Sichongxi Hot Springs to Jinlun Hot Springs 76km

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A beautiful day of riding along the 199 and then the coastal 9. The 199 was very narrow and twisty with some up and down and passing through nice pastures, aboriginal villages and forests. Being basically one lane wide they had mirrors positioned at very sharp corner or switchback which was quite handy. The 9 along the coast was two lanes wide but didn't have a shoulder most of the way. There were a ton of tour buses on it but they all seemed to be heading south which was handy. There were some great views as the road went up and down along the coast. We had a bit of a tough slog most of the way though as we were right into a decent wind. There was a point for a couple of minutes where the wind was picking up sand/road debris and 'sandblasting' us but just as we were wondering if it was going to force us to turn back to Dawu(the last town) it toned down. We had originally thought that we may only ride to Dawu but as it was early enough in the day and Jinlun looked big enough on the map to have hotels we decided to ride there(worst case scenario we knew that Taitung was another 35km or so north). To out pleasant surprise, Jinlun turned out to be a hot springs area with plenty of hotels to chose from! We ended up choosing Jinlun castle resort because it looked good and wasn't up a steep hill like a couple of the others! In the end it was great! Pricewise it was a bit of a splurge but it's handy being two people and besides the outdoor hot springs area we had a huge room with an equally huge tub that was fed with hot springs water as well-and buffet breakfast-we were sold!

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Photos

Route 9
Another shot of Josee's back. Unfortunately she hasn't developed the skill of shooting and riding yet so no shots of my back available :(

Custard apple
Really tasty