Taiwanderful Blog Voting: Vote For Your Favorites

David and Fili are hosting the annual election for the best blogs about Taiwan with the goal of building community and bringing Taiwan to the world through the thoughts of the blogging community.

You can vote on your favorites and discover new blogs.

So go to Taiwanderful and check out who is blogging and give them a vote of confidence.

Companies Search To Accommodate Cyclists: The ibb Bicycle Party Bus

If you ever dreamed of partying like a rock star on a tour bus filled with all your best friends, hangers on, crew and who could forget the groupies... er ...bicycles you bring on board for you to ride when you like.

Now is your chance.

Introducing the ibb Tour Bus:

If you can get 20 people together, you can rent out Guo Guang's ibb Party Bus to bring you and your bikes to your destination of choice.

This is mainly aimed at cycling teams with enough members to fill the seats. But what I really think is amazing is the fact that there is enough demand on little Taiwan to justify retrofitting a bus for the sake of accommodating cyclists.

If you are interested in this service please give them a call at:

國光ibbife自行車專用巴士
總代理 ：杰一科技有限公司
Email：service@ibblife.com
TEL：(02)28083088

Alishan A-Go Go! Are You Coming?

The weather looks good. My health is good. My legs are good.... And I am chompin' at the bit to have a little more adventure during these mild autumn months.

I had been planning a single day-ride to Kenting, but the call of the mountains has been too great. I just feel like climbing.

Therefore Michael at The View From Taiwan, and myself, would like to host a two day trip over the spectacular and fabled Alishan.

Alishan gets its name from the word "Kalee", a term plains people once used to describe the people who live in the high mountains, mainly the Tsouic groups, but also some Bunun groups as well.

During the period of Japanese colonization, Alishan has the focus of the forestry and logging industries. This allowed the town of Chia-yi to greatly expand as the center for saw mills and paper. Interestingly, the massive torii at the entrance to the Meiji Shrine in Japan, were originally logged from Alishan. The Japanese also built recreational hot springs in some of Alishan's most picturesque spots, complete with sakura at certain times of the year.

There is, or has been periodically, an old steam train that runs up and down the old narrow gauge rails.

PLAN:

We plan to leave Taichung early on Saturday morning on the Highway 3 to Zhushan. From Zhushan we will slowly climb up the 149甲 and stay the night at the reservoir.

The Next day we will take the 149 to the peak of Alishan and hop on down along the less trafficked 159甲. From the base of the mountain you could either catch a train home or ride back. Michael and I plan to ride.

Although the weather is expected to be clear and dry, the temps on the mountain will probably drop below 10 degrees C.

It should be a blast and I hope we can get some readers to join us for a little adventure. This is not going to be super difficult, but it will be some climbing. This is not a race, but a friendly ride where nobody gets dropped. If you are interested, please contact me through my contact info on the sidebar.

Bike route 769130 - powered by Bikemap

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More on Alishan:

My favorite Alishan story involves my old friend Sam, who met his wife on Alishan while they were students at the Taipei First School. Half way up the mountain the train broke down and the conductor ordered all the luggage removed. The boys were asked to hike all the luggage back down the mountain. Sam decided to show off for the girls and immediately went for the largest suitcase in the pile. It happened to belong to Grace, a sassy little toothpick of a woman with a will of iron, who was absolutely not impressed. They remained in touch and later dated and married before spending their lives living and working in the United States as leaders in exile of the movement for Taiwanese democracy and independence. They are both heroes in my book.

Taichung... You Asked For It!: 谷關—大雪山纜車，新社—大坑 Popular Cycling Routes Threatened By Mayor Hu's Tourism Plan

Dear Taichung Cyclists,

You asked for it and you got it!

In the wake of last weekend's election in which you chose to re-elect Mayor Jason Hu to another term, the mayor has outlined his top priorities for the New Taichung region.

If you guessed the mayor would focus on bread and butter issues like public welfare... you're wrong.

Mayor Hu issued a statement declaring his top priority for his third term will be to construct a cable car system that will run from Dakeng to Gu Guan in an effort to attract more tourists.

How does this impact us as cyclists?

Part of the plan will call for widening the roads and developing the popular cycling areas around Dakeng, where recreational cyclists from around the area can find a little respite from the traffic and chaos that often makes cycling more accessible locations a total nightmare. We will be forced to endure tour busses and the problems they create. Currently, this little oasis of nature provides a getaway from the city... until the city comes to Dakeng.

The plan does not stop there. The plan is set to include other popular cycling routes in Da Xue Shan and Gu Guan. Both areas currently provide relatively safe and less trafficked areas where cyclists can climb and descend while enjoying the natural beauty of Taiwan's great outdoors. The beautiful vistas and panoramas will be interrupted with cable.

I implore you all to write to your new city council members to express your concerns and request that they deny the mayor funding for this reckless project that will result in even more environmental degradation.

There are not many natural places near the city to cycle through and enjoy. Don't let the mayor steal another one from us to enrich his construction cronies.

You get what you vote for.

Yours!

