Bloody Cyclists!

I've been having a large number of close calls / near accidents with bicycles over the past couple of months while riding my motorcycle. After riding accident-free on my motorcycle over the past 15 years in Taiwan, and always on the lookout for cyclists, it had me a bit puzzled. I hadn't changed how I was riding, so what was going on?

Well, there's just a heck of a lot more bikes on the road than ever before, and it's exposing a lot of the flaws in how the lanes and paths for bicycles in Kaohsiung have been designed. That, combined with the fact that bicycles aren't technically vehicles in Taiwan, and basically follow none of the rules for either vehicles or pedestrians; riding on the wrong side of the road, on pedestrian crossings and sidewalks are all common offenses. As a responsible cyclist, who always makes sure I'm riding in the right place and fashion 110% of the time, the behavior of other cyclists infuriates me at times.

The public bicycle rental system (C-bike) has been almost TOO successful and it's starting to cause problems. When I first saw them setting up C-bike rental stations around the city I was a bit sceptical about its chances for success, but it has certainly proved me wrong. The huge number of roads that now have sidewalk bike paths makes it seem like a safe way to get around a flat city. 

One of the many popular C-bike rental stalls near my house.

One of the main problems is people just don't walk or ride where they should. In the above photo you see the pedestrians using the bike lane and the cyclist across the street is forced to use the pedestrian crosswalk. As soon as the walkers get 2m away from the curb a scooter is going to make a right turn behind them and almost hit the cyclist because he is hidden from view behind the walkers, but going much faster than somebody on foot. The scooter rider never really had a chance to see it coming.

Do the walkers not see the blue lines on the road with a clear picure of a cyclist? Of course they do, but coudn't care less; even though their actions almost caused the serious injury of the boy on the bicycle.

Seconds later, a family waits to cross the road on the bike path.

This time, a car has stopped blocking their path, so they too are forced to ride across the pedestrian crossing between the 2 cars. Just as they were going through the gap, they were almost hit by a motorcycle approaching from their right, on the far side of the black car.

The motorcycle was racing to make an illegal right turn on the red light and didn't expect anyone on the pedestrian crossing to make it into the space so quickly - in spite of the fact that the other cyclists, with the yellow backpack, just went in front of him!

It's when turning right on my motorcycle that I've been having the same problem. Bikes are entering the roadway at a place that is normally for pedestrians, and often mixed in with them, but at the speed of bikes. Just bad design. In every case, I almost hit a cyclist who seemingly came out of nowhere onto the road in front of me.

A lot of the problems are explained very clearly in this brilliant article:
How not to get hit by cars

Also enjoyed reading this piece the other day about the history of cycling lanes in the Netherlands:

How the Dutch got their Cycling Infrastucture

So, how did they succeed? They hit the streets and protested and didn't give up.

     It took them a decade, before not only decision makers, but also the planners finally

     listened to the protests. Getting the people who take decisions and those who have

     to draw plans for the streets to adopt the new ideas: that is where the real change started.

Lotus Lake

Haven't been to Lotus Lake in quite a while, so thought I'd take spin around with my son this afternoon. We hooked-up with the bike path at Kaohsiung Arena on Boai rd. and headed along the backside of the Zoying Train Station.  It's currently receiving a new addition that looks like it will now be accessible from our side of the tracks - great.

It's a heck of a lot safer crossing Highway 17 with the new bike bridge than the last time I was out this way.

My son wasn't too keen on all the photography stops; he'd heard stories about dragons and tigers at this lake and wanted to get underway ASAP lest we miss them.











A number of surprises awaited at the lake today; the first of which was Water Skiing!
You just never know what's around the corner in Taiwan.

The trail around the lake is quite shady and is pretty busy at any time of day. Although there are clearly marked paths for walking and others for cycling, most of the walkers and runners use the cycling path because the surface is better. People were pretty good at getting out the way when they heard us coming though.

