Biking the Lake

Our hotel lends out bikes for free, so of course we take advantage and make outlandish goals. We were going to ride all around the lake. Doable. They gave us two Giant 12 speed mountain bikes equipped with Shimano brakes. Did you know Giant was made in Taiwan and designed by German engineers? No? Well, now you do. Hence, our bikes were pretty nice given that they were hotel property. The ride around the lake was nice and very scenic. There are rest areas you can stop off at and have lunch and plenty of shade throughout the ride. What you need to be prepared for are the hills. There were a few steep ones. If you’re a moderate biker, you’ll be fine. But if you’re planning on leisurely biking your way around in jeans with a smile on your face, think again. Because that was us. And before we got to the halfway point, we decided to call it a day. We stopped at the Xuanguang Temple Pier and took a ferry boat back to our area. Ferries run at $50NTD. We got hustled for an additional $100NTD a person to bring our bikes on board. Kinda forget tourist traps are all over this place. By the way, there are bike paths but there are sections you’ll have to venture out on the road to continue. It’s okay though, the drivers are mindful.

We stayed around Shuishe to eat. Got some street food and eventually dinner. Although there are restaurants and street food, the area was pretty dead. It was a Friday night and the news was making it out as if Sun Moon Lake was the place to be for New Year’s Eve. Vicky pointed out that we were out early and people were still traveling out to Sun Moon Lake. I figure she was right. It was only 6:30pm.