Day 6: Change of Plans

According to dad there's a Chinese proverb from Taiwan that says the road never changes, but people do. It's certainly been true on our trip thus far and will probably prove to be true in the few days to come.

I guess a bike trip doesn't really work when one's legs don't, and in my case, my bad knee has been really dampening our progress. The first 20 kms today felt great but the old problem came back and we were force to lodge early after riding only 40kms today. 

It's a disappointing day for me because I had high hopes that we would cover much of the 150kms left to Taitung, and this morning's weather was so ideal for making that distance. Now we're at Ruisui at a hotspring inn. I should be optimistic but I'm finding it hard. I need to remember that it's not about the destination but the journey to it. 

Dad's dropped his phone this morning and we later found that his camera is slightly broken. He's dealt with everything really well which is something I could learn. Maybe his broken phone will give us time for other things the next few days. 

So the plan is to ride another the next train station and get down to Taitung. Hopefully we will spend a few days exploring.

Because we got to our inn earlier in the afternoon we were able to visit a farm nearby. We had some neat snacks and saw ostriches. Who knew there were ostriches in these parts?

So 

I'll end off with a few photos:

The homestay from yesterday

A Betel nut stall along the road. I asked the lady whether I could try one (it's an addictive chewing tobacco-like plant) and she replied, "小朋友不好吃ah" which means "kids shouldn't eat this". So no betel nuts for me. 

Went to this famous ice cream place at Guangfu. 

Our hot spring inn at Ruisui

Ostriches. What's better than an ostrich? How bout none at all- those creepy creatures!

Gotta stay flexible tomorrow because the road won't bend for us, we'll need to move for it.