Yes, we were involved in a high speed chase by the police today. Definitely not part of the plan, but it turned out to be the main highlight of our #7DayTaiwan adventure that will mark in our hearts for a long time.
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The view from the bathroom overlooking the deep blue ocean was nice too :) Perfect for a quiet morning dip in the bath tub while the boys were still snoozing away.
09:00 AM
See, this is why we always reach our destination for the day late hahaha because we never wake up on time.
Ok la actually it's not their fault because last night when I checked our route for today, the GPS says it'll take us just 4 hours to get to Alishan. So I told them we can afford to sleep in a little longer today, compared to waking up at 6:00am the past few days.
Well, apparently I was wrong hahaha but we only found out much later.. at the expense of us breaking the law.
Sitting at the Northern line of the Pacific Ocean facing the South China Sea, it was such a pity that we couldn't stay in Kenting longer to enjoy its beauty as much as we'd love to, because Alishan is calling out to us today!
That's the thing about having limited time to do the things we love, but at least we try our best to make it happen. The truth is, we all have our own personal and work commitments which we have to fulfil, but that won't stop us from pursuing our dreams in traveling the world, one ride at a time.
Because one day, you're gonna wake up and there won't be any more time left to do the things you've always wanted to, so make the best out of what you've got and DO IT NOW :)
Strapped on our bags, checked out of the hotel and off we go, bidding Kenting goodbye!
But not before getting ourselves some Taiwan McDonald's big breakfast to help us with the climb in altitude later! Hehe.
11:45 AM
Chop chopped with our breakfast and we're back on the roads.
Blue skies, wide open coastal roads under the warm sunshine, it's moments like this that makes me feel that I could ride on my motorcycle on and on forever.
When riding or driving in another country, we must never take it for granted that they share the same road rules as our home ground. Hence, I am aware that here in Taiwan, only big capacity Red-Plate motorcycles are allowed on Expressways, but not on the Highways.
With our location set accurately towards Alishan on my GPS, I plugged in my earphones with my favourite Spotify playlist getting all the right beats on, twisted that throttle and hopped right onto the Expressway.
For the past few days, we've been going at an average of a slow 50 - 70 KM/H through windy mountain roads and twisty corners in slippery road conditions. Now that we're on the expressways, my throttle hand couldn't resist but accelerate through.
I thought to myself, this is our chance to pick up our speed and clear some time on the road by traveling faster so we can reach Alishan earlier.
I was the one leading, and while occasionally releasing outbursts of acceleration to keep the momentum going (which helps prevent me from getting sleepy too), I'd constantly check my side mirrors to ensure the boys are keeping up well behind me.
After slightly over an hour, cruising at about 100 KM/H, I was happily bobbing my head to Bruno Mars' "That's What I Like" song.
Last check in my side mirror, the two boys were within a safe distance behind me.
Last check in my side mirror, the two boys were within a safe distance behind me.
Next check, Kyle was still behind me but David was not in sight, so I slowed down a little.
Next check, neither Kyle nor David were behind me.
Instead, it was a police car with his blinker lights and loud sirens on breathing down my pipe, as the police officer inside announced through his loud speaker, asking me to pull over immediately.
It was really like in the movies.
And in that moment. I thought to myself, "No shit, what's going on?", before calmly pulling over to the side.
Before I know it, we were in the warm company of two police cars, three police officers, a tow truck and his team.
The first thing the police officer asked in Mandarin was, "Can you guys speak Mandarin? Please remove your helmets, may we have your passports?"
David still can scratch head. Kyle was like offering my pink bag instead of his passport and still refusing to remove his helmet.
After a few seconds of lag time, we nodded our heads and obediently handed over our passports.
The police officer gave a look of relief seeing that we were able to communicate in Mandarin, as he proceeded to inform us that motorcycles are not allowed on this highway.
Looking puzzled, I showed him the route that we set on our GPS and explained that we were merely following the directions stated. Full of understanding, he politely shared that it is not uncommon for foreigners to get mixed up between the Highways and Expressways as they are not only linked, but they look similar too. Even the locals occasionally get it wrong.
But, a mistake is a mistake.
Hence, we were escorted off the highway, towards the nearest Police Station.
Things took a twist when we arrived at the Police Station, in ways we never expected..
1:30 PM
As the police officer was taking down our details, Kyle was like "Omg.. Don't need to go back Singapore already. Passports gone. Can stay in Taiwan forever, swee".
David's like "This is bad. I need my wife! MY WIFE!!"
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| My this pink Kate Spade bag damn power. Follow everywhere I go, on touring trips, to police station, LOL, and surviving. |
And I'm like, "all I need is my pink Kate Spade bag and everything's gonna be okay!" :)))
Seriously, where got people go rugged motorcycling touring trip bring some pink handbag one, right?
