Mike B

This could also be named: Every Type of Bad Weather in Taiwan in Six Days

We actually did it! Every county in Taiwan by motorcycle starting from Koahsiung to Kenting, across the mountains to the East coast up the the very most northern part and down the West coast going slightly East and back to the West to arrive back to Kaohsiung on the most thrilling experience of a lifetime.

Day 1: Koahsiung to Taitung.

The weather was wonderful. We went on the beach in sleeveless shirts getting red faces in the sun. We arrived in Taitung in the early afternoon, checked into the hotel and spent the rest of the day exploring.

Day 2: Taitung to Haulien

Leaving at 7am the weather was terrible. Gale force winds and constant rain made the journey a little uncomfortable, but we still took in the sights and made the best of it. We arrived in Hualien in the early afternoon and spent some time to look around.

Day 3: Hualien

We had previously decided to spend two nights in one place and Hualien was the choice. We walked from one end of the city to the other. We also took a walk around the outskirts along the originally named Hualien River.

The people of Hualien seemed to be quite friendly, but also a little shy around us.

Day 4: Hualien to Keelung

We had originally planned to spend the afternoon in Ilan, but the weather was again aweful, and the route is mainly mountain roads which wind around the sides of the mountains, one bend looking much like another, so we passed Ilan by and continued on to Keelung arriving in the early afternoon.

After checking into a hotel we set out to explore the city. It seemed to be one big market with stalls lining every street. The rain continued throughout the night, but by now we had grown quite used to it.

Day 5: Keelung to Taichung

We left at 7am and it was cold, wet and windy....during the day it worse to the point that I could not feel my fingers and visibility was very limited. We had to go through Taipei which was achieved quite smoothly and down to Hsinchu.

We had to make a choice.....continue to Taichung or give up and stay in Hsinchu......We decided to continue and we arrived in Taichung mid-afternoon.

The weather was still bad, but the rain had given up for a while.

After finding a hotel, we set out to explore the city. It was Chinese New Years Eve and pretty much everything was closed down. We wandered around this ghost town and found a friendly, but very local, tavern.

Day 6: Taiching to Kaohsiung

We set out at 9:30am and the weather got much better the further South we went. We took a slight detour to the East to take in Nantou County and then back to the West to head South. By Chaiyi we could take off our rain suits and continue the trip in warmer climates.

We arrived back in Kaohsiung at 4pm and I slept for 18 hours off and on until the next morning.

Even though the weather was against us and some of the roads were so dangerous, I would not have swapped this trip for anything....Thomas was there all the way...a real trouper...and we made the best of the journey taking in parts of Taiwan we had never been before....It reminded us both of how much we love this country, especially Koahsiung!

Our biggest achievement was traveling through every county in Taiwan! However, I would like to take the journey again in better weather and I would like to spend about 12 days on it next time so that we can stay in more cities.