Seeing Taiwan From a Bike

Champs Miaoli

2008-04-16T15:00:00.002+08:00

April 16

Champs Miaoli.

I woke up several times during the night with a sound I thought was heavy rain… but it wasn’t, it was the fan Erik had started… pyhh!! When I looked out of the window it was sunshine and no wind.. This was the beginning to an end of a fantastic tour around Taiwan. The 134 km we were driving from north of Taipei to Miaoli/Gongguan were very easy, sunshine, light wind in the back and very good roads. On our way here we meet a Journalist, who took some pictures and will write a story in the Miaoli Newspaper tomorrow.

We arrived at 12 in Gongguan and meeting Ingela and Rebecca on a scooter. It was good to see them again!!! The families here invited to eat at a local Hakka restaurant.. super duper, cause once again we were quite hungry!!!

From the Tour studio the reporter says that Y was attacking very hard in the beginning of the race, but because of the light wind in the back, he could not get away alone. The group stayed together and the final result of the winner jersey (yellow) is that everyone in the group wins the yellow jersey, for fight, friendship and fun. Beside the green jersey that Erik won (for best sprinter) Erik also wins the “Youth” jersey (White) for being a hope for the future (vauw I am getting old!! ;)

This is it!! What a Tour! Many good memories and stories to remember.
Some thing to mention about the tour:

zero punctures
no crashes(almost 2)
none damaged(could have been 1 (same person 2 times))
all bikes tired but in good shape… vauw!!!

I think we all gained in Weight, with all that wonderful Chinese food we have been eaten!! For all this!!!
Thank You Lord!! For blessing us so much!!
Thanks to our families for making this possible!!
Ingela, Emma, Markus, Amanda and Rebecca.
Heidi and their sons.
Mr Y’s wife and daughter.
Mr Shy’s wife and family.
My wife Aase and my daughter Nina and my son Kenneth.
Without their support and thoughts this was never meant to be more than a dream!!Thank you!! We LOVE you so much!!

One a of the days I will do a final update and I hope to bring a short video from the tour..
New Picture later today
/Tage

Cape North

2008-04-15T16:06:00.003+08:00

April 15

Cape North

This second last day has been one of the best. Excellent nature, sunshine, 28-30c very light wind. We went from Toucheng to Tanshui (approx 130 Km) with a longer stop at Yielo. Look at the picture and you will see some remarkable rocks… vauw.. We also passed the northern point of Taiwan but didn’t saw any icebergs or ice bears… (of cause not)..We stay tonight at a OM center (Anna and Scott) department and have 2 nice rooms on 4th floor. But before we will sleep, we have a trip to Taipei in front of us… Pictures tomorrow

From the tour studio: Y attacked very hard today and Erik has to close the gap several times. Y was also very close to an accident today… y the forgot to look forward at a time where the road went more narrow and was few meters from hitting a road fence… Erik shouted to Y who just smiled after this save.!! Thank God for protection once more… Y now got the yellow after excellent attacks (on everything) and in the end of the race, Charlie took over his bike only for braking the chain of Y's bike…. What power Charlie have left in his legs… what a FINALE we will have tomorrow.

Going for Taipei

Hot Spring

2008-04-14T17:38:00.001+08:00

April 14, 2008
back to normal, up early and first morning with toast and coffee before leaving… nice experience!!We took the car all together the first 30 Km of today’s trip(we did them yesterday) and biked the last 103 km to Toucheng. This was along the coast most of the time, with 408 m as highest point and 3 times we had to climb from 0 to 200-400 meters. The weather was fine, cloudy but no rain ( we had sunshine for 1 hour. In Toucheng we are again privileged to know Hwai Chin and Shau Ju and their connection to CPC oil and have some rooms on the top of a gas station in a harbor, where we have little balcony with a view over the harbor, sea and an Island
Now we are going to a spa bath (hot spring) and relax… that’s what we need, and tonight it’s going to be seafood.. vauw!! (the spa was great… massage to the whole body ;)
From the tour studio is 2 jerseys now placed, the green jersey (best sprinter) belongs to Erik. He sprinting capabilities is very good and the only way to over sprint him is by cheating. The sprint point was counted this way: When a road sign were in front of us 100-300m one could shout “Sign!” and then the first to pass the sign was the winner… Erik you are in green!! Coming first every time (except from one ;)
The Mountain jersey will I bring back to Denmark, where it belongs. Fuji (my bike) loves to bike up of hills and mountain and made it first over the 3 hilltops today.
The yellow jersey is on Charlie who makes everybody very happy with his smile and good humor!!
Y has one more a friend, this time in Taipei. This also gives me a chance to see ONE O One (Tallest building in the world…).. For this Y get the white Jersey… ;)Shy went cold today, but we expect him to be back tomorrow (hot springs today shakes his muscles back in shape ;)
Again, today it is Monday… my thoughts go to Klippen!!! And the team am working with there… have a good Monday in Klippen!!

