Day #11 - Meishan to Taichung

I think I went up one of the steepest hills ever today. Of course, that's a lie. Anytime anyone says something extreme like that just wave them off and click the ignore button. But we did have to push and push our bikes up the hill. We continued our plan of going more inland to avoid the big city and we were rewarded when we got to the top of this plateau of nice small towns, crops, and great scenary. Especially coming downhill. I've been listening to the book Scars and Stripes so I have all the war stories cemented with this geographic location. One of the things I like most about audiobooks is that when I revisit either the book or the place I was reading it, I get memories of both. Good thing I'm a Geography major. 

Now we're sleeping at a Warmshowers host that built his own rich house with his bare hands and feet and also with the help of his family and friends' bare hands and feet. They fed us hot pot tonight*. Delicioussssssssss. 

*Note: they didn't cook it with their bare hands and feet that we know of.

We biked 99.75 km (61.78 miles) today!

Love the decadence of the Buddhist temples.

Morning breaks at 7-Eleven for dumps and breakfast!

I like to tell Holly, "It's a great [insert season] day today!" Right now, since we're so close to the equator it's already spring. Top that winter haters.

I've been griping a lot about riding through the city lately but I do enjoy the unique buildings. They give good character and soul. Something that Minimalists do not have.

These are tea plants. Or as I like to call them Sin Plants.

We're getting ready to descend on Taichung - Taiwan's second largest city. This is one side of it looking west.

Afternoon breaks!

We found this mystical park full of dead pine trees that had nice wooden structures, benches, and swings to rest on. Wanted to camp here. There was even a THICC lady that sold pizza. Meatsticks said if Taiwan got invaded by China while we were here and we had to remain indefinitely in the country that he would go back here and make her his bride. I was crossing my fingers and praying to the gods all night while making sacrifices that it would come true. Then I'd have free pizza for life!!!!

Now we're about to ride down into Taichung! This was a fun downhill facing north.

Here we go!

I guess we'll call it a love/hate relationship that I have with the city. Maybe I'm just worn out when the evening comes and we're riding up into it that makes me irritated. Like how parents hate their kids when 8PM rolls around.

This used to be an old railroad that fed into the military base. I was speeding along here because the bean was getting anxious.

Hey look, our Warmshowers host has a bean too! Now they're friends.

Holly noticed Lily Rose being cheeky with this one. Wait till she meets her cousin, Elephant Bum. I'm going to need to keep her extra close to me to prevent any potential future emotional damage that could arise. 

I love our bean. 💟

How are you going to change your future by doing something small today? Probably by just ignoring this meme as soon as you're done reading, huh??