I got to Keelung fine, and I turned left to go up the coast before hitting downtown Keelung, but I didn't get too far before I realized it was dark already at 5:30 because of the clouds. It was basically nighttime, and that's the most dangerous time to be riding in Taiwan. In the daytime, people can see you clearly; after midnight, traffic thins out. But between nightfall and midnight, I don't trust Taiwanese motorists.
So I turned around and headed back towards Rte. 5, which is the road I always take between Keelung and Taipei, although I've explored a few deviations off that road. There was no choice, I was out during the dangerous time, so I just prepared to deal with it and hope for the best to get back.
But at one intersection where I was waiting for a red light to turn green, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was another person on a bike behind me. I didn't pay him any mind, I just assumed I was faster than him and wouldn't see him again. But then the light turned green, and he took off. Turned out to be a punk-ass high school student. I was like, "alright, whatever". There wasn't anything going on, he just looked like he was rushing to get somewhere, and I didn't think anything of it and just went at my own pace, but as I got up to speed, he didn't get too far in front.
Then at an intersection I had crossed and was planning to cross back to get to Rte. 5, he turned right. I didn't know what that right turn was, but at the last minute, after I was already starting through the intersection, I veered right to follow, curious where that road went. Eventually he slowed down and I could've overtaken him, but I had no idea where this was going, so I decided just to follow and laid back so as to not freak him out. The road went on for just a bit until it reached a bridge I recognized from traveling on Rte. 5, I was just on the other side of it. I was like, "cool, here's an alternate route I can take". But instead of crossing the bridge and getting back on Rte. 5, the road continued and I decided to take that, maybe finding more alternate routes back to Taipei on the backroads, safer than Rte. 5.
And lo and behold, that road also took me to another landmark I recognized off Rte. 5. And there I found roads that continued off Rte. 5 which I had seen before and thought of exploring in the future. No time better than the present. That's when the ride got surreal. Eventually, I ended up in the mountainous countryside. This was no alternate route on the backroads back to Taipei. These were roads leading to off the beaten path. I was using Jupiter high in the southern sky (at the time I thought it was Venus, but I later realized that it's impossible for Venus to get that high in the sky, since its orbit is inside of Earth's) to guide me west to Taipei. As long as I could keep it on my left, I was heading west.
I came to an intersection that I had to ponder which way to go. It looked like straight would keep Jupiter on my left, but more cars were turning right. I headed right following the cars and that was a mistake. For several miles, Jupiter being on my left wasn't happening. In fact, at some point it was on my right, meaning I was heading towards Keelung, but mostly it was behind me, meaning I was heading north. Another odd thing was that all the cars disappeared. Don't know what was up with that. Anyway, I backtracked the several miles, something I hate doing, but it didn't look like that road was going to turn left at any point. I had forgotten about the intersection, but was glad for it because I didn't want to backtrack all the way to familiar territory. So I took that other way.
That way, indeed, kept Jupiter on my left, and absolutely no cars. Very bizarre. And then the road started to climb, and then I realized that I was going up. This was a climb. I was going up a mountain. I was concerned because I haven't been riding very well and didn't know if I could handle a climb, but I just plugged at it and wasn't suffering. Eventually I went above the streetlamp line and was in darkness with just ambient light bouncing off the bottom of the clouds to light my way (my headlamp was failing). It was very surreal, especially the no-car part. When I ride late at night, I don't expect cars, but in the early evening, it made me feel like some alternative world. I eventually put my iPod shuffle on because it was giving me the creeps.
The road going up eventually led to road going down. When forks provided choices, I kept going down and eventually ended up in what looked like a valley that I hoped would suddenly become familiar. It didn't, and when I got to a T-intersection with a road that looked like I was close to civilization, I wasn't sure which way to go, until I saw a highway beyond the hedge, which was no doubt running between Taipei and Keelung, which meant a right turn was west.
Finally I reached recognizable landscape – downtown Xizhi – and approached it on a road that I had seen on the way I usually go, but never ventured down to explore. Neat. I like when that happens.
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| MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 6:23 p.m. - Freeway interchange, Xizhi township. Riding home after nightfall. |