Quick writing at McDo… sorry for many funny language and spelling

Jaiou

2008-04-13T19:14:00.001+08:00

April 13

Day of Rest at Taroko Gorge.

We woke up at 6 and had breakfast around 6:30.Hereafter we decided to go for a 30 KM ride to shorten the distance to Toucheng tomorrow. That trip went through more than 10 tunnels were road quality and wideness of tunnel made the passing dangerous. Therefore we had the car in front of us with the emergency indicator on. After driving 31 KM we were quite dirty because of the dusty rain and big trucks driving (and in this area the Taiwanese have a lot industry breaking stones/granite (don’t have the right word for “Stenbrud”).
On our way back we went to the beach (stone beach) and gathered some stones... My wife should have beeing here, cause this is one of her favorits and there were some many beautyful stones...

My good friend Leif has asked: What about the pain? Good question… I must say that no one complains at all… the only thing I can mention is that my personal “kopattesalve” (special skin lotion) is no longer personal ;). The biggest pain is that the trip is soon coming to and end… to illustrate… after driving 31 Km with the other 3, Erik and I went 40 Km up in Taroko Gorge and 1200m over the ocean and back again, so today’s “rest” biking ended at 111 KM… if we had pain, we wouldn’t do things like that.. Biking Taiwan is great, nice roads everywhere, and people yelling “Jaiou!” after you (Jaiou means “add fuel”) ..We have now 3 days left and have more than 800 KM behind!! Vauw

From the Tour studio is left to say: Erik and Tage shares the Mountain Jersey, bonus point for the ride today… The yellow jersey hangs to Charlie. Other jerseys are being washed…
Time for dinner

11 Apr

2008-04-12T14:44:00.001+08:00

April 11

We left Chris and his family at 5:20 after that clock again woke us up at 4:30.
The day started with a temperature around 23, its was cloudy, but wind.Everybody is still in good shape, even though all chairs seems so hard to sit on ;)
Erik has had some problems with his knee, but we hope that is getting better now.
We were biking from Taitung to Hualain, about 177 km, most of the time along the pacific coast line.. vauw… and a few hundred meters on the other side, green mountains… and flowers everywhere also in the threes… We also got two monkeys on the video as the jumped around in the trees 100 meters away.
Around 12 it started to rain (rain dust) and that gave the first felling of cycling without boiling over. For me it was good to have the temperature below 25… and water dust in the air… almost like back home.It “rained” for one hour and then it warmed up a little… 22 c at 19:30.
We got a nice place to stay for the night… Thanks again to Hwai Chin and Shau Ju…
This evening we got some Chinese specialties, a soup called Hun Drun and then some Oysters in egg with vegetables… and then Erik and I had a starbucks coffee and some junk food!! Need a lot of calories… my bike computer say I should eat 3800 calories to be ready for tomorrow –very nice and understanding computer ;)While eating the junk food we meet John, Polly and Polly’s cousin (I hope I am right). John has biked Taiwan around 3 times!! And with his family across 9 states in the US (3000 KM) … what a bikerfamily!!
One of the pictures you see from today shows man and wife in “black” also taking the tour around. They found a very nice slogan for their trip – “Eye Taiwan”… Eye means “love” in Chinese… after seeing Taiwan from bike for 5 days now, it easy to love the nature here.
From the tour studio…. Oh... they fall asleep… But Shy must be in yellow after driving all day..

