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Looking at Tamsui |
Getting to Guandu
Saturday morning was beautiful. It was cool but sunny with a slight breeze blowing through the North of Taiwan. Queenie and I had already planned to ride up to Tamsui with three of Queenie's colleagues Stacey, Anna and Yun Chun. Queenie had previously ridden up to Guandu with them and left her bike there. I agreed to ride up to Guandu and meet Queenie there with her friends (who carried their bikes on the MRT) and then ride up to Bali, opposite Tamsui.
To be honest I had a bit of a late night on Friday so waking up and getting on my bike was a bit difficult but once I got going it was fine. It was just great riding next to the river. I managed to get up to a good steady pace and made it to Guandu in 90-minutes. Queenie and her friends arrived shortly and then of course we all went to eat brunch.
Beyond Guandu
After an hour of eating breakfast we decided to get going (by now it was around noon). We first rode through the crowded streets of Guandu (and to be sure the streets were very crowded) and then over the Guandu bridge. The ramp up the bridge is fairly steep but the view from the top wasn't bad. At least I got to see the river boat I have heard so much about in the recent past.
Once over the bridge the crowds cleared up a bit and the weather was just amazing. The views of the rivers were spectacular and Queenie said it reminded her of the Bosphorus in Turkey (with slightly younger buildings on the side). When we crossed the bridge the wind was starting to pick up a little and the river was starting to become restless, but the choppy water made it look and feel a little more wild than Taiwan is and gave the feeling we were in a more remote and distant place.
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Queenie and the Guandu Bridge |
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Fishing Boats |
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The View |
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Queenie and her friends |
The ride to Bali was just incredible. The weather, as I said earlier, was tremendous. There were still quite a few cyclists on the path but it only got really bad once we got much closer to the town. For the most part there was enough space to get up to a good pace but still just riding next to the river and seeing the view of Tamsui was great. Even though there were lots of people out on the road I think its great to see more and more Taiwanese people getting involved in outdoor activities. When I first came here 10 years ago most Taiwanese people preferred to stay indoors but now with the cycle paths being well developed people get out and enjoy nature.
However, if you ever decide to ride a bike and take a video, it can be perilious. See below!
For what its worth I did survive. Ha ha ha but I did learn to not record and ride right behind someone else. Just before we got to Bali we stopped at on the river bank where we had a tremendous view of Tamsui.
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