English Teacher in Taiwan
Taipei to Taipei
July 2004
What was it all about?
During July 2004, I was given the opportunity to be one of 5 foreigners to cycle around Taiwan for the Red Heart Foundation, in order to raise funds and increase awareness on behalf of the Red Heart Foundation, a local Taiwanese NGO, who attempts to minimize the suffering and stigma attached to the families of convicted criminals in Taiwan.
We cycled approximately 1000 km in 11 days from Taipei to Taipei, anti-clockwise around the island. Some of the notable town along our route included: Hsinchu, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Taitung, and Hualien.
The huge local Bicycle manufacturer on Taiwan, Giant, agreed to sponsor our bikes, clothing and Bike equipment for the trip. The participants of the tour included me, Toby Wilsdon from Britain, Nakajima Kensaku from Japan, Huang Jin Bao from Taiwan, and Don from Australia.
The event was extensively covered across Taiwan and even an article in a South African newspaper mentioned my participation in the tour.
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On the Taiwan cycling tour - July 2004
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About Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state
in East Asia. Its neighbours include China (officially the People's Republic of
China, PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the
south.
Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of
the United Nations, and also possesses the largest economy of any state outside
of the UN. Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world and its high-tech
industry plays a key role in the global economy.
It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare, public education, economic freedom, and human development.
The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly
educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its
citizens holding a tertiary education degree (Wikipedia).
Taipei start
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| Main team: South Africa, Taiwan, Australia, Britain & Japan |
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| Before the start of the tour - Taipei |
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| With my tour bike - Taipei |
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| Group photo of the team and their respective country consuls |
On tour
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| In action |
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| Checking my tires |
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| Stretching before day's ride |
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| At Giant's factory in Taiwan |
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| On a break - Western Taiwan |
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| Taking a break |
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| At one of our stops |
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| Promoting the tour - Hualien |
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| 'Working hard' |
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| On tour |
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| Meeting an important politician |
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| Taking it easy |
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| My bike flag with Taiwan countryside as a backdrop |
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| East Coast scenery - Taiwan |
gg
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| Arriving in the rain at our hotel in Kaohsiung |
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| Kaohsiung harbor view near the hotel |
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| Don and Toby enjoying the view at the end of a hard day |
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| Stunning Taiwanese countryside |
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| Taiwanese city....can't remember where. Remember we had a radio interview in this building whilst on tour |
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| Outside a hot spring |
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| Taking a well-deserved break at a hot spring to ease the pain |
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| Start of a new day |
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| Warming up for a new day |
The finish in Taipei
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| Taipei finish |
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| News conference |
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| TV interview |
Newspaper & magazine clippings
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| Taipei Times article about coming tour |
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The front page of Taiwanese Cycling magazine
I'm second from the front |
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| The article about the tour in Chinese |
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Local Hualien Newspaper covering the tour
I'm on the right |
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South African newspaper article about the tour
Written in Afrikaans |
To view Yilan County mountains and beaches, click
here!
To view highlights of other travels in Taiwan, click
here!
To view rural Luodong and the countryside in Yilan
County, click
here!
To view highlights of my experience Teaching English in Taiwan, click here!
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