Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Month: April 2011

  • Tongli – Water Town

    Tongli – Water Town

    Escaping Shanghai is always a challenge, but as I have highlighted in previous posts, the HSR service heading out to Nanjing is opening up the entire Yangtze corridor.

    This time with my manager, Paul, in tow, we headed out on Sunday to Suzhou station, and a cab to take us out to Tongli, a so-called ‘water town‘. While I supposed it would be similar to Zhouzhuang, which I visited last year, I enjoyed that trip enough to warrant another try.

    Claiming 1000 years of history, the town is criss-crossed with canals and viaducts. It does not claim to be the largest or most famous of the water towns, and as a result the level of tourism does not quite meet the levels of Zhouzhuang, at least when I visited. And while there are no doubt touristic areas, it’s striking how many people still live and work in the town; it naturally gives the place a different vibe. Unlike many places in China, there seemed to be an uncanny amount of cleaning going on; after a few minutes of shooting photographs, I realised that almost all my photos featured mops or brooms somewhere in the background. Sipping a beer by the banks of the river, we also amused ourselves as we watched old ladies sweep fallen leaves into the river, and then the men fishing them out again to be disposed of.

    First of a series of photos I call the 'Mop Project'
    As I have said before, I am a sucker for all graffiti in China and Asia.
    At first, I thought the piles of wood outside the shops might be for sale, but then I realised these were the shop shutters; rather more charming than electric roller shutters that will no doubt replace them some day.
    I call this 'Mops & Shutters'
    Afforementioned shutters, before a store opens.
    A very fancy blue bike.
    Waiting for the end of the day.
    Organisation
    Mops were hung, cantilevered, and propped up in all manner of ways.
    I really did take a lot of photos of shutters. I like that there are both Chinese and Roman numerals on these boards.
    Several times, groups of giggling local girls asked for our photos (convinced we were brothers); we naturally obliged, but not without taking some 'meta photos' first.
    Running back to Mamma.
    Roofs, augmentation, nice building materials.
    I couldn't resist this one. How kind to choose a completely non-matching piece of fabric to patch the hole.
    More mops; modern this time.
    Waiting for … something.
    Shoes stored neatly away.
    I rather liked this non-recycle sign.
    Restaurants lined the canals. Perhaps as a result of the cool, sunny weather, I was rather taken with this place.
    Back passage.
    Umbrellas provide shade in the summer.
    If I had been a bit quicker, I would have caught this policeman handling a plastic gun. Next time.
    The town was definitely a bit sleepy, but all the more pleasant for it. I wonder if their children, no doubt working in Shanghai now, will return here any day.
    Grumpy.
    This guy was terribly proud of his bird collection, and was delighted that I might take a photo of them.
    One more for the road.
    One of the local boats, plying their trade on the river.

    So that was it – a great escape from Shanghai!

    Getting To Tongli

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    Basically, take the HSR out to Suzhou (about 40 RMB, 24 minutes), run past the hawkers trying to sell trips to the sights in Suzhou, wait in the line for a taxi, take the 30 ish minute trip out to Tongli (about 90 – 100 RMB) and enjoy. We also did not have any problems getting back.

  • Tonghou Trail – Wulai to Yilan by Mountain Bike

    Tonghou Trail – Wulai to Yilan by Mountain Bike

    Fantastic views of the Pacific Ocean and Yilan Plain from the summit. On other days.

    It has long been a goal to ride from Wulai, in the mountains near Taipei, to Yilan on the coast. There have been rumours of such a trail, reporting varying levels of condition. The internet is making searching for this kind of thing much easier these days, and Mark contacted us last week to book the Tomb Sweeping holiday for a ride.

    Predictably perhaps, Taipei dished up a crappy morning of weather, and we ascended into the hills looking up at clouds, mist and light rain. Nothing we haven’t seen before.

    Despite another crash on the treacherously slippery road section (giving me pleasingly symmetrical wounds), cold weather, a broken water bladder and dodgy shifting performance it was pretty awesome to break through the summit and see the Yilan plain laid out in front of us. Almost as awesome as the pack of Jelly Belly Sports Beans (seriously, so delicious it is the reason I even do sport) and the descent down to the stream crossing where I almost tipped a photographer into the water as I clattered by.

    Conditions also made life pretty difficult; every single thing was covered in slippery moss; even my bike became a handful at times. In the summer, you would no doubt trade more confident trail conditions with high temperatures and humidity.

    Singletrack was great while it lasted …
    … sadly, everything was wet root, rock or mud. Treacherous.
    The bikes take a breather at the halfway point.
    Mark waits for the slow motion waterfall photography class to finish with their picture, before we ruin their serenity!
    Ready, aim … (the guy had to put up his umbrella to protect his camera when I went tumbling through)
    Me, just about in one piece
    Legs, sporting wounds from two days riding this weekend
    The bike – after a stream splash did most of the cleaning for me!

    Directions:

    Driving into Wulai, you need to drive into the town, and at the start of the old street, take a left up past the school. You then follow the road for a few kilometres, register at the police station, and drive another few kilometres to the next check point. If you want to go further, you need to register online, so we stopped there. It’s then about 12.5km of gentle climbing to the trail head.

    From the trailhead, it is about 6 or 7 km to the summit, of which the first 3 or 4 are rideable, and with the final section turning into more taxing hike-a-bike. We then kept heading downhill towards Jiaoxi, and stopped when we hit tarmac. The climb back up is a solid 20 minute slog. After negotiating the steps and climbing sections, the final few kilometres are lots of fun, with sweeping turns and frequent close proximity to pools and small waterfalls – great in the summer. We set out from Taipei at 7:00am, left the trailhead at 8:30, and we back at the car at about 2:30 pm.

    I think it would be possible to take the train to Jiaoxi or Yilan, do the complete climb, and ride all the way back to Taipei from there. A solid day in the saddle, but eminently doable!

    The route up to the trailhead is featured on this blog-post here.

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