LCSG Southern Taiwan day 4 11th Dec 2012

Ride account by Marcus Yeo  
Full Set of Photos here 

Checking tyre pressure (pump higher psi to roll faster haha)  before the ride

"Dun worry" very relaxed one.. safety briefing before move out by Encik George Lim

Rolling. This is Aunty Audrey Cheong. Power house on a Tikit

After a good rest, We set off in the early morning light. Our route is the scenic highway 11 （台11线） that links Taitung to Hualian. We headed east from Zhiben （知本） to hit the highway, then followed the coastal road northeast, passing by Taitung Forest Park （台东森林公园）, a small town called Dulan 都兰(!) and ended at Donghe （东河）. Encik choose to end there so that we can have the famous local buns （东河包子）for lunch!

Brompton and Dahon enjoying a ride together!

Very color coordinated LCSG team!

The puppy who liked us very much run at least 8km with us... 

Quiet road and pass by rice fields 

Blue skies and cooling weather. Best for cycling!

The total distance is around 60km, it is relatively flat compared to the previous day so not as siong. For the first 15km, we had tailwind for the first time this trip, everyone rode the wind and was in high spirit. When we hit the coast, we were again awed by the grand Pacific. We visited a really nice police post along the way, tried out Taiwan's version of Park Connectors, found the legendary Nat Geo icon which every Taiwanese cyclist would pose for pictures, enjoyed the serenity of Taitung's largest park, and tackled some gentle slopes near the end.

PCN along the sealine

Zipping along TaiTung PCN

The famous Nat Geo Window for LCSG photo opportunity

This lake is for Canoeing and is in their "PCN" zone

Nice Med style home Stay

We reached Donghe at around 1pm, just in time for lunch, then packed up and crossed the mountain range westward by minibuses into my favourite area of the trip - Huatung Valley （花东纵谷）. It was a flat piece of land nestled between two mountain ranges, littered with farms and villages. It reminds me of Shangri-La, and you have to be there to appreciate its full beauty. We put up at a very cosy B&B in the hot spring village Rui Shui（瑞穗）, had our dinner, raided the local Seven-11, enjoyed the hot spring, and ended the night anticipating the next day's epic ride through the valley.

The Famous Do Lan Guo xiao... the bag is almost big enough to fit a Brompton!

Drafting to "catch up" with Encik.. proved futile... Next time we try electric power assist.. I think got chance

Gummy bears to refuel up

Simple food but delicious! 

Siew Wan and Gary enjoying the Do lan pau after a good workout

Ying Chang, George and Desmond

Night time, we makan at a very local shop. It was nice!