Tour de Taiwan Day 03 - Puli (埔里) to Chingjing (清境)

Today is one of the important days for this trip. We will be riding up to the highest motorway in Taiwan, Wuling (武嶺). It was 3,275 meters above sea level where local will go up to see snow at that point. To have better chance in completing this climb we decided to lighten our bike by taking away our panniers. Watanabe-san of Guest House Puli 埔里背包客之家 was so kind to offer us a safe place to keep our panniers. As planned we will get ready before day break and hoping to start rolling when sun rise. Get a simple breakfast from nearby shop and we depart to first stop over point Wushe (霧社) for a break.

Despite heavy breathing with fast heart pumping while climbing up, was paid off with priceless scenery all the way. Just few kilometers away from Wushe I found few Cherry Blossom tree blooming. Several shelter with the sign saying "Famous Wushe Cherry Blossom tree seedlings for sale" and verify with a Taiwanese friend that is truly famous.

Entering Wushe (1,148 meters above sea level) saw a memorial park caught my attention. Recently searching for nice clip from Youtube and saw a preview of Seediq Bale (賽德克•巴萊) and like it so much. Searching everywhere for the movies and found two parts, "The Sun Flag" (太陽旗) and "The Rainbow Bridge" (彩虹橋). If you like "Braveheart" or "The Last of the Mohicans" then you should watch these two. Okay, why I started to talk about movies? Because this park was built as a memorial for those warriors sacrifice during the Incident of Wushe which shows in the movies. It was a true story about how the native fight against the Japanese during their occupation.

Found a convenient store where I could settle down to get some chocolate to fill up my energy. Met two cyclist on road bike planning to go Wuling too. They are both carrying backpack thought they will stay a night but later see them pass me when on my way back (don't get suspend). An advice from the cyclist, never think of taking any mean of transport to reach Wuling if you already plan to cycle up. You will have appreciate the effort of going up if you do it by cycling up. Though this is my philosophy but sometimes need to change to suit the situation around us.

Finally I made it to Chingjing (清境) which I never expect could make it due to some muscle problem I had day before. I am telling myself not to push too hard this day because I have another 11 days to go around Taiwan. Therefore setting my own revised destination to only Chingjing which is 1,750 meters above sea level. I could not remember if we ever take our lunch but I do have several pieces of chocolate. Later we made a very sad decision that we will not going to Wuling. It was about 1:00 pm and we need to climb for a distance of approximately 25-30 km and elevation gain of approximately 600 m. By the time we reach Wuling might be around 3-4 pm which might not be safe to cycle due to thick fog. Another concern is the sunset time was around 6:00 pm so we may have to cycle in the dark. Although I didn't get to Wuling but still an achievement for myself to reach where I am now.

Rolling down was my favorite yet scary with the V-brake I have which is not so good in stopping. Moreover heard few incident from cyclist friend that they burst their tube due to heat generate by braking making me worry. Although worry but I do enjoy the adrenalin of speed.Back to Guest House Puli and according to plan we should be heading to Sun Moon Lake campsite. Due to unforeseen circumstances we make a change to the plan by staying additional night in Puli. That means we will not camp in Sun Moon Lake which I hoping to do it. After discussion and decision made, we confirm our stay with Watanabe-san for the same room we slept earlier.

My friend Peter Yang recommend a local famous dish, braised pork belly, which is a must try when visit Puli. Cycle out to look for this highly praised food with GPS coordinate set on my Garmin. Unfortunately it open from as early as 6:00 am but closed as early too, 3:00pm. Looking at the bright side, we can have our breakfast in this shop because we always rolling at about 6:00 am. For tonight we settled with Pork Leg rice which taste as good too. On the way back grab something for dessert from convenient store.

This is my first Milo for breakfast of the trip, bring a bunch but never have time to make one every morning. Most of out breakfast were from shop nearby.

In case any of you would like to know more about this nice place we stay you may join Watanabe-san gueast house fan page. Or just click on link of location below.

Start our journey at sun rise so we will have more day time to ride.Today will roll with lighter weight....

This place was just 10 meters from the place we stay, so convenient and serving all kind of breakfast.

Hopefully with this lighter setup I could make it to the top, Wuling.

A short break to let my muscle rest avoiding leg cramp.

One of the hairpin corner with magnificent view, taking the chance of snapping photo to rest too.