YA. ME LOR. Trying to take glamour everywhere I go hahaha.
On a serious note, the police officer handling our case was EXTREMELY hospitable.
In utmost honesty, he's the most gracious police officer I have encountered in my life (ok it's not like I'm always getting into trouble, but I've encountered/witnessed police officers where their face is like they hate their job or like I owe them money or they abuse their authority and don't treat people with basic human respect).
Right when we arrived at the Police Station, he had a smile on his face, telling us to take a seat, relax, even offered us some water, showed us to the bathroom to freshen up ourselves as he explained that he understands we must be tired traveling all day.
Now I've visited Taiwan a few times and have always known that their people are generally polite and helpful.
But in this instance, despite committing an honest offence, yet receiving such an extent of kind and gracious treatment from especially someone of government authority.. simply left us dumbfounded.
The police officer carefully explained to us which roads are motorcycle-friendly are which aren't.
To put it simply, Highways with the flower shape signage, only cars are allowed. Expressways with the red badge shape signage, only cars and A-Plate motorcycles are allowed, other motorcycles are not allowed.
Roads with this sign means all motorcycles are allowed.
After everything, he showed us the correct route to Alishan, avoiding all Highways, and even left us his number, telling us to give him a call for assistance or if we were unsure about anything at any point of time.
He wished us well before sending us off to the main road where we continued our way to Alishan.
This whole experience left us all a big impact, in a very positive way.
I deeply apologize for my route mistake, causing inconvenience to the other road users. I hope everyone planning for a motorcycle road trip could learn from my mistake and make sure to always take the correct route :)
But more so, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the police officer who exercised so much grace, showcasing the true spirit of the kind Taiwanese people.
"The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention"
Ascended up to over 2,000 metres in altitude as we found ourselves back in the mountains,
arriving into Alishan Township,
back into windy mountain corners!
Thankfully, despite our highway incident, we managed to arrive into Alishan National Scenic Area before the sun went down, as we witnessed a gorgeous sunset painting the skies in vibrant hues of peach and orange pastels, overlooking endless rolls of mountains.
Now, there's only a small handful of hotels that is within walking distance to the Forest Railway Alishan Train Station where we, along with everyone else, will take the train early next morning to catch the sunrise up at Zhu Shan Station.
It was getting dark and we were locating our hotel, heading on a one-way steep down-slope road. There were no other vehicles as we approached a sharp bend where I was just rolling down, enjoying the cool breeze and suddenly, I saw this pair of headlights coming right towards me.
My heart stopped. right. there.
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| PC: ubertopic |
It was a mini van, and we both braked as hard as we could to avoid the head on collision.
Kyle who was behind me happened to be taking a video of the ambience, so he conveniently swerved out of the potential accident while capturing that blurry close shave.
My heart was still pounding when both my bike and the van came to an emergency stop, just barely an inch away from a crash.
Without exchanging any conversation with the van driver, I just hurriedly turned my handlebar and carefully made my way out of his path, and headed towards our hotel.
Right after we parked our bikes and removed our helmets, everything split out:
"What the hell man! Did you see that?"
"Walao! Heng dao lao sai!"
"Almost head on leh wtfff!"
"Wa Vaune, if you hit ah then stay hospital, then we have one less person to fight the toilet with in the hotel tonight leh! Whahaha"
Funny how while my legs are still feeling jelly, we can still joke around in such situations eh? That's the beauty in finding humour in the most intense circumstances...
Hahaha. But ya, so blessed to have escaped that near-miss.. seriously....
07:45 PM
Gau Shan Ching Hotel
No. 43 Chung Cheng, Alishan Township, Chiayi, Taiwan 605
阿里山鄉中正村43號, 阿里山鄉, 嘉義縣, 台灣 605
4 Bedder with Private Bathroom
Cost per night: SGD $214
Unloaded our bags and checked into the hotel that we're gonna stay in for only a few hours because we're checking out really early tomorrow.
It's currently 9 degrees, and I think we've been through enough adventure for the day.
Time to treat ourselves to some mouth-watering steamboat to warm our tummies and talk about the eventful day that we had.
After satisfying our steamboat cravings, we headed back to the hotel to catch on the remaining 4 hours of sleep we have left as we've got to wake up at 3:00AM the next morning to catch the 4:30AM train to Zhu Shan for that spectacular sunrise which everyone's here for.
[Singapore. Taipei.Yilan.Hualien.Kenting.Alishan]
[Mileage Clocked: 875KM]
[Weather/Temperature: 9°C/Sunny]
Next stop: Tai Chung