風雨．故人．單車行－－小兒郎行踪（BB代貼）

Arriving Taipei International Airport, 9;50 am 2005,2,18th. Came with me are my backpack with tent,sleeping bay and air mattress inside and my bicycle. By the way, Dragon Airline will treat bicycle as a piece of luggage without extra charge. 30 days are allowed to stay without a visa for an American passport. I plan to leave 3,20th The wireless on-line could be served by Chinese Telecom in Taiwan with two valid local people's photo ID. I spent a whole afternoon in Da-yuan branch office until dark, I didn't pass the obstacles beause of my universal Air Card ( a peice of hardware for notebook computer) have connection problem here. I stay overnight with friend,Qi-xiong in his comfortable home. Feb. 19th: I got up at four and took off at 6:10 in a very windy but dry condition. The northeast wind in Taiwan starts around September ends in early March the next year. I was happily been pushed by the strong gust and started singing in the wind. The route to Tainan, I took the west coast highway ,wich is 15, 61 then 17. The condition of the road is excellent, especially after Xin-Ju. I made 200K to reach my friend, Yuan-feng's new house with a fishing pond. I stayed in a very firm comfortable bed without opening my tent in my backpack. It was raining cats and dogs outside all night. Since there is only about 100K left for my journey to Tainan, I plan to take a day to finish tomorrow. To my estimate, It might take two weeks to have my dental care taken by my dentist friend, Liu Sheng-min, in Tainan. I plan to ride to Taidong, in the east coast of Taiwan, to have a re-union with my sister, Ching-ping and her family there. It will take a whole day by bike going through southern Ping-dong county. I think I can reach Taipei by 15th of March. Feb. 20th Another cloudy day, a little chilly and drizzle, the gust wind really push me hard down the south. The last 20K to Tainan gave me a speed of 40K per hour, my fastest ever. I found a piece of foam by the deserted beach to raise the height of my newly bought rack from Hong Kong.now I can lie my backpack weight down to the rack, it releases a lot of pressure out of my shoulder. I think I prove the philosophy of carrying no other bags but the backpack with mainly tent,sleeping bag, air matress, a few changing clothes and repair kits. The west coastal higway is really nice for cyclist, especially the finished part of I-61, it even provide the the special lane for them.But a few caution has to be awared: Don't get on the tourist bike route, it will end nowhere with no sign provided. Some service road before e bridge can also be a pitfall, it will let you hit the pier without a passage way. The scenery changes as the time goes by. Ochen, rice field, fish pond, birds of all kinds, beaches, bridges and many decent people to talk with. The betel (betel-nuts) shops are allover with sexy signs and young ladies to attract the customers. I do hope all the resources along this highway can be developed as a special culture to become a tourist attraction. I reached Tainan about 4:30 pm and my dentist friend, Liu Sheng-min, happened to be home on a holiday Sunday. He bought some nice native food as our supper and enjoyed watching the final tennis game of Holland Lutterdam cup together. The world #1 player, Roger Federer, won the game by a very small margin. Tomorrow morning Dr. Liu will give me a preliminary check up to decide how long the treatment is going to be.I met my friend in the graduation day of my daughter, Sophia, many years ago. Since then, he treated me as a prince every time I visited here. Xiao er lang

February 21st, 2005 in Tainan,Taiwan It was seven in the morning, I went to a nearby swimming pool, It looked like a private owned facility, open daily at six in the morning. The ticket was 120 yuan ( 4 US dollar) (in the present special priced period, otherwise 200 yuan) for a rather small indoor warm water pool and spa, full of people. The outdoor pool is an Olympic size pool (wider, with 12 lanes) with only cold shower provided, priced 50 yuan.(a new policy for the senior citizen over 70s, due by the coming April, 100 yuan for a yearly pass plus 10 yuan for insurance daily, quite a few more years for me to enjoy it anyway.) I tested the water temperature before buying the outdoor pool ticket. It was around 10 degree C, with clear sky. There were only three people with a life guard there. I did the warm-up exercise, then went very slowly down the pool. I didn't do winter swimming for four years now, but fortumately, I did cold showers after my daily swimming in Cheng-du. Oh, how do I miss my swimming partners there ! The first half minutes was rather difficult, the rest half hour non-stop swimming became feeling-at-home. The coldest water I swam was with my brave nephew, Ben, on the top Wa-wu-shan, Sichuan in the freezing temperatured pond around six years ago. The second coldest experience was in Jiu-Zai-Gou twelve years ago while I was showing off to a group of Tibetain girls. The water was crystal clear green, quite helpless. I could stand only for fifteen minutes though. Dr. Liu's office hour is from nine to nine. Piles of patients were from all over. He started my treatment at 8:30, in the gap in bewteen his regugular patients and the late hour lasting until 11:30 in the late evening.. He was runing an one-man office, leaving all his lovely family members in the States. He often take breaks, rode his mortocycle to buy all the good food he could find for me. I loved especially the fruits he purchased, which including papaya, lian-wu, fan-shi-liu, banana, oranges and banana etc. What a good friend ! I don't think I deserve all this. I met Dr. Liu in Wellesley, Mass. where both his daughter, Janet and my Sophia were having their graduation seven years ago. Both of daughters were sincere Chritains. While we were taking part in a farewell party arranged by brothers and sisters there, he needed an interpreter for a short speech and a little care-taking afterwards, I was the volunteer nearby. Xiao-er-lang