A new cafe across the street from the Dragon & Tiger Pagodas made for a nice break.
Their fresh roasted coffee was really good and the folks running it were very friendly.

We didn't stop long at the Pagodas, as our trail-a-bike was getting a little too much attention from the large groups of Chinese tourists unloading from their buses.

The lake had one last surprise for us though; a cable line system for learning how to water-ski.
My attempt to explain what they were doing was soon cut short by my son:
"I know what they're doing - it's just like Penguins of Madagascar!

Kaohsiung Worth a Visit

Down at Pier 2.

An article in the Taipei Times on Tuesday raised some questions about Kaohsiung as a tourist destination.

Kaohsiung's Appeal Questioned

From that article:
one netizen wrote:“[If I had] to recommend a place to visit in southern Taiwan, it would be Tainan or Kenting, because those cities have more special characteristics than Kaohsiung.”

So, is Kaohsiung worth visiting? 
Should a round-the-island bike trip just head inland at Tainan to Meinong and then south to Kenting and just skip KHH?  

Kaohsiung certainly doesn't have the historical attractions of Tainan, or the natural beauty of Kenting, but it's for sure worth a visit, if you can spare a day or two.  
Here's why:

1) Kaohsiung is a planned city, with wide streets that mostly follow a grid pattern. This makes KHH the easiest city in the country to navigate for a visitor. The 2 MRT lines that run North/South and East/West are easy to use. Plus, you can take any bike on the MRT, at any station, for as far as you want to go for only $60NT. No major city in Taiwan is as easy or safe to get around in by bicycle.

2) It has an excellent bike rental program that's very convenient and easy to use. Bikes can be returned at any of the many rental stations around the city.

3) As some people pointed out in the TT article: “I really like Kaohsiung, just because it is not so crowded, has a slower pace of life, while it does offer the convenience and prosperity of a big city.”
KHH is a relaxed city; nobody is in such a hurry that they can't stop and help out a visitor.  

4) There are a lot of attractions within an hour of the city, so KHH makes a very good base if you want to explore all of Southern Taiwan: Tainan, Meinong, Fo Guang Shan Monastery, etc. Plus, Kenting is only 2 hours south by bus or taxi.

5) It's pretty cheap for such a big city, with nice hotel rooms for around $1,200NT and lots of places to eat or drink that aren't expensive. Also, there are several places with live music such as Mercury Bar, featuring local bands performing original songs.

6) The airport and high-speed train stations are really close to the city making coming and going very convenient.

7) The weather in KHH is great; not too humid in the summer and not too cold or rainy in the winter. The winters in fact, are really good for cycling with mostly clear skies and temperatures around 20-24 degrees.


But, while Kaohsiung has lots going for it, there are also several things that make it unattractive. The biggest problem for most visitors is the lack of good information about the city in English. The tourist information center is next to impossible to find; located on the 12F of a building that isn't near anything. Most online information is pretty outdated and/or just wrong. So-called big draws for tourists like Liohe Night Market are terrible. As my Taiwanese friend put it: "That's just for Chinese tourists now!"

As the backpackers from Malaysia questioned:
What is happening to Kaohsiung? Why are there so few people on the streets?”

Well, everybody moved north to the Tsoying district over the past 10 years; including me. Yet, all the online information seems to be about the downtown. The downtown area is increasingly a ghost town, with more and more businesses closing. The Tsoying area on the other hand has plenty of new shops, restaurants and bars. The Reifong Night Market, just behind the new Kaohsiung Arena and Hanshin Dept. store, is the best one in the city and packed with people from Thursday to Sunday when it's open. There are great local and international restaurants and pubs here, but hardly any tourists.

A Kaohsiung landmark - the Pink House. Located right behind the KHH Arena in Tsoying.

There's no gondola rides, National Museum or panda bears, but Kaohsiung is still a great city to visit if you know where to go.

Cijin Island Lighthouse

My summer cycling hibernation officially ended today with a pleasant ride along the Love River and over to Cijin Island. The weather was nice and cool today, so hiked up to the Cihou lighthouse.

