Cycle Taiwan Day 13 - Kenting to Taitung - The beginning of the Eastern Coastline Adventures

Good morning Kenting! Day 13 will be the day we start riding on the eastern coastline of Taiwan. many said it's beautiful and we shall see then. By the way this is the minsu we stayed "海晴天旅店" GPS : 21.945981, 120.795306

Breakfast at Kenting town centre itself and found this delicious local pork burger.

This is second time in a 9 seater Volkswagen T5 van (commonly used by the Taiwanese) to Fangliao instead of taking a bus. It costs us NTD300 per person. The distance was about 60km on the same route we took when we came to Kenting.

Next to Fangliao Railway Station is Fangliao Railway Arts Village located at Chunyun Road GPS : 22.366346, 120.596177.

The street along Chunyun Road is interesting and full of art works to see.

We spent a fair bit of time taking pictures and enjoying the exhibits by the local artists. These old buildings were once left idle and were dormitories of Taiwan Railway Administrator. It has been converted into a Art Village sometime in 2002.

One for the album at F3 Fangliao Art Village.

Once again we were back to this station but this time we were heading to Dawu, the opposite direction.

The train fare from Fangliao to Dawu Station is NTD96 per person.

A banner directing visitors to a nearby bus station to Kenting or Hengchun at the train station.

It's drama time, a competition on who will pose like as a lonely traveller waiting for a train to no where.

Dawu Train Station was in the midst of upgrading and the condition was rather not conducive but I am sure it will be converted into another attractive station soon.

This train ride has actually helped us to cut across the southern tip of Taiwan at Pintung County where we shall begin our journey on the eastern side of Taiwan coastline.

Dawu Rainbow Village 大武彩虹村 was one of our intended places to visit and we have finally found it.

A severe flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot had damaged the village of Fushan Tribe and it could not be restored to its original state. The tribe was forced to move into a permanently prefabs houses along Dawu Street where you could see their houses with wooden doorplate written in the tribe's language. The tribe has painted their houses with bright paints sponsored by paint company. It has become a  place to visit especially for a pit stop.

Dawu Rainbow Town is located at Dawu Street, Taitung County GPS : 22.358614, 120.906500

We stopped by Dawu 7-11 (GPS : 22.362030, 120.907147)  for a break before heading northwards on Route 9 Nanhui Road.

The road condition along this trail is still not perfect, certain stretch was still narrow and some under severe construction work but the experience to ride along this ocean view was gorgeous.

Stretches like this was nice and safe with beautiful sky and the vast Pacific Ocean on our right. Not forgetting the headwind and a couple of uphills.

A sign on the highway as we passed by.

One has to be careful with the traffic whenever there is construction work going on by the road.

Looking new and so nice to cycle through.

Another stretch of tricky trail with massive road work.

After another severe climb it's time for a banana break.

We had enough of the eastern coastline experience and it was time to look for the nearest train station so that we could get to Taitung before it gets dark.

Taimali 太麻里鄉 here we come. This is a rural town with mostly aborigine peoples and it was once known as the Village of  Sunrise where the sun rises from the eastern sea.

Taimali Train Station 太麻里站 is sited on an elevated ground and were glad to see it standing majestically waiting for us. GPS : 22.618593, 121.005200

The climb to the station and the last one for the day with a final view of the vast Pacific Ocean at the horizon.

The train fare to Taitung from Taimali is NTD51 each.

A bicycle track at the staircase to assist one to get to the respective platform.

By the time we reached Taitung it was already dark and we just wanted to get to the nearest hotel. We found this one Xing Long 龍星花園渡假木屋 at Xingxing Road GPS : 22.793479, 121.126285. NTD 1,100 per room.

We were recommended by the hotel staff to try 九格浪 原住民風味餐 at Wenchan Road GPS : 22.790881, 121.125565 serving aboriginal dishes. It was crowded and noisy that night with loud talking customers with their drinks. We persevered and enjoyed our dinner.

The dishes we had it was delicious and pricing was reasonable for NTD1,320.00 Photo credit Anne Cheong.

On Day 13 after a train ride from Fengliao to Dawu we commenced our cycling to Taimali then train again to Taitung.