Taiwan In Cycles

p.s.

If the mayor had lived in Taichung during the 921 earthquake he may have thought twice about planting anything into those mountains.

Policy Details HERE

Contact DPP city councilor 王岳彬. He has apparently been a major proponent of this project as well.

Second Grader Bikes Around Taiwan!!!

Wow! Above is a screen capture from the write up in Chinese of a Taiwanese second grade student's adventure cycling around Taiwan. Incredible. The full version can be seen here. Click on the Photo button to see his photo expose. What an inspiration!

Added:

Here is a little more in English.

News For A Coffee Stop AND Cancer Riders Prologue

The group of cancer fighters from the UK have safely finished their tour of Taiwan and are now safely in front of a fire someplace enjoying the lovely Fall weather.

You can see some pictures from their adventure HERE.

They also have a full write up of their daily travel schedule, which may be very useful to people who are not regular cyclists, but would like to consider the adventure of biking around Taiwan.

An excerpt:

We knew at this point we had the toughest part of the day coming up. We had psyched ourselves up for this ALL week – it was now time for the killer hill! We had to cross the mountains and head into the valley on the other side. The hill we had to tackle was a constant incline for 7km!

We set off from out break point and headed onto the mountain road and the hill began. The temperature was now hotting up and the whole way up the hill we were in the scorching sun! The hill really did seem to go on forever but it was worthwhile as the views as we got higher and higher were amazing. As we were cycling we kept looking up and seeing the road spiralling up and up in the distance at times we really thought we would not be able to make it!

We finally made it to the top after a great deal of hard work! It was such an amazing feeling reaching the top and being welcomed by those members of the team who had arrived before us!

You can check out the whole report HERE.

Around The Hub

• Ma-Ying-jiu greets Taiwanese Medalists from the Asian Games.
• Bike Injuries vs. Running Injuries.
• Cycling Geomancy and Feng-shui silliness.
• Hop aboard the Bicycle Super Highway.
• Ole' Motorlegs Cancellara has chosen to ride for the Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project after Specialized devoted a ton of capital in the rider as their star.

Taiwan In Cycles "Knows The Price of Everything and The Value of Nothing"

Apparently, the Chinese cyclist who violated the terms of his visa (who hasn't been guilty of that at some time or another in Taiwan?), has generated quite a buzz with his ride report that primarily focused on the differences between Chinese and Taiwanese service culture. His blog has had over 2 million hits since his return.

The 26yo. web designer entered Taiwan on a 12 day business visa, but managed to circumvent the country on his bike.

On a beach at the Kenting Park at the southern tip of Taiwan, Liu saw no trespassers at all after a "No Entry" sign was erected at a dangerous spot. It would be an entirely different scene in China, he commented.

On the eve of the Oct. 10 National Day of the Republic of China in Taiwan, Liu witnessed the change of guards at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei from only an arm's length like all other surrounding people, a scene that also said would be unfathomable would be impossible on the mainland.

He noted that even in the generally pro-taiwan independence south, people are friendly and hospitable. Tainan is a power base of Taiwan's opposition "green camp" where Vice Chairman Zhang Minqing the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) was once pushed onto the ground by some anti-China protesters when visiting the Confucius Temple honoring the Chinese sage. Nevertheless, Liu still pointed out that he had to admit about a little difference in the atmosphere from other major cities in Taiwan. He said it could have arisen from certain psychological reason.

What I find really interesting about this report is in the subtle ways the perception of a "shared Chinese culture" falls by the wayside when it comes into contact with the result of independent structural and experiential and social change.

Read Carefully

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In Other News:

Singapore sends a humanitarian bicycle mission to Taiwan

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) takes great pride in helping to facilitate the Singaporean Concern & Care Society on a humanitarian mission to deliver 10,000 Christmas cards by bicycle.

The stated mission is to, "spread Singaporeans' concern to their Taiwanese friends caught in times of difficulties and to encourage the victims to bravely face the challenges in life."

The 25 day bicycle mission, which officially started on November 17, is expressly focused on the victims of typhoons Megi and Fanapi, which both ravaged the Philippines with some lesser damage to Taiwan. I kind of feel this effort is misplaced as there are other places in more dire need of these human resources, organization and financial support.

From this observer's standpoint it appears these are two groups trying to subvert the goals of the other to proselytize for their respective faiths.

The Singaporeans seem to be using the type of coded language associated with missionary work, and MOFA seems to be a) trying to increase ties between fellow, "Chinese" compatriots with the aim of extending the political reach of a "greater China" rooted in imagined blood relations; and b) hoping to stimulate growth in bicycle tourism, which can serve several simultaneous goals.

That is what I was guessing, so I made sure to check the information provided by the Concern and Care Society.

To serve fellow human beings with the Christian spirit of love, humility and sacrifice, through the provision of direct services to needy families and individuals, especially the elderly, and the promotion of good family and personal values, working with Christians, other Christian organizations, and other individuals and organizations who share our values, as much as possible to maximize the impact of our endeavours.

Hmmmmm! Or maybe I am just being a cynic.