Tag Mountain roads
The thing about Taiwan’s countryside is, like Forrest Gump said, like a box of chocolate, you never know what you’re gonna get. Last weekend we went up in the mountains outside Hsinchu without any real plan. As we were driving along a small, rather remote road we rounded a corner and came upon a bunch of large, colorful paintings on the concrete wall next to the road. This was utterly unexpected. This was deep enough into the mountains that you’d expect to see little more than vegetation and waterfalls, yet here was some extremely colorful art. This of course fit … Read the rest
In my last post I wrote about going swimming at Long Dong. I mentioned that people also go there for climbing, and since I like climbing I’ve been thinking of going back there for a while. This month, the authorities have decided that Renegade Wife can’t leave the city, that is she has to go to work on Saturday. Not wanting to stayed cooped up at home every weekend, I decided to go by myself.
I took off right after work on Friday afternoon, steering my trusty motorbike towards the north-east. The road out to the coast is pretty mountainous … Read the rest
The rain is truly torrential now, large drops falling at a rapid pace. The road we’re on has turned into a veritable river; dead leaves and other debris from the surrounding jungle have been washed out onto the road and gotten caught on the edges of the many cracks in the asphalt, forming little islands here and there. The road is steep enough for a current to form, it keeps splitting and reconnecting as it flows around the little islands, even building up swells as it passes around some of the bigger ones. Separate streams flow down the ditches on … Read the rest
A while ago my colleague mentioned that he would go to Long Dong over the weekend. His description of the place made me interested, and this weekend me and the wife finally had time to go.
For the sake of added adventure I decided we should go by motorbike and while there are fairly fast routes, they largely go through urban areas which is not much fun. So after a bit of playing around in Google maps, i deviced a route that would take us through the mountains out to the north east coast. Here is roughly the route I … Read the rest
A couple of Taiwan’s major country roads (road number marked by a blue shield) go through the mountains. Last year, Renegade Wife and I rode across the island on one of them, number 14 – often referred to as the Central Cross-Island Highway – and despite some rather miserable weather, it was a fun little adventure. There are a few more that look very tempting to a motorcyclist studying a map of the country and as it happens, they are connected in a big loop. With Tomb Sweeping day extending the weekend to four days, and the weather finally becoming … Read the rest
The road follows a mountain ridge, not far from the top, dipping and curving with the contours of the mountains. We are just past the peak, descending into the valley. Though the slope is gentle, it’s enough to keep us rolling, and despite the thin air, I no longer need to fight to keep the bike moving. As the road straightens out a bit, I dare cast a glance to the left and the whole landscape opens up. Beyond the barrier at the edge of the road, the mountain side slopes steeply downwards to the valley below, then rises skywards … Read the rest
It’s like I’m not in Laos anymore, the mountains are still green but they are covered in grass rather than jungle. Here and there dark grey, almost black cliffs shoot up, bare rock against the blue sky. The lower slopes are covered in a kind of tall grass with white plumes at the top that makes it look like some giant has shaken out an old feather pillow over the hills.… Read the rest
I’ve been doing a lot of riding the last few days and I didn’t really want to spend yet another day on the bike but I had to reach my next goal, Phonsavan. The road was better than the one from the border but still not up to Vietnamese standards; it shows that Laos is a much less developed country.
Well, I’m kind of getting tired of riding and, strangely enough, bored with the scenery, even if it is very beautiful. I guess I just want a bit more variation. Because of this, and the incessant drizzle, I didn’t take … Read the rest
When I woke up this morning it was raining heavily. I waited until it had settled down a bit then got on the bike and headed to my next goal, Hue city.
I’m sure I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, this is a really gorgeous country to ride through. Sure, sometimes you will be on the noisy and crowded expressway racking up the miles, but as soon as you get into the countryside, the landscape becomes really photogenic. So, despite the rain, I stopped a few times to take pictures
Leaving Danang 
Flooded road that I had to
I have entered the mist, it swirls around me almost completely blocking my view. Though I can hardly see them, I know that to my right is the cliff edge and to my left a wall of rock rising sharply upwards; ahead of me I can just make out a few meters of the road and that’s it. I lean forward and peer into the milky whiteness, hoping I can spot oncoming obstacles in time….… Read the rest