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Day 1 - 29 July 2017 - Riding around Taiwan - Arriving at Kaohsiung

29 Jul - 05 Aug 2017

Taiwan roads are very friendly to motorcycles. They even have lanes meant only for motorcycles and bicycle on most of the roads. There is an official route (Taiwan Cycling Router No.1 環島1號線) for people who wish to ride their bicycle or motorcycles around the island.
This route is clearly marked on the routes to guide you so that you do not lose your way.

More options of downloading this route in KML or GPX format -> Link

The route has many interesting places to visit, along with rest stops every 20km for cyclist who is willing to take the challenge of riding through the 940km.
For me, nah, I prefer the motorcycle option.

It was not a good idea planning for a riding trip in Taiwan during the typhoon season. (Jul - Oct)
But once my mind is set into doing something, it is very difficult to dissuade me.
I took it up as a challenge and booked the flight to Kaohsiung.
A day prior to the flight to Kaohsiung, there were reports mentioning the typhoon HAITANG(海棠)heading towards direction of Kaohsiung. It was quite a relief that it did not affect my flight there.
Another one (NESAT) pop-up from the south and threatens reach the shores of Taiwan on the subsequent evening.
What are the odds, two typhoon hitting Taiwan at the same time, the news mentioned that the last occurrence was like 50 years ago.



After check-in at Kaohsiung on Saturday noon, the first thing I did was to go to the Bike rental shop which I have made my booking from.

https://www.555scooters.com/

I got the Yamaha SMAX, which is based on a 155cc engine.
7 days rental were charged at NTD3000 (SGD134), works out to be about SGD19/day.
This price does not comes with insurance and any damages will need to be taken care by yourself.

The SMAX is the smaller version of the NMAX I have rented in Bali.
Despite the smaller cc engine it has, it still outruns most of the scooters when the traffic light turns green on the street. It has great fuel efficiency (34km/l) and the seats are very comfortable.
The suspension is great and keeps your comfortable when you ride the long distance.

Although you will hardly be checked by the police for driving license, you will need an International Driving License(IDP) in order to rent the bike.
The shop will need a deposit amount of NTD10K (SGD450) in case you run away with the scooter.

The boss of the shop is a young chap whom have stayed in Singapore for a couple of years. He is fluent in English and the whole shop is filled with pictures of foreigners renting motorcycles from them. Very friendly people and they have offered to keep my luggage bag with them until I return the scooter.

I have managed to store half of my luggage under the seat, especially those that should not get wet. The rest of my luggage were stored in a backpack, which I waterproof it by putting it into a trash bag. The bag was then strapped to the pillion seat using a helmet net.



This time, I brought my own half-face helmet.
It’s full 6 days of solid riding and I need to make sure that I do not compromise safety with what they offer free from the rental shop.
I also brought along my own phone mount that is attached to the rear mirror.
The phone is continuously charged with my 20,000mAh power bank that is placed in the small storage compartment below the handle bar.

Now, the rules.

Always ride on the right(not left) side of the road
Taiwan adopts the left-hand-drive, initially it got me worried if I may go into a lane driving against the traffic but the fear soon goes away once I get on the road.

Left turn requires a two-step process at some areas
If you see the following sign, it means you cannot directly turn left.

Instead, you will need to go to the box allocated for motorcycle waiting area in front.
Normally, it would mean waiting for two traffic light before you can turn left.
This is unless your motorcycle is 250cc and above, then you can do a left turn just like a normal car



Do not ride on some expressway
Expressway bearing the following green flower sign are out-of-bounds to all motorcyclist.

Other than that, there are expressway that can be ridden by 250cc bikes and above.
These expressway are marked by a blue sign that shows a sports bike.
Other than that, you can ride on any roads.
When using Google map to navigate your routes, just select avoid tolls and highways and you would be fine.

Do not ride on the fast lanes
Do not ride on the lane marked with yellow words.
Those lanes are only allowed for cars.
Most roads have lanes meant for motorcycles and bicycles, it is on the right most side of the road.
Sometimes there are cars who stop there, do watch out if any of these cars are filtering out to the left. They were a lot of accidents that occurred in that manner.


Turn right only on green traffic light
Yes, if you plan to turn right and you are at the traffic light, you can only turn right when the traffic light is green. I have observed that most people ignore this rule. Do check carefully that there are no cars heading your way before you do that.

Not every complicated, rule of thumb, just observe and follow what other motorist do and you should be fine. Some areas only allow you to ride like 40km/hr. There are suppose to be traffic cameras around. I assessed the road conditions accordingly and varying my speed at average of 60-80km/hr.

The wind started to get really strong and I thought of going to the big shopping mall(梦时代) in Kaohsiung to shop around. It turned out that the entire mall decided to close early at 6pm due to the typhoon. No choice, grab some street food and back to the hotel.

HAITANG arrived at about 8pm. I was bored so decided to take a time lapse of the typhoon itself using my phone from the hotel.

After packing my stuff on the bike, I had an early night and plan to start the journey next day early morning and hope to reach Kenting before the next Typhoon, NESAT strikes.











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