On two wheels to the South China Sea

It was a hot day in early September, the sky was just covered in blue like the vastness of the ocean, the sun was high in the sky, it was hot as if someone had just opened the oven door and the people were walking around with umbrellas in hand to cover themselves in shade, though the shade did not provide much relief.

I was thinking about how much I missed the sea, being brought up near water almost most of my life I missed the salty air, the cool breeze and the coldness of the water as it washes against your dry skin, I decided that I was going to try and cycle to see the sea.

Now when people think of Taiwan, they think of the beautiful tropical beaches with golden white sand being bushed over your feet, but that is not the part of Taiwan that I live in, near me, along the coastline are more industrial sites rather than tropical beaches, but that didn't bother me, I just wanted to see, feel and hear the water once again.

The route I was going to take was to leave Changhua City and head in a north westernly direction towards the small townships of Hemei and Shengang, but I learnt that the quickest way to get to the sea was to follow the main roads through the towns but that could also be the most dangerous route with heavy traffic constantly wizzing past you left, right and center.

Leaving Changhua was the easy part as I am familiar with these city streets, I waved my bike past the cars and scooters to the other side of the city, I was still really learning how to cycle in Taiwan's traffic and hadn't quite mastered it yet which involved me going down a heart racing road into a tunnel with a steep incline on the otherside, the traffic roarede in the tunnel with people tooting at me to get out of the way, I was shouting out " stop bloody beeping at me" as it was them who pushed me in this direction anyway.

It's hard to tell when you are leaving one town and heading into the next in Taiwan, along the western side of the island everything just seems connected like it is one big city, the main roads are just full of buildings connecting each of the town, everyone wanted to be on the main road in seemed, probably because it was better for trade.

I was unsure whether I should follow the main road aroung the town of Hemei or to just go through it, the traffic on the main road was fast and dangerous whilst the traffic in the town may be very busy with cars and scooters coming out in every direction. I decided to cycle through Hemei, I thought to myself, might as well see another town whilst I am at it.

Hemei was an uneventful town, with one straigt road that takes you straight through the centre of it, the town was a bit busy, the roads were congested but moving and there were so many interesting little businesses along the main road from food to clothing brands and of course the very popular 7/11's.

On the other side of Hemei I looked at the long straight road a head of me, trucks and buses were racing down the road without a care it seemed. The sun was starting to really show off the imense head it can give off, I took a drink of water and rested the cold bottle against my forehead and neck, there was no shade to be seen which was rather frustrating as I would of loved to had spent a few minutes having a break from the sun.

The main road to Shengang was long and boring, it was just practically in a straight line all the way, the surroundings around me were starting to show signs of more green and less buildings which made you feel like you were finally somewhere new, the rice fields were still looking fresh in between some of the dull white and grey builings following the main road. When you get even closer to Shengang, the road began to get a lot quieter, the traffic was going off into a completely different direction which was a sign of relief as I didn't had to look around me as much to make sure I am safe.

There are far more fewer buildings on your way into Shengang, the town itself is a quite coastal town, not far from the industrial parks on the western coastline. Shengang has a fishing industry where many of the locals go out to sea or either go looking for cockless along the sloppy marshlands near the coastline's edge, apart from that I didn't see hardly any shops apart from a 7/11 and a Family Mart on either side of the main road and a 'Mazu Temple' which are rather common to see, especially on the coastline.

Shengang township was a lot more cooler than Changhua City, you could feel the cool sea air breeze swiftly come down the road towards me, the smell of salt was getting stronger and the land was a more green along with the quieter roads, it was a perfect ride, I made my way under the freeway bridge to the other side to get my first glimpse of the South China Sea, there was only one thing, the sea was miles out, it was only a little blip on the far horizon, before me was just brown murky sludge for miles upon miles, around me you could see industrial chimneys along with many wind turbines turning in the wind, I felt a bit disapointed.

There were path ways on higher ground heading out to where the sea would be, everything was raised just in case of flooding, a lot of the paths had patches of water in a square shape, as if they were preserving the water with something, I followed a dusty graveled road to find this small little white house in the middle of nowhere, as I edged forward a big black dog came racing towards me all visious and barking, he showed his fierce teeth at me as he growled, thankfully he was all chained up and unable to come any closer, I couldn't get around the dog as he was able to cover the whole path, I thought at that time the best thing to do was to retrace my steps and find another way.

I cycled a bit further down the road, there was no one around but myself, on the freeway above me trucks were passing causing an echo sound underneath the road. I could see that the sea was getting closer the further south I was heading, I decided to turn down this little track to see if I could get close enough to the water.

Finally I had made it to the South China Sea, it was not as magial or magnificent as I had planned it in my head, industrial buildings were still surrounding the spot I stood at, the water was grey and full of sludge and rubbish, I watched as a plank of wood was swashed around hitting the concret slabs next to me, like I said it was not the perfect end to an adventure but I was still happy to hear the sound of the water splash against the land and the smell of the salt air that arises from the sea, though I wasn't brave enough to touch the water like I had previously planned due to the lack of clean looking water and industrial waste, I think I might try somewhere else next time when I want to see the South China Sea, rather than Shengang.

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