Day #4 - Sanxing to Xiulin

We left the prison bright and early to the laundromat to dry some of our gear. If you remember from the movie Jurassic Park II, nothing dries in the humidity. But today is a big day because we got three huge hills. 

We biked 81.83 km (50.84 miles) today! Check out the speeds I got on those downhills!

The three headed monster.

I can grind out hills all day, though. But carrying the bean makes it tough. The downhill is the best because then the bean pays me back dividends and I go so fast. The second hill I somehow made it down without crashing because my spokes were starting to get really loose and I was very wobbly. The rest of the day was spent dealing with spoke issues and finding someone to help us fix them. It sure has been nice having Measticks here to speak Mandarin to everyone (Holly speaks Cantonese). 

I remember an old poem about sleeping when the wind blows. The bean is good at that.

Love the Buddhist temples.

Far in the disance we saw these huge crayons. I wonder if this is where they're made. Check the box of your crayons and see if it says "Made in Taiwan". Then return and report.

That helmet we featured in a previous post was too big to bring for the bean so we got this fitted padded one for her to wear 24/7. Now I'm a real helicopter parent!

Grinding up the first hill.

Our reward after coming all the way back down before we have to go climb up another hill all over again. I asked Meatsticks, "Couldn't they have just built a bridge?" He chortled.

Hey look, monkeys. We saw one after this sign so they weren't lying.

The scenary is pretty neat on the eastern side of Taiwan. Such steep mountain sides.

And unlimited tunnels!!! Although some we're not allowed to ride in 😑

Reward after the second hill! This was a baked bun. So good.

It's neat to see the cut-out from the road far out in the vegetation but when you're looking up at it from below and realize there are more climbs, you get depressed.

We had this part of the highway all to ourselves. It was the best. Before this it was so crowded with huge semi-trucks that I struggled to stay on the road.

I like how here and Japan they do these half tunnels.

I was wondering if there were any movies filmed in Taiwan that you know of. I can't think of any. Why hasn't that market been tapped into yet?

Look at that neat valley with the huge drainage for when the flash floods come.

And our reward after the third hill. See you need rewards in life otherwise you'll be depressed.

We decided to make camp at this park but lots of kids showed up.

They asked us a bunch of questions using Google Translate.

Meatsticks says he's not an extrovert and I suppose I'll believe him this time.

Look how sweet she is. There's nothing you can do about it either.