Well, after quite a number of years WORKING all the time in Taiwan , Iāve finally decided itās time to take a whole week off, no computers/Internet/translation/whatever , and tour the rest of the island.
Iād like to do at least some of this on my 150cc Vespa.
Can any of you who have actually done something interesting of this nature in the past couple of years (unlike me) point me in some good directions? Suggested itinerary? Roads to avoid/take? Iām open to taking trains or buses as well, as long as the Vespa can come along.
See how you feel about spending a long time in the saddle before you try to go too far. My bike is a sight more comfortable than a scoot but I still get a sore bum after more than an hour.
Try a bash round the north coast first - Tamm-shoo-ey (yeah, I know), or I believe you can cut through the mountains to white sands beach, round to Yeliou on the coast road, Green Bay is nice - time it right and Iāll take you sailing - and from there itās up to 90 minutes back to central Taipei. (I ride out there and back every Sunday. Managed it in 45 minutes last week)
Thatās a good day trip. Enough for a serious sunburn and numb buttocks.
Fulong beach took me nearly two hours, and there are a few intersesting stops along the way. I know people camp down there. Then you can carry on down the coast.
Personally I think 2-wheelers are great for twisty little mountain roads, if you can find some. Why not just explore around Taipei? Getting in and out of the city is a bit of a bind. Daxi was a couple of hours and only the last bit was at all pleasant. To be honest youāre going to be fighting traffic wherever you go I think.
How are you gonna carry your clothes etc? Backpacks are really really bad.
No, the thing is that Iāve scooted around the environs of Taipei for so many years now, including commuting to Sanzhi every day years ago from the Shita area (now THAT was dumb!) and on a much older, less reliable vehicle than I have now. Two or three hours is not a problem, I do that quite a lot.
Iām starting out in Taipei/Hsinchuang, but want to get AWAY so I feel like Iāve actually DONE something. Iāve got (or am going to take) a whole week. I would certainly like to do some day or weekend trips during the year, but this is likely to be my only chance to really go somewhere that takes more than a couple of hours total. As I said, ācheatingā with buses/trains is coolā¦
Vone of zee secrets (vhy am I writing dis vis a german accent? slap, slap, slap) of scooter touring over long distances is to use the scooter frieght companies that can be found throughout the island (usually next to train stations). They are quick and damn cheap; imho better than freighting by train.
For example, you can get your scooter sent to Ilan, and you catch up with it the next morning. Then you ride down the East Coast to Taidong, and take the Vespa over the South Cross-Island Highway. Of course riding on the West Coast isnāt much fun. Depending on how you are feeling you can either take backroads or just freight your scooter home while you ride an express train from Tainan back to the big bad city.
Ah, and there was me wondering why I bother coming here any more. Now I know - the wookie has answers to all your problems. Cheers, mate, for that little gem. Iām surprised there isnāt a cult of the almas starting up in your little town.
Make a sacrifice of beer, and ask your question of the oracle. (Relayed through the nubile temple girls of course.) Once a year the living god will be carried around the island on a āresearch tripā by his devout followers, selling books and collecting accolades, more beer, and more followers along the way.
Presumably his scoot will be freighted?
During religious ceremonies acolytes will sing the hymn penned by great sage, equal of heaven, the one and only Alexei Sayle: āEllo John, got a new motor?ā
This isnāt helping my hangover much so I think Iāll stop now.
Fat Bastard? Thatāll be Buster Blood Vessel of ska band Bad Manners. Funnily enough I was listening to their classic āYou Fat Bastardā this afternoon.
Spooky! We must have some psychic connection, almas.
Ironlady, if youāre looking for places to go then thereās an excellent book out there full of ideas. Itās called Formosan Odyssey.
I loved scooting around KenTing/HengChun for a few days back in July. Great time, and not much traffic. Youāll find some amazingly beautiful vistas if you just go with your instincts, and your eyes.
3 days trip: the Huadong loop: starting either at Hualien and Taitung up the coast, down the valley. I prefer the inland leg along the plate boundary, Asia on one side of the road, the Philippines on the other. Stop at one of the two day-lily
I had a friend recently took a bicycle trip through the middle of the country through the mountains. Donāt see why it couldnāt be done on a scoot. You can get a highway map from most bookstores. In Chinese but shouldnāt be a problem unless your taking the no translation thing to an extreme.