Well ready for my bed now… tomorrow we will bike around 30 km to Taroko Gorge.. and sleep longer … vauw like having holyday! ;)

2008-04-10T21:57:00.001+08:00

April 10
It is storming outside. The Pacific Ocean is 100 meter from the place I sit,and the ocean shows its teeth... so did we today!Today’s ride went from 30 km outside Kenting to Taitung. The watch kicked us out of bed 4 o’clock and at 5:20 we started.The sky was blue and almost no wind. We had the finest sun rise over the Pacific,vauw!! The route today has been the hardest and the most beautiful until now. We were driving 142 km up and downhill (1161 high meters / 481 meters was the highest point)and the last 25 km we had strong wind against us, I guess between 15 and 20 sec/meterToday we also saw rain for the first time, but as it began to rain, we found shelter just in time…Now, after todays race, a shower, and a cup of coffee we will rest before going out for some seafood.Chinese food is great... so many fresh and spicy/crunchy vegetables For the night we stay at Sherilyn and Chris Gant. They have 3 boys.Jothan told me ( he is 8 years old) about their dogs Doggy and Shadow. Doggy broke its leg at a car accident, so it have one leg in cast… Jothan got two brothers Raymand and Bryan. Their house is only about 100 meters from the sea... vauw!

From the Tour studio is left to say: Charlie has after breaking wind and waves taken the yellow jersey.Y got the mountain jersey, Shy most attacking , Erik was best helping rider today…And me... hmmm... the white Jersey (they all saying I am looking so young ;)
The green jersey is out of order... no one like to sprint here!!

Lidt på dansk:Vi har nu 3 gange spist ude under kanon forhold, fordi Y kender nogen alle steder. Også idag ringende han, mens vi spiste til nogle venner fra tiden på Politiskolen.. og de kom 3 stykker, var meget hyggelige.. og mindsandten, betalte regningen, selvom de kun lige havde nippet lidt til den lækre mad.. gæstfrie og imødekomne, det er Taiwanesere..

9 April

2008-04-09T13:15:00.003+08:00

April 9

Today it is Erik's birthday!Gratulations to Erik!!!!
Jahuuuuuu!!! (cake, candlelight, cream, ice, sugar, sugar, sugar sugar!!!)

Today started 5:20 from Kaohsoiung. It was a beautyful morning again.
We drove in very flat terrain and the route ended in Kenting.
Again 33c and blue sky and when we came to the sea, light wind meet us(that was needed)
Later today we will take additionally 30 km to make the route tomorrow a litle shorter.There could be some hills ahead ;)

The Yellow jersy still sits on Erik (because of his birthday and because he came first into Kenting - after Tage, but he was driving the car ;)

The trip we took in the afternoon were 32 km, which combined gives 149 km for today..
Shy did a great race and took the dotted mountain jercy. Charlie is now in front on points and get the green jercy.. Y is most attacking rider today!!
What a race!! I saw most of it from the car ;)

Well Party time now!!
See you tomorrow!!

8 April

2008-04-08T21:56:00.003+08:00

8 April.

again a wonderfull morning.. we left Chiayi 5:30 and arrived in Kaohsoiung around 13.
The weather again exstreemly hot .. 35c.
135 km was the route today... everyboddy happy, and the Yellow yersy goes to Erik
who fighted with some pain in his knee.. I forgot to tell that Charlie had the yellow jersy yesterday for breaking the soundwall serval times (jokeing) but also for fighting like a real Hakka with pain in his legs..

We had some fresh pineables on the way here, delicious!!!

Today we were received by Herbie and Rahel and their family.. They are misionaries in this area.. they come from switzerland. Sending out 1000 of Bibles for their own money, to spred the gospel here.. good job!! They had prepared a warm welcome meal with lots of spagetti.. vauw.. just what we needed.

And again tonight Y invited us out.. fantatic dinner..

