My world walk blog - Taiwan #2

My world walk blog - Taiwan #2

The grocery store sink.

One Saturday night I took a wrong turn and then I ended up getting lost. Rather than make a long retreat I ended up on a trail. Then I fell in a muddy field totally messing up my pants shoes and socks. I couldn't go around in that state especially, Christmas week. After much wandering around the fields and bushwacking my way through a small gap in a hedge and with the aid of my GPS I found my way to a fence beside two highrise buildings. I was in a place near Erqiao. Not sure what I would have done or how I would have explained myself had the owner of any of the dogs had come out to investigate and question me. I had passed a few ramshackle houses with vegetable patches outside. After some fumbling around in the dark, I found a gate and managed to unlock it. Then I wandered down the road and was delighted to find a late night grocery store. With such an unusual arrival I thought they deserved a Google Translate explanation! Thankfully the elderly couple, kind souls they are didn't mind when I washed my feet and pants (still on me, lol) and shoes at a godsent sink outside their grocery store. It was probably easier to wash my pants that way and dry them out overnight while sleeping in them than to change into my shorts and then have to deal with them drying out the next day, for drizzle was forecasted. I deserved a beer for all of that! I had spotted what looked like a city building with an archway. It made a better sleeping option than to return through the gate and back into the field I had just come from to pitch my tent. Upon closer examination, the building was a gym and I slept under the arches until I was awoken by cops at one am. They were nice and both spoke English I refused an offer to sleep at their police station as was a bit far and I didn't want to return again. Remember folks, no road gaps. After a passport check, they moved me around the corner to a temple where I slept until 8 am

Next morning it was tough to get going again. Eventually, after three coffees, I was on my way. Thanks to the wonderful woman who works at a 7-11 for her wifi hotspot to make my progress update.

Outside the store, I met an interesting cyclist called Joseph Chiang who says he can't ride the 200 kilometres he often does when he travels. So he stuck a battery on his bike, a motor on his front wheel and he converted his bike to an electric one. His range is now roughly 150 km for a six-hour charge. Please see photos. 

That day I walked 23 kilometres.