In Ruisui, we stayed at Juisui Hot Spring, a place with the best kind of water, or so they say — in contrast to most hot springs we’ve been to in both Taiwan and Japan, the water is so thick with minerals that it is a brownish yellow. We were told not to shower afterwards because the minerals are good for the skin, and our skin certainly felt smoother. As expected, the soak did wonders for our sore legs.
Ruisui to Hualien
After a slow start the next day, we rolled into Ruisui at 9:30am and returned to 193 for a couple of kilometers, until we reached Township Road 64, also known as Ruigang Road (瑞港公路). Less steep and shorter than Provincial Road 23, it is a beautiful 22km ride across the mountain range back to the Pacific coast. Weaving through meandering bends above the Xiuguluan River (秀姑巒溪), it mixes dark green forest with gorgeous views down into the river valley below.
Throughout the trip, the mountain roads were almost completely empty, with that beautiful, noisy, not-so-quiet silence, or calm, you get in the mountains: birds singing, cicadas chirping, a gentle breeze, fresh air, but no man-made sounds, no matter how hard you try to detect one.
After reaching the coast at Dagangkou (大港口), we continued for another 20km to Fengbin (豐濱), where we filled up on water before taking Provincial Road 11A (11甲) toward Guangfu (光復) 19km away, to cross the mountains for the third time.
The first half of the lush and beautiful road wends its way leisurely along the Dingzilou River (丁子漏溪). Descending on the other side after crossing over the ridge, we came across a small stretch of road where there is no mountain on either side. We were riding along a narrow strip with a sheer drop on each side. It was an exhilarating feeling.
After 15km to 16km, before reaching Guangfu, we returned to County Road 193, which skirts the eastern edge of the East Rift Valley along its entire length. Here in the northern part of the valley, it flows up and down along the rolling foothills of the mountain range. There are no major climbs, but even a moderate, longish climb can be tiring after two long days. It’s worth it, though: at one moment you’re riding along next to the rice paddies and then suddenly you’re on a hill with a view of the valley.
The 193 meets the coastal highway a few kilometers south of Hualien. We turned right, and a few kilometers down the coast we hit a cluster of bed-and-breakfasts, or min su (民宿). We stopped at the first one, Blue Ocean Resort: a good clean room and a soft bed, but no dinner and a meager breakfast.
No dinner meant getting back on our bikes and rolling down the road for 5km or 6km until we found “055” — a great seafood restaurant where you choose your seafood from a counter and have beer served in a six-pack holder you keep next to you on the floor. These are always the best seafood restaurants, and this was no exception: we thoroughly enjoyed a small lobster, squid, and clams with lots of chili, garlic and basil — another Taiwan classic — together with a couple of beers.
The next morning, we rode the 14km into Hualien, where we picked up our bike bags at the 7-Eleven, then crossed the street to the railway station, where we bought tickets for the next train to Taipei. In all, we had covered 268km in an amazing two complete days and one short morning.
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