I have uploaded some new pictures

The tour is started

2008-04-07T21:27:00.002+08:00

April 7
the day started 5:30 with takeoff from Ingela and Eriks house in Miaoli.The sky was blue and the temperature around 23 c.. what a morning!!
To be very short, we biked 164 km from Miaoli to Chiayi.. at midday the sun was burning and the temperature were again approx. 32-33 c.We rested at that time on a highschool and the student looked at us as if we were falling down from another planet.. when we left they said to us "Nice to meet you".. Well they saw us eat, sleep and chainging cloth.. so very friendly attitude!!
Serveral time we were meet by a smell that could kill!!farms of duck and pig spread an awfull speciel interesting aroma.. puhaaaa (danish for something ekstreemly undelisious!!)
At 17 we arrived at CPC Oil company, and thanks to Hwai Chin and Shau Ju.. for giving us such a nice place to overnight!!
At 18 (after a bath and washing the cloth) Y's wife sister and husbond invited us to dinner.. 12 menu's..vauw!!! And this came as a supprise... these 12 menus were high quality chinese specialities.. and after tasting most of it, even Charlie came to a point where the bally coungoured the eyes
Well all for now.. we are very tired and need rest.. last night most of us didnt sleep because of the warm and humidity.. actually when I took out my cloth here in Chiayi all my cloth needed to be dryied...
Monday monday.. greetings to the mondayteam in Klippen!!
good night.. tomorrow waits 100-110 km ... Jahuuu!!! ;)
Looking forward!

Last day of rest

2008-04-06T17:02:00.004+08:00

Sunday april 6

The last day before leaving... we are resting!!
The tour around Taiwan is expected to be done in 10 days,
with 1 day resting.. nothing compared to what the
preacher said today in the church.. running Saharah in 111 days
with only two baths.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Lin
Well thank You Lord for this litle trail we will meet the next 10 days...
(always good to be positive)

Today its 32'c warm and with a very high humidity. The floor here
is weat!! sitting on a pillow on the chair..
well I thought one of the kids were making fun with me,
but no, the pillow is weat. This happens 3-4 days every spring when the warm come.

We were in Touffen this morning attending the service. Thanks to everybody..
and to Eva and Greg who are not only listeners of the word.. but real doers of the word.
Thanks for your preaching Greg... living in the trail of your life (cancer) but
keeping up the faith and the courage while spreading hope and joy...
Louis - I gave them a greeding from you ;)

From now on I dont know when it will be possible to update
the blog. Tomorrow we are leaving around 6 in the morning and
driving from Miaoli to Chiay (150-160 km)..

We expect to drive approx. 1200 km before we are home here with the family Christiansen in Miaoli.

Before we start

2008-04-05T22:31:00.002+08:00

Hello mom... and sorry for my poor english written language...

friday we have had good weather.. seeing 65 km of Taiwan from a bike.. just
to see that my new bike was ready. And it was..

Then friday evening to a great party, where small church groups(cell group) from around
Miaoli got together to celebrate that Andy had passed his headmaster exam for being a principle and also to eat many different dishes,
from soup, vetagebles, pizza and many other chinese specialities that I dont the name of.

saturday even better weather.. between 25 and 30 c' but with high
humidity (puhaaa) ..
We started (Erik, Charlie, Sja Dju and I) with a morning bike trip from 6 to 8.. very nice area
with a lake and beautyful views (if it havent been for the fog)
.. at midday Charlie invited us to a new started restaurent
where one of his friends (James) had started a "japanise" style restaurent.
The food there was like a touch of heaven.. and the stomage once more were the
bottleneck for not eating up!!

Later today, while Ingela did some bread baking, we did some bike repair on Eriks bike
and after that we had a meeting with the ridders joining the SeeingTawainFromABike ride.
It was at Mr. Y's place who have a very nice familiy serving us very tasty fruit, the, cakes,
and a wonderfull chinese atmophere... well I hoped that I could learn chinese from just listening.. but that's not possible for me...