This is the scene I mentioned in earlier photo description, I was here several minute not just rest but enjoy the view with some cool wind.

Isn't it just nice to see but not to ride??? Lol

When climbing a mountain what I worry most is the hairpin corner because you will face a sudden steep climb.

Puli Cherry Blossom...nice!

Need to do self-shot with Cherry Blossom, can't get a chance to see in Japan so this is okay.

Entering to Wushe and you can see the pillar with drawing by the native peoples.

Wushe Incident memorial park for the fallen angles. This is where is all happen....

This is the main guy who bring up the unity of their people as well as other tribe to defend their land.

That is people power, unite and stand up for their right.

Taking a break here and getting some chocolate to fill my energy too. Waited a while here then continue pushing myself up to the limit.

A Xanadu? This is a small town in the middle of many mountain around. Looks like a good place for retirement.

Direction, which mountain to choose from. We have no choice but to take Dayuling because that is the way to Wuling. Probably nest time will try other which I assume would be a nice place to visit.

That's the view we expecting to see from Taiwan mountainous road. It was a relief for the hardwork climbing when you see such beauty.

Muscle need a break, thus stopping at this place very near to a small hotel that replicate the design of old English mansion.

No appetite but just want to rest before going further. Check on water level in our bottle to make sure we have enough to hydrate ourselves.

We are quite near to Chingjing (清境) but my Garmin shown elevation gained just 1,177 meters. From reliable source we should be around 1,700 to 2,000 meters above sea level when we reach Chingjing. Does that mean I need to re-calibrate my Garmin Edge 800?

A map laying out where you find 7-11 store along the route 14 in Chingjing. If not mistaken we didn't go to the highest altitude 7-11 store in Taiwan. 

Though we missed highest altitude 7-11 store in Taiwan but we did have a chance to visit highest altitude Starbucks outlet in Taiwan. Unfortunately I was not able to enjoy my coffee here....but I will have my chance.

From here you can see Central Mountain Range (中央山脈) that makes up the backbone of Taiwan. It cover several famous mountain and most of tallest mountain. Among the five mountain ranges in Taiwan Central Mountain Range was the most magnificent.

Bringing my country flag waving high on this mountain makes me proud of being Malaysian instead of just Malaysian Chinese. While climbing up to this place I heard one of the passenger in the tourist van shouted "Malaysia Boleh" and to show my appreciation I wave back to them though I was hardly can balance myself climbing up even with 2 hands.

Going down hill is too fast to stop for any photo taking. I managed to take a brief stop here to snap photo because it is not so steep. But I not to worry because I still have video recorded for viewing.

This is how Taiwanese tourism board promote their country, with a small creation you can tells story of what happen surrounding.Such investment is much lower than spending million for social networking page which can done easily. This few pieces of stone wall also tells story of what local in older will do in this area.

This hanging bridge leads to a waterfall but not planning to explore. It attract me for a photo shooting but I don't have time to go till the middle of the bridge.

Wish I have more time so I could explore further.

I am sure it will be bouncy when riding across this bridge... lol

Grandma Pork Leg "阿嫲豬腳" our dinner place. This is second choice but not that bad though.

Most recommended dishes from their menu.

While waiting for food...self-shot or whatever shot. Just review what we have capture today.

Hmmm....yummy!

Rice with pork knuckle, vegie and fried fish. Ginseng black chicken soup was delicious too.

Since still early, decided to go try the coffee recommend by Watanabe-san. This Cafe was open by his friend and the environment was quite cozy.

There is a reason why they serve this ice blended latte in beer mug. It was a special latte called Whiskey Latte....coffee and whiskey both favorite in a glass.

The actual ride route on day 03 with elevation profile and speed graph against distance.

Ride detail from my Garmin Edge 800.

Tour de Taiwan Day 02 - Tanzi (潭子) to Puli (埔里)

A decision was made to leave later than plan since the distance is shorter for this day. Wake up almost 8 am and slowly pack our stuff before heading to a breakfast store. It was Sunday and you can see families are going out for breakfast. Again the breakfast was paid by the host Winnie Soon and her hubby Charlie.

Left the town at about 10 am an the sun is already on top of our head. The heat is warmer compare to yesterday and by the time we reach the center of Taichung city it was hotter.

The city center of Taichung was so busy because it was Sunday and we could decide where to stop by for visit. Then we just took a photo in front of train station and proceed to day 02 destination.

