> ## 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 3 - URL: https://www.taiwanquest.com/huandao-taitung-to-hualien/ - Published: 2024-01-10T13:04:12.000Z - Updated: 2025-01-19T04:54:54.000Z - Description: Elections and erections between Taitung and Hualien… - Author: Zhen-Kang | Distance | 180 km | | ---------------------- | ------- | | Ride time (with stops) | 6 hours | | Stone penises | 10 | **The weather was mixed again, but it didn’t matter on decent roads. Today was great.** Taiwan’s east coast is indeed as beautiful as everyone says. But despite the dramatic scenery, today’s ride was uneventful, apart from all the penises… ![Numerous cat paw prints on a black scooter seat.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/cat-paw-prints-on-scooter-seat.jpg) My scooter was covered in paw prints when I checked out of the B&B. ![A scooter parked on an elevated roadway, with forest and coconut trees, and the sea, in the distance.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/scooter-parked-on-taitung-coast.jpg) The weather could not have been better for the first hour of my ride, apart from the wind: near Taitung, I had to drive around coconuts that’d blown onto the road. ![A scooter parked next to a pineapple plantation.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/scooter-parked-next-to-taiwan-pineapple-plantation-1.jpg) I stopped by this pineapple field to put on my jacket. ![A large election billboard next to a four-lane road in the countryside.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/taiwan-election-campaign-billboard.jpg) Across the road was one of hundreds of election ads. I also saw around a dozen groups of campaigners, plus the usual grandpa-riding-a-scooter-with-a-political-banner-on-the-back thing. (I’m not being cynical. Taiwan’s a young democracy. I admire how much this freedom is valued.) ![A mannequin in high-visibility clothing, in front of some roadworks, holding two flags that read ‘slow’ in Chinese.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/taiwan-roadworks-mannequin.jpg) I stopped for roadworks a couple of times. Note the mannequin holding the red ‘slow’ (慢) flags. (Sometimes these mannequins are mechanized, waving their arms up and down.) I was the second scooter in the queue. Before letting us through, a roadworker approached saying something in Chinese—but as I lifted my visor and he saw I was foreign, without missing a beat he diverted attention to the scooter in front and gave them instructions instead. ![Long exposure of an eight-arched footbridge leading to a small forest-and-mountain-covered island.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sanxiantai-bridge-1.jpg) I had a late breakfast at the famous Sanxiantai Bridge (三仙台跨海步道橋). [I visited here in August](https://www.taiwanquest.com/two-days-in-taitung/), and today was disappointed to see it’s still closed. ![Screenshot of a webcam image of a man standing on a rock next to the Sanxiantai Bridge in Taiwan. In the lower-right corner is a graphic indicating six people were watching at that moment.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sanxiantai-bridge-webcam.jpg) But I was happy to make an appearance on the Sanxiantai webcam, doubtlessly enthralling its six viewers as I scaled a small rock. ![A warning sign that includes the line ‘No Electro, Poison or Blast Fishing‘.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/no-fishing-sign-1.jpg) (Taiwanese fishermen are intense.) ![A grassy area with some wooden seating and a cave visible a few meters away. There is something poking out of the cave.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/nanrenshi-taiwan.jpg) Six kilometers up the coast, I stopped here, at this unconventional temple. It may look G-rated, but what’s that in the cave? ![A large stone sculpture of an erect penis, inside a cave.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/nanrenshi-stone-penis.jpg) It’s a giant stone penis, of course. ![A small stone sculpture of an erect penis, perhaps 30cm tall, mounted on a stone post next to a curved pathway.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/nanrenshi-small-penis-statue.jpg) Nine smaller penises line this ring around the primary phallus. When I woke up this morning, I didn’t imagine I’d be taking dick pics, but here we are. ![Partially-burned joss sticks stick in a crevice in some rock.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/nanrenshi-joss-sticks.jpg) A Chinese-language sign behind the giant stone penis read something like “the first god”(?!). People come here to pray for fertility. Taiwan has a rapidly-declining birth rate, so maybe it needs more giant stone penises. ![A tall, thin stone monument above the words ‘Hualien’ and ‘Taitung’ printed on the pavement. A motorcycle is parked between the two words, facing the camera with its lights on.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/hualien-taitung-border.jpg) Thankfully, the next sculpture I saw was marginally-less phallic, here on the Hualien–Taitung border. ![A tall, round sculpture with a ball on top, next to a busy carpark. A bus drives past in the foreground.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/tropic-of-cancer-monument-taiwan.jpg) Further up the road, I saw this giant erection: a monument marking where the Tropic of Cancer bisects Taiwan. It was raining when I arrived, so I parked my scooter under a stall awning that extended across the cycle path, then bought some peanuts to justify my presence. ![Large waves reaching the shore beneath forest-clad mountains. It is a misty day.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/hualien-coast.jpg) Continuing north, parts of the coastline resembled the West Coast of Te Waipounamu / New Zealand’s South Island. ![A take-out coffee and a hand holding a paper bag containing a partially-eaten sweet potato.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/hot-sweet-potato.jpg) I had a late lunch—hot sweet potato and a coffee—at the 7-Eleven in Fengbin Township. In the store, two young girls (around age 7) came up to me on rollerblades and said hello (in English), then hello again as I left the store, and again as I was putting on my helmet. ![A two-lane road tunnel with art deco-style decorative details around the tunnel entrance.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/huallien-road-tunnel-entrance.jpg) I rode through a series of tunnels, enjoying respite from the wind, before reaching Hualien City an hour before dark. --- ### Day 3 soundtrack 1. **Passion Pit – Manners** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/manners/366648515)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/6H51jH1SuzV6ca1VxW2Tmv)) 2. **Led Zeppelin – IV** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/led-zeppelin-iv-remastered/580708175)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/5EyIDBAqhnlkAHqvPRwdbX)) 3. **Kylie – Fever** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/fever/697404588)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/4WzTXHp8bVKkKNu3UQ2Fqu)) 4. **Röyksopp – Junior** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/junior/709397994)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/72pfynZ5zFmro2Z2inHs7d)) 5. **Röyksopp – The Understanding** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-understanding/693193540)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/1HkKeOklBwC1auQJ5Huwcm)) --- ### Dashcam timelapse [youtu.be/ih37Kf-M7XU](https://youtu.be/ih37Kf-M7XU) ---