I suddenly have the urge to go canoeing. Does anyone know places in Taiwan where I can rent a canoe (and paddles)? If so, where? And how much does it cost?
ruisuei (just call it “raceway”) about halfway between hualien and taidong has white water rafting with chinese characteristics: they’ll put you in an inflatible with ten others and send you on your way. during the slow sections they used motorboats to tow you to faster currents.
Thanks sceptic. I’ve done the whitewater rafting thing and will probably do it again. I was thinking more of canoeing in stiller waters.
Hakka,
If you don’t insist on a canoe, there are rowboats you can rent at Bitan. Though it’s part of a river, it’s calm as a lake. Just take the MRT to Hsintien. The lake is right over the jetty.
Last year I was doing some sight seeing at Wulai and I got talking to a guy who was kayaking there. His name is Mark Ma and he runs an outdoor school
Maybe he would be a source of information.
I also did a web search for ‘sea kayak’ and turned up a couple of sites but don’t have their addresses now.
Please let me know if you do find somewhere I’d like to do some paddling next time I come to Taiwan
Hey, I just saw a place between Bitan (near Xindian) and Wulai, pergaps the same one mentioned above by Aidiming. Heading down Bei Shin Rd through Xindian, take the turnoff to Wulai (Road #9). Then take maybe the 1st or 2nd street right - it runs striaght down to the river; you’ll see a little boardwalk, like at Bitan, with some restaurants and lots of people, but also with lifesavers and people swimming in cool, deep water. Facing the Wula end of the river you should notice a “weir” (a water cachment area) and hopefully a few people canoing.
Good luck~!
I know the rivers in downtown Taipei are not that clean, but if I was to buy my own canoe and take down to the river myself would it be legal to canoe around the rivers downtown? On the river in front of the Grand Hotel, I once trained for weeks and raced in the dragon boat races there and the water didn’t seem that dirty.
Anyway, I would take my chances on the water, but what about the police? If it is legal, then I guess my next question would be where to buy a canoe and a rack for the roof of my car. Maybe a kayak would be easier to buy?
It depends on the time of day. During low tide, the water flows downstream and out into the sea, but during high tide, the flow is actually reversed. That’s when the stench is at its worst. My advice is stay upstream.
Thanks for the advice. May I ask if you have been on the water or is this gleaned from walks on the shore. Just curious since I really want to try to canoe these downtown rivers and I am not sure if it is allowed.
I learned about it last year when they had that river cruise (a 50-minute “Blue Highway” boat ride on the Danshui from Da Dao Cheng dock near ZhongXiao bridge downtown to Guandu Temple near the Guandu bridge). The guided tour covered everything from the ecology of the river and the tides, to the history of the river, to geographical landmarks along the shores. Alas, the service was suspended shortly after the Taipei city government privatized it.
I often bike on the bike path along the river, and sure enough, if you look at the flotsam and jetsam you can see that the flow sometimes either stands still or travels upstream. :shock:
I know of a guy who sails a dingy on the river somewhere in the Peitou area. It’s also apparently legal (ie there is no law to say you can’t) to drop a small boat into the water anywhere along the coast, so my guess is that the rivers are the same.
What is the difference between a canoe and a kayak in Chinese Mandarin? Do the newspapers here know the difference? They seem to equate a kayak with a canoe, and wouldn’t know an Eskimo craft from an Indian one. Explain anyone?
Don’t fall in…
You might not get out of the open sewer again.