Today basically marks the half way point of our tour. The original schedule called for casual ride of 55k with the balance of the day spent relaxing and catching up.

This quickly changed. At the start-up in Kaioshung harbor everyone was feeling strong, so a vote was taken, and we agreed to extend the days ride to 90k, finishing in Kenting town, the furthest tip of Taiwan.

We pedaled along the coast line and stopped at a water's edge coffee shop where we all enjoyed some local sweets and Barista made coffee's. It was a pleasant relaxing experience to be sipping java, chatting and overlooking the vast ocean.

The tour moved on bordering the beautiful west coast coastline where we stopped in Haikou village. We traveled by bus to a renowned local fish restaurant for a leisurely lunch.

Sufficiently fueled, the last leg of today's journey was on the jagged ocean's edge to Kenting. This seaport town is on the southern tip of Taiwan, and famous for being the point where 3 bodies of water join up. They are the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Taiwan Strait in the West and the Bashi Channel to the south. It was a spectacular area where we all spent time exercising, taking photos and celebrating all of us reaching the halfway distance point in our tour.

The bus ride to dinner included a special look out stop neat the tip on Kending where we watched the bright yellow sun set, ending a glorious day.

We enjoyed a traditional dinner in Fong harbor. We celebrated with lots of traditional Kending food and stories about our accomplishments.

It's late and we are staying at the Leafoo hotel. It is renowned to the only resort hotel in Taiwan where every room has a sea view.

Not much sea to see for me. We will again get an early start to tackle the 100k uphill trip to Jhihiben Town.

More to follow.

Bob Margevicius, Vice President of Specialized .
2008/5/8