Hitchhiking Around Taiwan: Day 4

We are back home in Taipei! No hot air balloon ride because the tickets we're sold out, but it was a fun time nonetheless. So much driving.

My alarm clock went off at 4:15 am for the Taitung Hot Air Balloon Festival, which is about 30 minutes north of Taitung. The mountain setting with the hot air balloons filling up and taking flight was beautiful. We wanted to take a (disappointingly) tethered ride, but tickets had already sold out.

Alf and I headed back to the hostel to get an much needed, extra two hours of sleep before trying to catch our next ride. I woke up still feeling a bit out of it, so tired that I maybe could have forgotten or misplaced things at the hostel.

We walked down from the hostel a couple KM to the freeway entrance, where we were picked up by a group of Jehovas Witness guys coming back from church. They had 4 guys in the car already, but we were able to squeeze and only traveled with them for about 30 KM and dropped us off at a nice restaurant for lunch. On the drive, we politely declined an info pamphlet and had a nice conversation about our lives in Taiwan. They let us off in a small town next to a restaurant. When we entered, the place surprisingly looked like it could have belonged along the California coast, especially in Big Sur with the classic, yet modern beach feel. I had never had swordfish before, so we had an order of that, and it did not disappoint. I'd recommend it.

Big Sur, CA or Taitung, Taiwan?

We exited, and got out our sign that said "Bei Shang," and once again waited about 10 minutes before a fresh BMW flip around after they passed us, and asked us where we're going. As usual, we said "Anywhere north." "We're going to Hualien, is that okay?" "Yeah, sure." "Ok, let's go." So off we were to Hualien, about 2.5 hours north of Taitung, still three hours from Taipei. We met Emily, Sunny, and another guy who's name I forgot. They were so friendly, and were at the air balloon festival early in the morning as well. They invited us to come to "ice" with them when we arrived in Hualien. Alf said, "that's such a Taiwanese thing to say" (stop for ice on a road trip). It's what we would call shaved ice, but unique flavors like purple yam (taro) and red bean, not necessarily really sweet or fruity like we're used to. Alf mentioned in Australia, it'd be "stopping for meat pies." I could only think of stopping for In n Out on road trips, our traditional American snack.

They dropped us off near a beach, and we went out there for a few minutes before deciding it would probably be best to get on the road. A single guy picked us up and took us to the entrance of the highway to Taipei, where we waited for closer to 15 minutes. Since it was around 6:15, we had another 15 minutes before sunset, thus having to take the train to Taipei. Tim and Bob came in and saved the day. They were cyclists coming back from further south, after Bob was cycling across Taiwan and Tim was the support vehicle. So we talked about our cycling adventures, and hopeful future rides. A mutual one is cycling Route 66, which I was funnily enough just talking my friend Dave about the other day! It's Tim's "ultimate dream." So cool to hear him so excited about exploring the USA. 

We parted ways at the MRT station, and the trek was complete. Alf and I had done it. In three days, we hitchhiked all the way around Taiwan!!!

I got all the way to my apartment, and pulled out my keys to unlock my door only to find the key from Hostel Who Knows in my pocket...I had dropped off the wrong key as I was leaving...How could that have happened? I called up my landlord first to let me in (luckily he let me in) and then the hostel to see if they could mail my keys back to me. Of course, the owner said, "No problem, we'll exchange addresses and keys." It's an appropriate end to the journey with the helpful and easy going nature of Taiwanese people.

Thank you to all the people who picked us up for your trust, helpfulness, and enthusiasm. You guys quite literally made our trip. Thanks to Alf for being a great travel companion and having such solid Chinese.

Hitchhiking Around Taiwan: Day 3

We are in Taitung at Hostel Who Knows - that's the actual name, not just some random hostel mind you! Alphabet recommends it. We were picked up by two people today to go three hours to Taitung, in the southeast part of Taiwan. We've hitch hiked 75% of Taiwan!!

We woke up for a morning swim and then went out to McDonalds, or "the place that represents all that is wrong with the world" remarks Alf as he eats his fruit from 7-11, for breakfast...or not - it was 10:40 am...

After lunch, we made another sign that said "Bei Shang" meaning "going North." We had the sign and our thumbs visible for minutes and we were off with a wonderful couple from Taipei in their Mercedes. So needless to say, it was a comfortable 45 minute ride. They were fun and engaging asking us about our lives in Taipei and our travels. They ended up dropping us off at the entrance to the highway leading to the east coast of Taiwan.

While at 7-11 getting some snacks for the ride to the other side of the island, we met Harry, "as in Harry Potter," from Hong Kong. Harry is no joke walking around Taiwan...

We walked with him for about 30 minutes before hitching a ride with an artist named Frank. Of course, we told him his nickname is now Frank the Tank. He more or less lives in his van and hangs out around Taiwan. The good life, you know. His van has no back seats, so I just sat on his tent for a few hours heading to Taitung. Going from a Mercedes to a tent for a seat was quite the change. No big deal. The east coast of Taiwan is absolutely stunning and made up for the lack of an actual seat. It reminds me a lot of the Golden Coast, with the mountains jutting out down near the ocean. We made it to Taitung with him where he dropped us off at the doorstep of Hostel Who Knows!

