Sunday, January 4, 2009

Day 32: October 26th: Fugang Harbour to Taidong City Centre


The next morning’s walk was just a stub, as I had only a few klicks left to Taidong City Center. It was a nice morning, and the coastline was beautiful as always, with good trails and seaside roads. But, one little section was not so nice: a small road between a collection of dilapidated shacks that people still lived in, and the sea. It was about 100 meters of dog shit covered road that actually made me puke. Good thing I hadn’t spent much money on breakfast!

The coastline between Fugang Harbour and Taidong City


The Zhonghua Bridge: Above, in the distance; Below, from on it.

Past that nasty bit, I continued onwards, very much enjoying watching the IDF (Indigenous Defense Fighter, Taiwanese-made) fighter-planes doing training runs from the nearby airbase. The powerful roar of their engines as they took off was thrilling, and it was cool to see them zoom through the gap between the observation tower on the hill next to Fu Gang, and the mountains on the other side, right after takeoff. They would go through the gap, head out to sea, and then circle round and do maneuvers: one chasing two; two preparing to land at the same time with one suddenly breaking high; or one landing, then immediately taking off again without slowing down. As I walked across the Zhonghua bridge over the Beinan river, which leads right into the main Taidong city area, they flew by no more than 100 meters away. Cool!

Indigenous Defence Fighters (IDF) training near Fugang.

Taidong Forest Park lake
A bit further on, past the Forest Park, I was in the residential outskirts. I caught a cab to the train station, and – replete with bien dang and cappuccino – was on a train home a few hours later, with supplies from the 7-Eleven. 11:30 AM too early for beer? Not on your Nellie!


"Come back to Taidong soon, cutie!" this alluring creature seemed to say to me.

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