> ## 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 11 - URL: https://www.taiwanquest.com/huandao-tainan-to-kaohsiung/ - Published: 2024-01-18T12:31:12.000Z - Updated: 2025-04-12T15:32:53.000Z - Description: Completing my circumnavigation of Taiwan by scooter, with a short ride from Tainan to Kaohsiung… - Author: Zhen-Kang | Distance | 60 km | | ---------------------- | ------- | | Ride time (with stops) | 3 hours | | Fountains of Apollo | 1 | **Despite being so near, today was the first time I rode from Tainan to Kaohsiung by scooter. Every other time I’d taken the train.** With a goal of reaching Kaohsiung Music Center at noon—precisely 10 days since starting my quest—I departed Tainan at 9am. ![View of a six-lane city street in Tainan, Taiwan. It’s an overcast day. There are four-to-seven-story buildings either side of the road.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/overcast-morning-in-tainan-taiwan-1.jpg) The city center was cool and overcast when I left. ![A motorcycle parked underneath new-looking solar panels with loose wiring.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/solar-roof-over-motorcycle-parking.jpg) I only had one stop today: Tainan’s Chimei Museum (奇美博物館). When I arrived, technicians were working on solar panels above the carpark. ![A curved boardwalk next to a lake, with an arched footbridge in the distance.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/boardwalk-outside-chimei-museum-taiwan-1.jpg) I followed this boardwalk through the museum grounds… ![Long exposure of the Fountain of Apollo in the grounds of Chimei Museum in Tainan City, Taiwan.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/apollos-fountain-reproduction-chimei-museum-taiwan.jpg) …To the Fountain of Apollo (阿波羅噴泉), a precise replica of the 1671 original from the Gardens of Versailles. Created with permission using 3D laser scans, the stone was carved in Italy then reassembled in Tainan. ![Long exposure of Olympic Bridge leading to Chimei Museum. The museum is built of stone in a neoclassical style, with a large dome topped by a golden statue.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/chimei-museum-tainan-taiwan-1.jpg) To one side of the fountain, Olympus Bridge (奧林帕斯橋) leads to the neoclassical Chimei Museum. The museum was funded by philanthropist Shi Wen-Long, founder of the electronics giant Chimei, for those [“who don’t have a chance to travel and see museums abroad”](https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/chimei-museum-taiwan/index.html). Entry remains free for Tainan residents. I visited once before and was astounded at how good this place is. It houses five collections: ancient weaponry, antiques and artifacts, fine arts, natural history, and musical instruments (including the world’s largest violin collection). ![A narrow riverside road (one car-width wide). The river is unattractive, with concrete walls on either side. The area around the river is quite green with trees, including a banana tree in the foreground.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/tainan-riverside-drive.jpg) Happy to get a museum photo this time (it’d been raining when I visited last year), soon I was back on the road. The journey from Tainan to Kaohsiung was almost entirely urban, apart from this stretch by a river. For the final hour, I played my all-time favorite road trip album, **New Adventures in Hi-Fi* by R.E.M. ![A point-of-view shot of Chang-Gu World Trade Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, taken while on a motorcycle at a red traffic light.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/chang-gu-world-trade-center-kaohsiung.jpg) It wasn’t clear where Tainan ended and Kaohsiung began. But soon I saw an outer station of the Kaohsiung MRT network, 17km from the city center. Then this building: Chang-Gu World Trade Center (長谷世貿聯合國大樓), the third-tallest building in Kaohsiung. ![A point-of-view shot taken from a motorcycle while stopped at a red light, of a four-lane road in Kaohsiung with Monkey Mountain barely visible in the far distance.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sym-mmbcu-dashboard-at-kaohsiung-intersection.jpg) Rounding a corner, I saw Monkey Mountain (壽山) in the distance. At this moment, I experienced a stirring sense of joy at being so close to home, and wondered if I should update my **pepeha* (a way to introduce yourself in Māori, which includes identifying your ancestral mountain—or, in my case, a mountain that is meaningful in some other way). ![Photo of Central Park taken across a few lanes of traffic. A scooter is driving by in the foreground. The park comprises many tall trees with an arched footbridge in the distance.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/central-park-kaohsiung-taiwan.jpg) Getting closer and closer, I passed Central Park (中央公園)… ![85 Sky Tower, an unconventional 85-floor skyscraper with a hollow central core, viewed in the distance across a bridge over Love River, Kaohsiung.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/85-sky-tower-kaohsiung.jpg) …Love River (爱河) and 85 Sky Tower (85大樓)… ![An SYM MMBCY scooter parked outside Kaohsiung Music Center. A motorcycle helmet rests on the scooter seat. It’s a beautiful sunny day.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sym-mmbcu-scooter-outside-kaohsiung-music-center.jpg) …And then I made it to the finish point: Kaohsiung Music Center, where I’d started my huandao at midday; exactly 240 hours and 1,360km earlier. (This time I wasn’t [chased by a cop](https://www.taiwanquest.com/huandao-kaohsiung-to-kenting/).) ![Close-up of an Apple Watch on a wrist, showing the time is 12 noon and the temperature is 25ºC.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/apple-watch-showing-12-noon.jpg) I can’t yet articulate everything I feel about this experience, but it’s been nothing but positive. Relative to my own undemanding standards, I feel a sense of achievement. And pride that I’ve completed something considered by many Taiwanese to be a rite of passage or step towards enlightenment. ‘Huandao’ (環島)—literally ‘around the island’—is one of the best things I’ve ever done. ![Screenshot of the iPhone Camera app, with the message ‘iPhone needs to cool down’ on the screen.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/iphone-needs-to-cool-down.jpg) I’ll publish a more reflective post—with a map!—some other time. For now, like my phone, I need to cool down. 🛵💨 --- ### Day 11 soundtrack 1. **M83 – Saturdays = Youth** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/saturdays-youth/1007596648)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3z77NvneHmnr1A2FPUfpLx)) 2. **R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/new-adventures-in-hi-fi/1440951221)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/3pPyHBRk2RvmNn4Cg1Asv6)) --- ### Dashcam timelapse [youtu.be/K0dhoYKIepk](https://youtu.be/K0dhoYKIepk) --- ## Update: April 18, 2024 I’ve finally published [my reflections on huandao (with a map)](https://www.taiwanquest.com/reflections-on-huandao/). ---