Elections and erections between Taitung and Hualien…
Sanxiantai Bridge. Photo: Zhen-Kang.
Distance
180 km
Ride time (with stops)
6 hours
Number of stone penises
10
The weather was mixed again, but it didn’t matter on decent roads. Today was great.
Taiwan’s east coast is indeed as beautiful as everyone says. But despite the dramatic scenery, today’s ride was uneventful (apart from all the penises).
My scooter was covered in paw prints when I checked out of the B&B.The weather could not have been better for the first hour of my ride, apart from the wind: near Taitung, I had to drive around coconuts that’d fallen onto the road.I stopped by this pineapple field to put on my jacket.Across the road was one of hundreds of election ads. I also saw around a dozen groups of campaigners, plus the usual grandpa-riding-a-scooter-with-a-political-banner-on-the-back thing. (I’m not being cynical. Taiwan’s a young democracy. I admire how much this freedom is valued.)I stopped for roadworks a couple of times. Note the mannequin holding the red ‘slow’ (慢) flags. (Sometimes these mannequins are mechanized, waving their arms up and down.) I was the second scooter in the queue. Before letting us through, a roadworker approached saying something in Chinese—but as I lifted my visor and he saw I was foreign, without missing a beat he diverted attention to the scooter in front and gave them instructions instead.I had a late breakfast at the famous Sanxiantai Bridge (三仙台跨海步道橋). I visited here in August, and today was disappointed to see it’s still closed.But I was happy to make an appearance on the Sanxiantai webcam, doubtlessly enthralling its six viewers as I scaled a small rock.(Taiwanese fishermen are intense.)Six kilometers up the coast, I stopped here, at this unconventional temple. It may look G-rated, but what’s that in the cave?It’s a giant stone penis, of course.Nine smaller penises line this ring around the primary phallus. When I woke up this morning, I didn’t imagine I’d be taking dick pics, but here we are.A Chinese-language sign erected behind the giant stone penis read something like “the first god”(?!). People come here to pray for fertility. Taiwan has a rapidly-declining birth rate; maybe it needs more giant stone penises.Thankfully, the next sculpture I saw was marginally-less phallic, here on the Hualien–Taitung border.Further up the road, I saw this giant erection: a monument marking where the Tropic of Cancer bisects Taiwan. It was raining when I arrived, so I parked my scooter under a stall awning that extended across the cycle path, then bought some peanuts to justify my presence.Continuing north, parts of the coastline resembled the West Coast of Te Waipounamu / New Zealand’s South Island.I had a late lunch—hot sweet potato and a coffee—at the 7-Eleven in Fengbin Township. In the store, two young girls (around age 7) came up to me on rollerblades and said hello (in English), then hello again as I left the store, and again as I was putting on my helmet.I rode through a series of tunnels, enjoying respite from the wind, before reaching Hualien City an hour before dark.