Then back to Ingela and again .. eating home made bread with eggs .. I know that all this eating is right!! Next week we will need all of it in return to bike around ;)

Saturday evening we saw the movie "Bee" with the kids here.. and I must admit that my head fall down a few times -
not because of the movie, but again a long day, fresh air.. I am tired now..

good night!

ankommet

2008-04-04T10:55:00.002+08:00

Efter en god lang rejse ankom jeg til Taipei torsdag aften kl 22:30.Her blev jeg mødt af Ingela og Erik.. de stod nu godt og kikkede efter en person i med cykelbukser på :) men fandt mig da i blandt mængden af kinesere..
Turen gik herefter til Gongguan med bil. De 70 km tog lidt længere tid,da mange folk var på vej ud på landet til de landbyer hvor de er opvokset ellerhar familie. Årsagen til dette er "Tomb Sweeping day".. en buditisk ting hvor man en gang om året ser til forfædrenes gravpladser. I dag fredag er det så tomb sweeping day.. Erik siger de også fyrer en masse "kinesere" af ;)
Efter ankomst blev der serveret friske jordbær med is .. det var jo næsten som at få et godnatkys hjemmefra ...
I kassen havde Amanda gemt en masse guf under min dyne..og her til morgen, efter pandekager med sirup siger Erik så.."Nå Amanda, skal vi så gå op på 2 salg og vise Tage det han har ventet på at se så længe.. hvortil Amanda siger: skal han op og se min Barbie!!!.. hehedet var nu min nye cykel .. FUJI (overdådig hjælp) som vente på at se sin rytter... og det var kærlighed ved første blik !!!!
Ellers er morgenen gået med at se de små hamster.. og bare nyde det og slappe af!!
En stor hilsen til dig min viv Aase.. tak for at du er den du er !!!

Før vi starter

2008-03-30T00:04:00.006+08:00

Så er bloggen igang!
2 april går turen til Taiwan, med afgang fra København 22:50.
Sent torsdag aften lander jeg i Taipei og regner med at blive hentet, nok ikke på cykel ;)

Det skal blive rigtigt dejligt at se Ingela og Erik, Emma, Markus, Amanda og Rebecca igen!! Og også at gense de Hakka Kinesiske venner Heidi og Charlie, Huew Ching og Sjau Djau, Susan m.fl.

Turens største event bliver jo nok turen rundt på Taiwan "Seeing Taiwan from a Bike" hvor vi er 5 gutter som cykler øen rundt. Undervejs må vi skiftes til at kører vores forsyningsbil, hvori også alt vores baggage er- Turen rundt er ikke i forbindelse med noget officielt løb, men er blevet til fordi Ingela og Erik (missionærer) vender hjem til Danmark til sommer og dermed er det ved at være sidste udkald for noget så "skørt" som "Seeing Taiwan from a bike!" ..

Cykelturens 5 profiler er: (der kommer billeder senere)
Erik Christiansen - missionær på Taiwan i mere end 7 år og er af uddannelse elektroinstallatør. Han er tourens igangsætter og uden tvivl feltets stjerne!
Eriks store styrke: Hurtig ned af bakke!!

Som hjælperyttere følger:

Charlie - hakkakineser, har egen virksomhed med salg af udstyr til køkkenet m.m.
Charlie er i begyndelsen af 40 erne.
Charlies store styrke: Meget musikalsk tråd!

Hr Y. (Y på Kinesisk betyder fisk) - også hakkakineser og uden tvivl feltets seje mand - hvis vi møder regnen. Hr Y er i begyndelsen af 50'erne og tidligere politimand.
Hr Y's store styrke: ubeskrevet

Hr. Shy. - også hakkakineser, sidst i 40'erne. Holdets ubeskrevede blad, men en fremtidens mand uden tvivl.
Hr. Shy's store styrke: ubeskrevet

Sidst og ikke mindst - Tage (mig), stadig nærmere 30 end 60 år, på feltets ubestridte flotteste cykel som er døbt "meget meget stor hjælp" eller "overdådig hjælp". Denne hjælp bliver der uden tvivl, ganske meget brug for!
Tage's store styrke: mest holde ferie ellers tandem med fodhviler

Styrke og svaghed vil blive beskrevet mere i detailjer under touren.

Hvis det lykkedes at komme på nettet under touren, ville denne side blive opdateret med ny information (tekst og billeder)!! - som en god ven og unavngiven kilde har sagt det:

Men det KAN blive besværligt for dig at opdatere den løbende tror jeg... jeg mener cyklende ;-)