GOPBill
Back from a great little trip. Took the 109 road through shrding to pinglin then onto route 9 (bei yi gung lu). Followed that until Ilan and came out at the coast at Toucheng. Rode north a little from there and had lunch at one of the seafood harbors (think it was Nyau Shr Gang). There were boat trips there out to Turtle Island, but as weād just eaten, we gave them a miss this time. Anyone been to Turtle Island? Is it any good? Anyway, we continued north past Daxi on route 2 to Fulong where we stopped for a rest and a dip in the ocean. Then continued up route 2 and cut of up to Joufen just before Raefang. We decided to stay the night in Joufen and found a nice wee hotel with balconies looking out to the coast. Watched the sunset, had a rest, then did the shopping/night market street. Woke up this morning refreshed, checked out Jingwashr, and came on the 106 road from Raefang through PingShi. Stopped at one of those roadside cafes run from a truck and had some surprisingly good coffee. Back to Taipei through Shenkeng. We left at about noon yesterday afternoon and returned about the same time today. Just 24 hours but I feel refreshed - like Iāve been on a mini-holiday.
WOW, Salmon, GOPBill, and all the rest, great suggestions! Iāll have to take several trips (obviously!) what a pityā¦
Someone mentioned to me at one point that it wasnāt a good idea to take a Vespa up the Cross-Island Highway because of the altitude. Has anyone taken a 2-stroke scooter that route? Did you live?
Donāt think I would be camping on the beach, unfortunately, traveling as a single woman. Probably wouldnāt be the greatest idea going, although Taiwan is fairly safe (and Iām not exactly a sweet young thing anymore).
Bill: hadnāt thought about the restrictions on map-reading, so I guess Iāll have to build a limited quota of Chinese into the trip (map- and sign-reading). The whole idea is to go South and only speak Taiwanese for a week. Iām only an intermediate in Taiwanese, and I have no rational reason for wanting to improve it, but it sounds like fun (I need to get out more, obviously, and preferably in company!! Oh well, one more year of school and we can explore the possibilities for a normal life.)
Keep those itineraries coming and thanks to all (I know I didnāt write down all the names, but I appreciate the input.) Iām starting to feel really excited about the upcoming trip.
No two-stroke scooters at high altitudes??? There were a few up at Lalashan yesterday (1550 meters altitude). You could take a slow ride up the north cross-island highway. Do it during weekdays though, unless being pushed off a cliff by a tour bus is your idea of a vacation. There are plenty of accomondation available at Lalashan, and the ride down to Ilan is said to be good. You can then either brave the dump trucks down to Hualian or go up the coast back to Taipei. Taking the trip to Daxi the first day, up to lalashan the second and down to Ilan the third would be a good start with some nice vistas on the way. If you are fond of adventure, you can try to make it to Hualian by going right at Qilan and then drive down the spine of the island to the central cross island highway - and from then down to Hualian thru the taroko gorge. (going to Taidong and then get the scoot back to Taipei on train could be a possibility as the weekdraws to a close).
Are you sure they were two-strokes? Iāve seen a couple of 4-strokes (Majesty, for example) up near Hehuanshan (more than 3000 metres) but not any 2-strokes.
The reason I advised caution to Ironlady is that from what little I have read about 2-stroke engines, they seem to be more sensitive to mixture and pressure changes than are 4-strokes. Even my 4-stroke Yamaha SR150 motorcycle had severe power loss above 3000m and I was concerned that the Vespa, which I believe is a 2-stroke might just cut out altogether. This is all guessing, though.
That wouldnāt have been from the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance would it? All that mixture, pressure and altitude stuff made for a bloody long read! Then maybe I missed the point. Too busy being a cafe racer at the time.
No, I donāt think that book had anything to do with 2-strokes. I think it was all to do with big 4-stroke singles, maybe v-twins. Itās a while since I read it.
No, it was a less literary Google search for ā2 stroke engineā that turned up the info, plus some stuff on (zen and?) the art of souping up scooters for races on proper tracks by a Welsh company at; taffspeed.co.uk/
Quite interesting if you want to know the mechanics behind the biaochezhu machines.
The interest in 2-strokes came because I had just got my first two-stroke scooter, and also because my friend says that his Honda NSR used to handle mountains, 2-up, fine, which surprised me given the reputation 2-strokes have for having narrow powerbands. (This characteristic is what makes the 2-stroke engine so suited for the continuously variable gear scooter format; itās a light engine with a lot of power at particular rpm; the gearbox makes sure that the engine stays within that rpm at all speeds, so power is always there when you need it).
I used to get up the mountain atop which I lived with my ex-husband out on An-hsiang Road past Hsintian on a Vespa 150 just fineā¦and he was a tub ofā¦, er, he was portly. Iām no fine-boned thing myself, either. But whatās the altitude compared to the various Cross-Island highways? With just me on the bike, minimal gear, do you think I would make it? Iām not concerned about speed, just about not being stranded and learning more Taiwanese than I bargained for.
Maybe Iāll just stick to the East Coast for now and stay out of the mountains?
(As you can see, I am completely mechanically ignorant, unless Iām translating about it.)
, Iāve finally decided itās time to take a whole week off, no computers/Internet/translation/whatever 
, and tour the rest of the island.