We were about to take off to a hot air balloon festival, but luckily we talked to the owner and he said there were no balloons flying today, only tomorrow from 5-7 AM. Instead, we went to a balloon/light show outside Taitung. We had to take a bus, train, and taxi to get back to the hostel, so that was an adventure in itself.

I'm really keen on a hot air balloon ride, so I need to get some sleep for the 4 AM wake up call.

Hitchhiking Around Taiwan: Day 2

We made it to Kenting, all the way down at the most southern point in Taiwan!

We woke up to coffee and a delicious Taiwanese breakfast thanks to Spencer's mom, her second time welcoming me into their home. Spencer then drove us to the highway entrance where we waited for 10 minutes before a guy stopped and asked where we were headed. We said, "Any place south." He said he was going to Chiayi. It's about an hour south, so of course we got in.

He took us down to the highway exit, and we hopped over to the other side for just five minutes until a couple of young engineers, Jimmy and Vincent from near Taipei, let us hop in. We connected over their love for rock music, and got some AC/DC going. We parted ways in Tainan, and stopped into Hi-Life for a small break. We were making great time, and I said "If can we keep this up, we'll be swimming in Kenting by sun down."

We hit the road again, sweating for only five minutes again this time! It's unreal how lucky we were! Taiwanese people are so generous and their willingness to pick up foreign strangers is incredible. I wish we had more trust like that in the US. A lady stopped and she said she was headed to just north of Kenting. We said, "Perfect, let's go!" She spoke so enthusiastically, a contrast from the ride to Chiayi. If Alf didn't understand her, she would try to explain it a different way. She loved the idea of hitch hiking around the island. But what she didn't tell us was that she was going to pick up her 15 year old son and his friend in Kaohsiung! So we had a car of five headed south. We had a fun conversation with the kids, and discussed all sorts of topics from America's love for guns (no joke, he asked me) to the NBA. We stopped to get some Taro ice to cool us down, and we were back on the road. We said our goodbyes to mama and the kids and took a 7-11 break this time.

I suppose I don't have to say within five minutes...we were off again, this time with a family of four from Tainan. He introduces himself as Will and after we thank him, he says "Of course no problem. We are...one world." Well put in the simplest of English. One world, connected, and should be willing to help one another. A bright moment in a time in the world where we need to love one another the most.

We parted ways with Will and his family (and business card) at the infamous Kenting McDonald's I know all too well from being there this past April for a soccer tournament/music festival. Airbnb wasn't working well, so we walked into Kenting Walkers Hostel next door and we had our place for the night.

We had made it in time for a sunset swim.

The night was a ton of fun meeting travelers from all over but really befriended some hotel interns from Taiwan and Hong Kong at a VW bus selling 50 NT$ ($1.50 USD) shots and 100 NT$ beer. We had a few drinks with them (it may or may not have been more than three), and fun was had by all well into the evening.

A fantastic day #2 in the books.

Hitchhiking Around Taiwan: Day 1

Alf and I made it to Changhua County staying with our friend Spencer! We had to kind of cheat to get here, but first let's take a step back.

Last month, my Aussie friend Alf and I went up to Yang Ming Shan for a mountain hike. But there was a problem upon our arrival to the bus stop. There were no more buses coming. It's a solid 8K walk back to the train and no taxis...so Alf suggests hitchhiking. I thought at first it was a joke, but it started to sound...necessary. We went out to the road, stuck our thumbs out and within one minute we're in a car with a friendly Taiwanese couple headed to the metro station. We talked on the train about hitchhiking in the US and Australia and how it doesn't happen often because you can't be too careful with people nowadays. It's unfortunate! However, feeling inspired, Alf mentions the possibility of hitchhiking all the way around Taiwan. A few weeks passed, and we realized since we had this Friday off, this would be the best time to try if we're ever going to.

We met up at 5 pm and started on the outskirts of Taipei, near the entrance to Highway 3 in Nanggang. Earlier that day, I made a sign out of a brown paper bag that said "Going South" in Chinese characters. We thought it'd be "hao ke ai"  (overused phrase meaning cute) to have a sign, and give us a better chance of being picked up. It took about 20 minutes for a car to stop, but it's much more difficult starting in the city. He said he was going to Taichung, which is on the opposite end of the island from where we wanted to go. He criticized our sign because where we wanted to go, Hualien, wasn't exactly south, more like south east. We were set on doing the East coast first but after about 5 minutes, we thought 'we probably should have gone with that guy to Taichung.' I should have made an adjustment and went with the flow, "south." If the general direction is right, take it.

Just as we were about to give up hope and head back to the train station to catch a train to Hualien, we get a guy in a little white Toyota pulling over. All it takes is a little patience. He said he was going to a place in between Taipei and Taichung, so this time we went with the flow, and hopped in. A Hui couldn't have been a nicer guy, and we had a good time heading down to his town of Ping Zhen. But since it was dark by the time we got to our destination, we had to cheat and take a train to Taichung. We said our goodbye to our gracious driver, and he wished us luck on our trip. We took an hour and a half train ride to Taichun,, where Spencer picked us up and is letting us crash at his place for the night.

Hopefully we'll get to Kaohsiung tomorrow, and with any luck Kenting, at the most southern tip of Taiwan. It's been a fun first day out on the journey. Only have one pic from today of Alf getting some rest in on the train. Many more to come.