Time really flies.. or is it us taking this trip way too quickly? Feels just like yesterday we were busy munching on street food in Taipei Shilin Night Market and today, we will be back in the hustle of Taiwan's main city!
Located approximately 200KM from Tai Chung, we'll be taking the expressway back to Taipei which should take us slightly under 5 hours (if we don't get lost haha).
Today's ride was gonna be easy and pretty straightforward, so we allowed ourselves to sleep in a little later and checked out of the hotel at 12:00 noon before hitting the roads once again, for the last time here in this trip! Because once we get to Taipei, we'll be returning the bikes and it'll mark the end of our two wheel adventure here in Taiwan!
1:00 PM
Cloudy weather and open freeways, woot! Feels great to blast that throttle on the straights.
There wasn't much scenery to see because apart from the cloudy weather and fog coming in as we approached Taipei, the route that we're on were mostly industrial areas. Not much traffic too so the ride was a breeze.
6:40 PM
By the time we arrived into Taipei city, it was raining and the roads were filled with lotsa puddles. From the expressways where there was almost no one in sight, to a city congested with cars and multiple swarm of bikes going every which way, it was actually pretty intimidating riding in Taipei.
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| Self Car / Bike Wash Station |
Having ridden the bikes we borrowed through all sorts of weather, from the sea to the mountains, splashing through some dirty muddy puddles, the least we could do was give it a good wash before returning it to the shop.
It was pretty late, and most of the car / bike wash places were closed. But a quick Google search on Self Service Car Wash Stations nearby got us just what we needed.
After two attempts in search for the station, we found it located in a pretty ulu (deserted) place, like some abandoned garage area.
Automated by a coin system, you can choose the water and soap pressure accordingly.
Once you pop a coin into the machine, the powerful water jet is ready for spraying. Each time a 10NT is inserted in, the amount of water is sufficient to rinse 3 moderately dirty bikes.
Next coin for the soap. Once you insert the coin, the machine starts running, and you've gotta quickly spray it onto the bikes because you can't control when you want the soap to start or stop. It just sprays until the limit is reached.
Since I was the only one doing the wash, you'd know how clean the bikes would be, right? Hahaha.
After the soaping, I gave the bikes two rounds of rinse with the water jet and viola!
Bikes are reasonably cleaned and we're good to go! :)
It was still peak hour when we got back on the roads and it wasn't that easy locating the shop where our bikes are to be returned to. It wasn't because the shop's address was difficult to find, but damn, it was still raining, my tinted visor did not help on the dimly lit roads, and there's a million and one scooter around us wheezing in and out in all directions. Apart from us being extremely careful, I thought it was pretty amazing that all three of us managed to stick together throughout :)
And here we are! Back at where we first collected our bikes, bidding them goodbye. Definitely a huge sense of relief to be back safe and soundly, as I recall every single memorable moment that we had, touring around the entire Taiwan in the past 5 days, on two wheels.
Felt extremely thankful that all of us, and the bikes, are safe, really.. because safety is always always a priority and I never take it for granted, each time I hop on a bike.
Many thanks to Jason and the bike shop for arranging the bikes for us! Truly appreciate it.
Lio Hotel Ximen
康定路25巷36弄4號, 西門町, 台北市, 台灣 108
No.4, Alley 36, Lane 25, Kangding Road, Ximending, Taipei, Taiwan 108
Twin Bed / Double Bed with Private Bathroom
Cost per night: $62
This small boutique hotel is cosy and clean, just what we need for a night's rest. But most importantly, the location is really convenient as it was right in the middle of Ximending (5 mins walk to Ximending Station) where all the shopping and food are!
We need everything to be within walking distance because we don't have our bikes anymore hahaha. Ok yes, there's the train lah.
Dumped our bags and it's time to squeeze out whatever energy we have left to raid Ximending! Hahaha.
Shop,
Eat,
and eat some more,
Drink, and repeat!! Yeahhh!
Ah.. what a day! I'm BEAT! Completely exhausted all my energy for the day, even my reserve is empty. Haha time to take a long hot shower and snooze away.
Tomorrow's the last day of our trip and I ain't bidding Taiwan goodbye until I meet up with Taipei's hottest biker chicks! ;)
[Singapore. Taipei.Yilan.Hualien.Kenting.Alishan.TaiChung.Taipei]
[Mileage Clocked: 1,289KM]
[Weather/Temperature: 15°C/Cloudy/Showers]
Next stop: Singapore