> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.taiwanquest.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Huandao Day 8 - URL: https://www.taiwanquest.com/huandao-hsinchu-to-taichung/ - Published: 2024-01-15T12:31:47.000Z - Updated: 2025-01-19T05:15:58.000Z - Description: An easy ride from Hsinchu to Taichung… - Author: Zhen-Kang | Distance | 140 km | | ---------------------- | ------- | | Ride time (with stops) | 5 hours | | Actual leopard cats | 0 | **Today, Google Maps led me on an easy route that was also kinda mundane.** But it felt nice to be arrive in Taichung, only 11 days after I was here on my [bubble tea odyssey](https://www.taiwanquest.com/bubble-tea-odyssey/). (A day that feels like months ago, already.) I felt unwell on arrival. Probably allergies or tiredness, or a consequence of riding 1,000km on a scooter. I’ll sleep early tonight. ![An SYM MMBCU scooter on a hoist in a mechanic workshop.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sym-mmbcu-scooter-oil-change.jpg) Yesterday, I ticked over 1,000km since my pre-huandao scooter maintenance. So, first-up today, an oil change. ![An iPhone 15 Pro being held in front of the entrance to a TSMC building.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/iphone-15-pro-outside-tsmc-museum-of-innovation-hsinchu-taiwan.jpg) Next, I made a quick stop outside TSMC’s global headquarters in Hsinchu. My phone’s powered by a 3-nanometer chip manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan. The company is critically important to Taiwan: [it contributes 15% of Taiwan’s GDP](https://www.taiwanplus.com/shows/culture/taiwan-keywords/230823010/how-tsmc-became-taiwans-silicon-shield-and-the-future-of-semiconductors), and is part of the island’s ‘[Silicon Shield](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/07/1127595393/taiwan-miracle-semiconductor-silicon-shield-china)’—the concept that, because TSMC manufactures 50% of the world’s semiconductors, the EU and the US are reliant on Taiwan, and therefore have an incentive to stop China from invading. ![Five wind turbines in a rural area of Taiwan, viewed from the side of a road.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/taiwan-on-shore-wind-turbines.jpg) Heading south, I rode past hundreds of wind turbines. Like TSMC, wind is important for Taiwan’s national security. [Taiwan depends on fossil fuel imports for 97% of its total energy requirements.](https://thediplomat.com/2022/09/taiwans-greatest-vulnerability-is-its-energy-supply/) In addition to being environmentally alarming, this makes Taiwan vulnerable to having its non-renewable energy supply cut off, in the event of war. ![Two park bench-style seats next to a pond in a forest.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/dahzu-south-wetland-taiwan.jpg) In between turbines, I ate lunch at the Dazhu South Wetland (大竹南湿地). ![A digital information board with seven emission types listed, along with two numbers for each. Aside from the numbers, all writing is in Chinese. The display is mounted on a structure that resembles a bus shelter.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/taiwan-factory-emissions-display.jpg) There’s a factory next to the wetland entrance. Outside the gates, I thought this was a bus schedule until I got closer: it’s actually a readout of the factory’s particle emissions. For example, the first line shows 57.4 PPM of nitrogen oxide, well under the limit of 180.0 PPM. ![A Taiwanese road sign warning of Taiwan leopard cats ahead.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/taiwan-leopard-cat-road-sign.jpg) Further south, I saw this sign warning of Taiwan leopard cats. They’re a critically-endangered species, with fewer than 500 left in the wild. I didn’t spot any today, but… ![A wall of a building at Rainbow Village (彩虹眷村) in Taichung, Taiwan. Amongst the figures painted on this wall is a cartoonish Taiwan leopard cat.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/taiwan-leopard-cat-painting-at-rainbow-village-taichung.jpg) …I saw a painting of one at Rainbow Village in Taichung, a place I also visited in 2018 and 2019\. It was closed today so I just had a look around the perimeter. When I was here previously, it felt like the happiest place on earth. But [conflict between the artist and the village operator](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/01/taiwan-rainbow-village-defaced-after-operators-told-to-move-out) means I’m now unsure of its status. ![A brightly-painted wall of Rainbow Village in the foreground, and a tall apartment building in the background. The apartment building is perhaps 25 stories tall.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/rainbow-village-perimeter-wall-2024.jpg) Something else has changed since 2019: formerly-vacant land next door is now covered in high-rise apartments. ![The forecourt of Rainbow Village, shaded by a new gray concrete wall on the right.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/rainbow-village-in-shade-1.jpg) The new buildings were casting a shadow over the forecourt at 3:30pm. ![A happy young woman looking at a sign that says Rainbow Village. Brightly-painted village buildings are visible behind her, with crowds of people in the foreground.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/rainbow-village-december-2018.jpg) So, here’s a photo from happier times: December 2018. --- ### Day 8 soundtrack 1. **Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/whats-going-on/1538081586)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2v6ANhWhZBUKkg6pJJBs3B)) 2. **Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/this-is-my-truth-tell-me-yours/712754780)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3gUL89r4nMGlkjRdfiZfZW)) 3. **Knives at Noon – Glitter Guts** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/glitter-guts-ep/1690609532)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/6RN4abcNFJ5SHGrsF45H5R)) 4. **Joe 90 – Dream This** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/dream-this/1443598933)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2iAQe6wvzjzgejaR8bkfgh)) --- ### Dashcam timelapse [youtu.be/owzxKQRXvBM](https://youtu.be/owzxKQRXvBM) ---