I really enjoy this spot in Kaohsiung - although the small group of Chinese tourists yelling at each other certainly detracted from the tranquility of today's visit.

The down side of cooler winter temperatures in Kaohsiung is the accompanying drop in air quality.
I'm pretty sure the photos I took of the harbour today won't be featured in any tourism brochures.

Slightly different from the same view at TravelTaiwanPage and at 360 degree cities.

Despite how tempting this rope looked to climb up to the old lookout tower, I decided against it.

No hiking spot in Taiwan would be complete of course without a makeshift jungle gym.

Tour of Issan

Not much time for doing any actual riding these days, but find myself staying up late planning future bicycle trips. My recent trip to Bangkok has me thinking about a tour in Thailand this winter :-)

My last bike tour in Thailand was back in February, 2009 -  I did a 9 day trip from Nakhon Rachasima (Khorat) to Ubon Ratchathani. Just brought my bike gear with me and rented a MTB from a scooter rental shop in Khorat. Really should have brought my saddle with me in hindsight, as the one on the bike was pretty poor.

I can't say the biking was great, with not a hill to be found and fairly endless miles of similar scenery, but I had a great time, so must've been doing something right.

Stopped for a while to enjoy a local soccer game.

Issan doesn't have a lot of attractions, but the Buddist temple in the town of Phimai is certainly one of them. Only about 60km North-East from Khorat, this temple is very similar to the main temple of Angkor Wat. I was lucky enough to visit on a day when a Thai photography club had brought some models in period costume along with them.

A pleasant ride south from Phimai is this charming little train station. I skipped out on a busy highway section by hopping on a local train for the remaining miles to Buriram.

The great thing about this part of Thailand is that nobody makes their living here from tourist $ - just regular Thais going about their daily business.

Summer camp activities are a little different in Thailand; blindfold the kids and have them walk on a rope bridge over water as you shake the rope with your foot and try to make them fall off. The kids were just screaming with pleasure of course.

Good training mind you for the work that may follow:

This lake in Ubon didn't have much shade for an afternoon ride, but fun in the evening when all the locals show up to sing and drink at the numerous roadside bars.

The hotel where I stayed in Ubon was great and a real bargain at $450Bht per night. To make foreign guests feel welcome they would display the flag for their country at the entrance; thus the Canadian flag they put up when I arrived. Gotta love Thailand.

I really hope I can do some more riding in Thailand this winter.

Taking a Break

Not much time for blogging or pedalling of note this summer since the arrival of my new daughter Sabina. The weather hasn't been helping much either; had to cancel the bike trip with my son out to the Rift Valley this week due to this latest typhoon.

Did manage a trip to Bangkok for a few days to do some buying for our second hand shop. Was very nice to spend some afternoons with nothing to do but read a good book.

Drinks to Beat the Heat

The monsoon season finally came to an end, only to be replaced with brutal heat.
Daily highs of over 34 degrees have me thinking about how best to keep hydrated.
Cyclists in the Philippines seem to have their own ideas about it:

A great shot I saw posted on PinoyMTBiker Community

Pre-ride:
I really like to start my morning before a ride with a homemade chai latte.
I make 4 litres the night before and let it chill in the fridge overnight.
Sri Lanka black tea + cardamom + nutmeg + cloves + cinammon + peppercorns + bay leaves + allspice + ginger. Pow! and I'm off.

Riding:
I usually carry 2 waterbottles: 1 with water and 1 with a sports drink (Fin).
I got a pair of Zefal isothermal water bottles many years ago and love them. I highly recommend them if you're planning on riding somewhere hot. You sacrifice a bit in volume (only 500ml each) but being able to sip some cool water in the hot sun is a life saver.

Post-ride:
Chocolate milk has served me well as a recovery drink for the past 30 years. The hotter the weather gets, the more it seems to help. It's the first thing I looked for at rest stops when touring in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.