Basically there are 2 way to go Puli, our day 02 destination, either by Route 136 or Route 6. Originally my course was planned on Route 6 but when locating Puli with Garmin it took us to Route 136 which I guess should shorter....it was a big mistake by choosing that route. First it start with some nice scenery on a small gradient climbing. Later the sign warn us to be extra careful on turn because it was continuous turning road at 12% gradient. I am totally dumb in when someone told me about 12% climb but after 500 meters distance I finally learn what that figure meant. From my understanding it means "Welcome to Hellish Climb"!!! According to my search online, 12% gradient is 12 meters elevation gained in the length of 100 meters distance. In other term it was about 7 degrees angle.

The climb is just unbearable thus I decided to push my bike that weighted 35 kg together with my panniers. Along the way, seen several sigh saying few kilometers climb of gradient 12%, 9%, 7%...etc but nothing about rolling down. Then saw a luxury coffee shop and decide to stop for a break but it was already noon time thus might as well get our lunch here. After lunch still climbing non-stop till 3-4 pm we finally see the top.

At the end of down hill slope we met an awesome Taiwanese guy at a convenient store. He did several expedition in Taiwan and one of it catch our attention, walking hundreds of kilometers. He then left us with his old faithful, aged Vespa that has a spare wheel hanging at the back, continue his own journey to the opposite direction. Of course he is not the only great explorer we met in Taiwan.

And again we reach our destination late and this time we are not so lucky to have rescue car. We were recommended to stay in Puli Guest House but not easy to find with both GPS with different mapset loaded. At last we have to rely on Google map.

What a day!!!

Need to fold and park so we do not trash the place we were blessed for. At least the bike still clean after just one day ride from Taoyuan to Taichung.

This fella was awake early to wait for us....lucky me not wake up in the dark or else...

We are taking our own sweet time to pack and didn't know we will be facing a big challenge today.

Rolling our to get our breakfast from nearby store.

Taking our breakfast before heading out...food wise not so bad but I can't take too much in the morning.

This is one extraordinary scene I saw while having my breakfast. The mother is using a stroller to bring her toddler out for breakfast and with the same stroller it was used as a scooter baby seat. I find it dangerous but I was told this is common practice. 

A group photo before we rolling....

Went into Taichung city center and found no POI to visit thus we just have short visit to the train station which is always the best landmark for photo shooting.

Wanted to find a POI to visit end up in one of the night market but we were there at the wrong time. 

Suspecting road ahead was the start of climbing thus take a break get enough supply before going up. 

This route looks like having a lot of recreation parks. From the map it also shows where to visit and some famous POI.

I guess Dark Knight was once here setup a temporary base to have his vacation. Lol

P/S: That is not the Batmobil, it was my BlackBeauty.

After this temple I am into the stage of suffering...should have pray here for easier way though.

I am completely exhausted and no more energy to go on....hot day plus crazy climb is not the right combination.

Found a retreat spot...just push on and decide later even though it look pricey kind of restaurant. 

Not happy with the timing and condition, got to find a better route avoiding more climb. Let's see if Google map can help us.

Wanted to show the background but turn out it was too bright. The balcony is a good place to sit to enjoy the scenery. 

Hoping this plate of rice would give me more energy to climb.

After lunch it was harder to climb and pushing is the only way I could do....

Many cyclist or motorcyclist stop and rest here so I thought this could be the top of the mountain. From the expression you know I regret taking this route.

Weeeeeeee........it was down hill~~~

At last the smile back my face when we start rolling down. The only expectation from a crazy climb was the adrenalin of down hill.

This what we waiting for....a sign showing down hill!!!

A great guy we met who has been travel around Taiwan by walking.

Looks like everyone who using route 136 will have their break here.

We have to use Google to find exact location. 

Finally found it and we planned to put up a night here. The owner was a Japanese who has been living in Taiwan for more than 15 years. He speak fluent Mandarin and perhaps some Mingnan as well. Thanks to Watanabe-san of Guest House Puli 埔里背包客之家 for the hospitality.

My supper....start with Latte then follow by milk tea and later twin tower

This room is good for 4 persons but we were lucky to have this room for the fees of 2 person.

Good night....and we end day 02 here.

The actual ride route on day 02 with elevation profile and speed graph against distance.

Ride detail from my Garmin Edge 800.