Taiwan Trip: Day 13 (01/08/2013)

On the road again... Last time!

We knew when starting off from TaiZhong (台中市) at 6.30am that today would not be the best day of our trip. It was not for  the taste of the breakfast we grabbed at the closest 7/Eleven – no better nor worse than the previous days, or about the weather – already nice at that time of the day. The motorbikes had not been stolen; we had had a good night sleep… No, the only bad thing about that day was that it was going to be the last one of our trip around Taiwan, a 13-day exciting adventure!

We have not carried away many memories from the 180 km we drove from TaiZhong as the road and scenery had nothing special and the bitter impression that this was going to be our last ride in a long time busied our minds. The sun shone hard on us for the whole ride and we finally made it to New Taipei City (新北市), where we stopped for the proverbial McDonald’s meal. A well-deserved one since we had been desperately looking for the restaurant in the previous 2 hours, although the whole way seemed beforehand paved with dozens of MacDonald’s, that we methodically let by in our wish to get to NTC as early as possible.

The old bike gave its last breath, again

Back to our bikes, we were both ready and eager to ride the 10 km that separated us from my flat and a nice shower… Only my bike was not. Starter, accelerator; nothing worked, no sign of life. Definitively punished for having enjoyed life too much in the past two weeks, I felt helpless but Ben encouraged me and we pushed the stubborn charger to the closest garage where the mechanic, with whom any conversation proved difficult in the first place, implied that a spark plug might be out and that he could not do anything for us. Pissed off and tired, I let Ben call the owner of the bikes, with whom the signed contract said he would provide assistance within the area covered by the Taipei MRT system… Notwithstanding our presence within that area, he let us in our own shit and reminded us that the bikes had to be returned at 6.30pm on the same day if we wanted our deposits back. Jerk.

Fixing is easy with Google Translate!

Back to the garage, we insisted on getting the bike fixed and the mechanic asked his apprentice to try and deal with us. No English spoken again, our Chinese hadn't gotten any better in the meanwhile, so he came up with an alternative. On a computer at the corner of the garage, he typed characters that Google directly translated into English. The first word that appeared was “wage”; "Of course we will pay you if you fix the bike!" Following this blessing, the bike was lifted up and almost completely taken down to pieces, in order for them to establish a diagnostic. As opposed to what we thought we had understood earlier, the piece that caused the breakdown was the battery.

Operations in process

We used Google Translate in turn and here was their answer: “Ordinateur moto Godfather végétal 1250 NT”. Hum, the NTD 1,250 we understood, but the rest of the sentence needed a bit more clarity if we were to pay this amount. It was more than time to ring my absolute Joker, my savior for so many times during my stay in Taiwan, my beloved flatmate Jimbo! At 2.00pm, I wasn’t too surprised when he told me I had just woken him up and that he had a bad hangover. We let the apprentice explain to him the situation in Chinese (in Taiwanese actually) and, back on the phone with Jimbo, he summed up “Hey, they can put you a not-Yamaha battery, more cheaper (sic), I think it’s good!”. We quickly accepted and sat down waiting for the new battery to be delivered, sipping a Pocari Sweat drink offered by the garage! An hour later, the bike was in one piece again and stood on its wheels. A thick white smoke coming out of the exhaust and two weeks of experience convinced us to have the oil changed before moving on. After all, NTD 1,500 (c. 35€) were still far less than the NTD 7,000 deposit we would have had to pay otherwise!

Last dinner with old and new friends

Just enough time for a shower, a refreshing drink and we headed towards Taipower Building, where we were meant to return the bikes. To our astonishment, Jeremy did not inspect the bikes thoroughly, merely started them, pulled the accelerator and gave us back our cash.
High five with Ben, mission accomplished and we are sure to remember this trip for long; or at least for the next few days: proud of our tanned skin in the morning, we decided not to put sunscreen on… And learned a good lesson when we arrived, red like two crayfish!

We drove 180 kms on the last day

So here we are, 13 days and roughly 1,350 kms later... Our last day together in TaiPei conveyed mixed feelings of happiness, completion and newborn nostalgia... Travelling is growing; so they say. Though the saying cannot be literally applied to Louis whose head still is less than 1m from the ground (got you buddy), we could not more agree with it. It is with minds full of unforgettable pictures and melancholic but eager hearts that we eventually left Taiwan, which definitely has a lot to offer.

We do hope you took pleasure in reading us and/or that you grabbed useful insights for your next trip. Do not hesitate to contact us if you want some tips. Thanks a ton for your visit!

'Til next time Asia...