Day 10: Dawu 大武 > Kenting 墾丁
Stay: Kenting Hostel
This stretch is the most difficult stretch. It involves nearly a 15 kilometer climb to a peak at a low grade; at a summit called Shouka Biker's Stop (壽卡). It's known to be a famous spot for any biker who's circling the island. Given that I knew I'd be spending a lot of time on this part, I leave at 06:00.
The bike up is pretty quiet, there are on cars. I get to the base of the hill and start climbing at about 07:00. It's grueling and arduous. Nearly 2.5 hours later, I make it to the top in a large sigh of exclamation. There is no one up there. I eat a bun I packed from the night before. When I finish the bun, two more bikers show up and we just nod gently at each other to acknowledge that we've both just climbed a difficult stretch.
The nice part about climbing so high is of course you go down, and that entire stretch is very nice and relaxing. After I make it down, I pass by my favorite stretch of the entire trip. It's called Xuhai (旭海), and the road is Taiwan 26 (台26). It was just after it had rained, and everything was calm. There was a great coastal feel to it; as I biked down the mountains were on my right and the coast was on my left. There really are some great coasts in Taiwan as I've seen, but this one was by far the most beautiful. Everything about it was perfect. A bit of serenity after that long climb up made me appreciate it way more.
I was naive enough to think that today's bike ride would be simple. After the calm bike ride, it was another 10 kilometer climb up to Manzhou Township. I hadn't realized it at the time, and just assumed that there was going to be one difficult stretch. Nope. The road tested me again. I just went with it. This one really had some beautiful coastline along the way. As the rain came down hard again, so many cars zipped by me and I scoffed at them in my head. Every coastal vantage point later on where I saw cars I also made this mental scoff. I fought for my way here!
By the time I'd made it to Manzhou, it was about 14:00 and I stopped for a quick meal. The rest of the stretch would be a series of mild up and downs until I reached Kenting, the beach city. I stop by a small drop-bridge and have a drink and walk around on it, as well as the surrouding paved wetland path, for a bit to take a rest, then go on my way. If I can ever go back to the cafe I would, since it's this super cute locally owned business. As I near Kenting, it's nearly 18:00 and I realize I've been on the road for the entire day. When I reach the hostel, I don't want to do anything but get out of these bike clothes.
There is one other guy I am sharing the room with. He's about 5'1, super short, in glasses, and a bowl haircut. I greet him and immediately can tell that from his accent, he is from mainland China. Finally - I get to encounter a mainlander in Taiwan. It's been a while since I've seen or heard one since I've been in Hong Kong. There, they seem like a dime a dozen. Here, they're a rarity.
We get to talking. At this point, there has been just the start of the Hong Kong protest movement, and we seemed very eager to talk about it. He talks about how he believes that Hong Kong should be able to keep its autonomy, and his dismay at the Chinese Communist Party for disallowing full elections in the island city in a disrespect to the Two Systems framework. I am surprised at the openness which he expresses his opinion; he shared it so readily and openly. We then get to talking about Taiwan, and he says that his impression of the island is excellent. On his first day here, after arriving at Taipei Main Station and getting confused (those who have been will know..), he meets a Taiwanese girl who not only directs the way to his hostel, but offers to take the train with him to the stop before going on her own way. He then meets several other strangers in his stay in Taipei that offer to bring him out and party with him only after meeting him once. He says that in his 23 years in the mainland, this sort of hospitality had never happened before. That made me happy. He then tells me he is a Ph.D. student who has taken a short vacation from his studies in Wuhan (this was pre-coronavirus) to travel and see the world, because "there's a lot more out there than just studying". We talk for a bit about democracy and the necessities of it; Taiwan's independence and the difficulties and necessity of it; as well as his favorite foods so far in Taiwan. He marvels at the island from within, contrast to everything that he believed to have known from the outside. He is one of the last of the individual tourist visa holders, since the Mainland had stopped issuing them out in anticipation of Taiwan's upcoming election in January 2020.
Particularly striking from the conversation was how, to me, he could be the future of China. There is a growing intelligent class of people who are thinking about the direction of the country, and criticizing the nation state for its direction. Despite the curriculum instilled by the Party, the thought of disobedience (or a natural inclination to ask "so what?" seems almost inherent in the nature of humans. People want more. They want to do things you tell them they can't do. He opened up so quickly about his country's politics and the politics of Greater China with such ease that it makes me think perhaps this is the merits of freedom of speech. It isn't a shallow "say what you want" concept, but rather, freedom must mean to become free from something, and in this case, the self-censorship that I assume he has been accustomed to in the Mainland. Freedom of speech is the pathway for inquisition and a gateway to express curiosity. He may never have a voice strong enough to make any change. Or perhaps, the timing is not right yet. The timing may never match up. Still, the timing of us meeting -- of all the other possible days or times I could have passed by -- does seem a bit 巧. Coincidental. Or, it's just 緣分. Fate.