Cycling Journey – Donggang to Kenting
This was a great and shine morning in Donggang. However, it was not an easy task for beginners to ride bicycles under this hot weather. We started to prepare and equip ourselves well so as to meet the following physical and mental challenges during the journey. As our team had took the energy supplements the day before, the body was recovered quicker than previous training in Hong Kong. After finishing breakfast and doing warm up exercises with our coach, we started our bicycle journey from Donggang to the south of Taiwan, Kenting. Something special was that there were only three instructors riding along with our team, less than yesterday, it would be much more dangerous than last day. Also, the road for second cycling day was more difficult than the first day, there would be more incline along to Kenting. Therefore, we had to be more careful and focusing in order to minimize accidents happened.
枋山芒果漾
Fangshan Riding along Fangshan, there were lots of shops selling mangoes with different prices. As the famous local product there was mango, foreigners would visit this place and taste this mango, or even ordered mango desserts there. Unlike the mangoes we could eat in Hong Kong, these were big and in red color on the surroundings. We have bought some mangoes there. With considering the temperature and our physical capabilities, we decided to enjoy the delicious mangoes when we arrived Kenting hotel.
鬍鬚源池上便當 ( 午餐 )
Huxuyuan Chishang Biandang After completing a part of long distance riding, we took rest in a 7-11 near the Huxuyuan Chishang Restaurant. This “biandang” was popular in the highway along Kenting, numerous visitors tried this lunchbox when hanging around Kenting. Thus, we had the “biandang” for our lunch inside the 7-11 and get ready for afternoon journey. The packaging of these lunchboxes were much environmentally-friendly than Hong Kong’s. As each container was made by wood, instead of expanded polystyrene, it could lower the time to decompose in the nature environment. If this method could be learnt by Hong Kong restaurant, it would reduce the pollution to the environment. Afterwards, we got ready and continued cycling for the rest of the checkpoint of the journey.
小杜包子
Taiwanese said these steamed stuffed buns were the best food in Kenting, with many kinds of tastes and ingredients, these attracted many visitors to try. The locals said that there would be a long queue lining up outside the shop every day when the buns were nearly ready to sell, it was made in a well-known shop in Taiwan. The bun was delicious and fantastic that let us had a taste of Taiwanese cuisine, it could fill up with different ingredients, such as spicy meatball, bacon sausage and pork, etc. But because of the time limit, we did not visit the shop during the journey, we could not experience how significant was the queue. We are thankful to Mr. Wu’s kindly help and bought total 22 steamed stuffed buns for our team. It reduced the time wasted for lining up and can still try this food, instead, we could continue to the final check point of our journey, Eluanbi Prehistoric Site.
鵝鑾鼻公園
Finally, we met the ultimate destination, Kenting Eluanbi Prehistoric Site. We were so pound of ourselves that all of us could finish the whole journey with perseverance. We left the bike outside and stepped into the Eluanbi Lighthouse, the sight there was wonderful. With all teammates and Julian, we shared the feelings and thoughts in this cycling journey. After two days of cycling, everyone felt to have a sigh of relief at that moment. The hardest and frightening two days had been passed, we had learnt a lesson in this meaningful journey.
墾丁大街
Soon after having dinner with the team, we went to visit the Kenting Street Night Market. This was really a famous tourist attraction in Taiwan for Hong Kong people, as we could listen to Cantonese somewhere in the market. Apart from that, the night market consisted of multifarious accessories, Taiwanese snacks, souvenirs, etc. We spent our night there to relax after a long cycling journey. Kenting was an amazing place with good sightseeing and relaxing lifestyle. Some sellers not only sold their own products, but also introduced the must-tried Taiwanese snacks to us. We could experience how nice and enthusiastic were the Taiwanese.
Reflection
This was the second day of the cycling journey, with the experiences we gained in the first day, we were more familiar with the road safety and how to work as a team. Due to the fact that I was a beginner in cycling, before the trip, I was afraid I would not complete the whole journey with the team. Thus, I tried hard to practice and train up myself in order to catch up with my teammates. The route we went on in second day was longer and stepper than the training one in Hong Kong, I felt extremely scared the day before the journey started. Fortunately, I was delighted that I have a group of good teammates. We supported and encouraged each other while passing through every hardest road. Without their encouragement, I could not be success in completing this journey. Besides, I thought this would be the start of my cycling journey in my life, but not the end. This was a meaningful trip to make a breakthrough for myself. I would not imagine how hard and tired in this journey before I arrived Taiwan, but these experiences have created wonderful memories to me. I promised myself to keep breaking through in my life so as to make it more worthwhile.