From Taipei to Hsinchu, the semiconductor capital of Taiwan…
New Taipei City Art Museum. Photo: Zhen-Kang.
Distance
100 km
Ride time (with stops)
5 hours
Number of parochial baristas
1
Taipei’s only the fourth-largest city in Taiwan, but the Taipei metropolitan area—which includes Keelung and New Taipei Cities—has over 9 million people.
Today I rode west through this metropolis, then onwards to Taoyuan (2.2 million), and south to Taiwan’s Silicon Valley: Hsinchu City (450,000).
My journey was only 100km, but it was a mostly-urban ride that took three hours, or five with stops.
After enjoying uncharacteristically good weather in Keelung, I also struck uncharacteristically good weather in Taipei. It’s usually gloomier in winter.I met a friend for coffee in New Taipei—a city that literally encircles Taipei—and followed him to the brand-new New Taipei City Art Museum. It’s a building that’s still under construction, but largely complete on the outside.The exterior’s covered in these hollow aluminum tubes.We could freely roam the lower floors, which are an open-air maze of different levels and spaces. We hit two dead-ends when trying to find our way out. The enclosed floors above are not yet open.Taipei 101—my favorite tall building—was visible in the distance. It’s 25km away in a straight line, or an hour by scooter. (Speed limits vary from 30–70km/h, but there are a lot of traffic lights.)This enormous ceramic piece sits at the other end of the grounds.I followed my friend to Taoyuan, where he currently works. We had lunch at a vegetarian burger restaurant on the ground floor of this house, one of the older buildings in a neighborhood that’s popular with wealthy TSMC employees. My friend said the house next door was worth NT$40m–50m (NZ$2m–2.5m). I saw electric BMWs parked in driveways.The burgers were excellent. The owner was excellent too: she said I have “beautiful blue eyes like glass balls”.When we left, a Lamborghini Gallardo was parked next to our scooters. This picture depicts a wealth discrepancy of roughly 8,000%.I arrived in Hsinchu just before sunset.Later, I met another friend for a walk in the city. This is the Yieng-Siyi Gate, completed in 1829. The remains of a more recent (reinforced concrete) structure have been retained in the foreground.Hsinchu Railway Station is one of many Japanese-era buildings in the city.We stopped for coffee at this Starbucks, in the Japanese-era Shinchiku Prefecture Library building (星巴克 新竹州圖門市). Taiwanese Starbucks staff always speak English—although they don’t always understand my non-American accent. Today’s barista had no problems though: after learning where I’m from, she told me that Kaohsiung’s too hot (true), and Hsinchu’s the best city in Taiwan (hmmm). I said Hsinchu is indeed beautiful, but I hadn’t been here long enough to reach a conclusion. (Although, when I do reach a conclusion, it will be that Kaohsiung is better.)Our last stop was Hsinchu Cheng Huang Temple (新竹都城隍廟), one of the ‘Top 100 Religious Scenes of Taiwan’. Built in 1747, it’s dedicated to Cheng Huang Ye (城隍爺), the city god who records the good and bad deeds of every person in Hsinchu. It’s a place to pray for justice, a better life, and the absence of extreme weather. All things I hope for during my final four days of huandao.
