Day 20 - From Lukang To Xihu, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
Day 20 - From Lukang To Xihu, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
The weather today has returned to very high temperatures, with almost no breeze and a bright sun that brought the effective temperature to 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
We are finding it more difficult to walk longer distances in the heat, so the plan for today was to walk to the town of Xihu without our backpacks, which will cover half of the walking distance to our next destination.
We will return to our guesthouse in Lukang at the end of the day, and continue walking again tomorrow from Xihu to Beidou.
We walked through a series of small farming villages.
The smell of the fertilized fields in the sun, combined with the smell of chicken shit, was almost too powerful for me.
I felt dizzy from the heat and the stench of manure.
The red brick farmhouses were in various stages of decay, but I could still see how well they were designed for the household of a farming family.
The old houses always had a front courtyard, which was used to dry grains, grill food, store vats of pickled tofu and soy sauce, and in better weather, offer an outdoor living space.
We passed by many beautiful rural temples decorated with deities, dragons and phoenixes.
In the middle of each temple roof you will always see the three wise men.
These three immortals symbolize Blessings, Wealth and Longevity.
Each temple has three entrance doors.
Visitors are expected to enter via the doorway on the right, and leave through the doorway on the left.
The entrance door on the right is known as the ‘dragon door,’ while the left entrance is the ‘tiger door’.
On each door there are paintings (or sometimes wood carvings) of a full-body portrait of a guardian, who
is usually dressed in beautiful attire of robes or armors, decorated with tiger faces, flowers and birds, dragons and snakes.
Because the design of the temples is similar, our photos do not show how amazing some of the temples were.
The temple in the city of Xihu had many stone carvings on the posts and wooden carvings on the ceilings, and looked especially glorious.
In the courtyard there was a glove-puppet truck, performing stories recounting the ancient traditions.
Our walk back was an easy one totaling only 14 km, but because of the extreme heat we stopped frequently at convenience stores along the way, to cool off and get drinks.
There were no people walking around and everyone was staring at us.
I was wondering how they knew I was a foreigner.
I was covered from head to toe with hiking clothes to protect my skin, and I was wearing big sunglasses and a hat, so there was no way to detect my facial features.
But they all stared intently, people riding scooters and drivers in cars, all veering into our path to get a closer look.
The farming communities had an occasional farm shop, food stands or a cooperative market, which made the walk more enjoyable.
When we returned to Lukang, we saw that all the vegetarian restaurants were closed on Sunday or closed early.
The daily walk in the heat reduced my appetite, and I was willing not to eat any dinner.
But we stopped at a convenience store anyway and bought some rice balls, bananas and sweet potatoes.
Back in our guesthouse I showered and had some tea and a banana.
I left the rice balls and sweet potatoes for tomorrow when I would have some appetite.
Before bed I looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow.
It will be sunny and hot.
Luckily we will only have a short day of walking, the other half of the walk we did today.
The idea of walking to yet another roadside motel, did not speak to me at all.
I had no idea that the motels here were so junky.
I asked Jules to help me cancel any future reservations we made in motels.
The motel for tomorrow night was the easiest choice to cancel, because they don’t allow check-in until 8 pm, and we have nowhere to be until this ridiculous time.
We wrote to them asking for an early check-in, but got no response.
I found a much better guesthouse in the town of Beidou, which was actually a pretty modern apartment to rent for the night instead.
The motel was not cancellable and we might not get a refund, but I was willing to forgo the cost in order not to stay in a cheesy motel again.
We continued on with cancelling two other motel stays that we have farther down the road, but at this time not adding any bookings to replace them. We might walk from the nearby city hotel to cover the distances instead.
I was asking myself why I decided to cancel the motels.
Was I seeking more comfort or better aesthetics?
Not really.
The main reason is that they only allow very late check in, and we cannot stay outdoors all evening, especially when there is no Starbucks nearby.
At the end of a day of walking, I am really craving to offload my backpack, take a shower and to rest my feet.
The second thing I didn’t know when I made the motel bookings, is that it is so easy to use the train or bus to help us get to a guesthouse or a hotel at the end of the day, and then walk again the next day the rest of the way, without carrying our backpacks.
The energy of the roadside motels is a bit sad.
They are usually on the side of the highway and are not maintained as well as the modern guesthouses we have stayed in so far.
With love,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Steps - 20,369
Daily Distance - 14 km.
Total Distance To Date - 309 km
