but I probably overdid it anyway with the lamb.  The nice pickled broth and lamb cooked to perfection was great on the palate, but I think my stomach was pissed I wasn't giving it proper rest.  Actually, biking in the rain for two hours probably wasn't a smart idea either.  I could talk about the movie we saw afterwards, Olympus has Fallen, but it was a piece of shit, and I didn't start this blog to review movies.  I'd say don't watch it, but if you're like me, you'll watch it out of spite now.

Paul recommends awesome restaurant: +1
Paul recommends shitty movie: -1

How to get to Fulong: uh, take the express train there from Taipei.  Takes about 70 minutes.  I don't know how to be more descriptive than that.  From Fulong you can take the local train to Jiaoxi.  Look, I wasn't the person navigating, sorry.