Day 2. Per weather forecast yesterday, it was supposed to be better and yes it was. Warmer and we might take off jackets as we ride bikes. Our excellent support team was busy from early morning, and we were also asked to be ready quite early today. We are going to Taichung, 100km away from Hsinchu. 

The route today is flat, and we rode alongside the seaside for half of the route. After less than 10km from Hsinchu downtown, we bumped into the seaside where you could see hundreds of windmills spanning across more than 50km or even more. When I lived in Seattle, there were windmill farms on the east side of Washington State. I thought that was quite big, but the windmill farms in this area are bigger than that. There are windmills alongside the coast, and there are windmills on the sea as well. Hsinchu is what is called wind city, and it makes sense to build windmill farms. However, it is surprisingly bigger scale which I can clearly see what Taiwan is trying to. Taiwan is forward looking which we do not see much in Japan. At least I like the way what people are challenging here. Hundreds of windmills are taking us to Taichung.

During the ride today, we stopped at two temples, one convenience store (Seven Eleven) and the final one is the Giant Headquarters. There is a cat at the Qinghai Temple, then there are funny statues at 慈雲寺. I have not checked the history of the temple, but it looks theme is taken from the journey to the west (西遊記). As I will learn more I will update, but for now, I am uploading some pictures of them for fun.

At 85km mark, there was a hill which we climbed up about 200m. After that we rode alongside Taichung International Airport, then we had a final stop at the Giant Headquarters. I have been looking forward to seeing the museum in the headquarters, and at least I was able to see the building, and the museum shop. Unfortunately, we were late arriving so that we were not able to see the exhibition. I'll find another time to see the inside, but for today, it was great to visit the headquarters of a big bike manufacturer.

 

Tomorrow, we are going to Chiayi, about 100 km south from Taichung. Another ride on the flat road. What could I see and meet?