Chapter 5

Guangzhou, third biggest city in China I believe. As per usual when I arrive in these massive Chinese cities I'm totally lost and miles away from the city centre. Its 5am so I decide to just go as far as I can out of the city. It's still warm and I enjoy the ride somehow through the industrial nightmare around the parts of old Canton. I follow the compass on my watch and the sun east and decide I can't go that wrong if I do, it's the coast after all.

Things continue on like this for a few days, not as much fun alone as it's all so familiar as when I travelled with the Swiss Rolls. Eventually the scenery changes from the endless new cities and I'm in the hills and mountains of Guangdong. Its beautiful here with all the old Hakka roundhouses and endless tea plantations. The sun is shining and the cycling is amazing, I grab hold of a few brick trucks to pull me up the hills "what is this crazy white guy doing?" is written all over the smiling faces of the Chinese people. I stay a few nights in my little tent, so lost at times that I don't even know where I am at all but loving the total freedom of being alone on a bike in mysterious China and camping whenever I'm tired.

I thumb a lift to Meizhou on Mearsk shipping truck by two guys from Shenzen and in usual over-the-top Chinese hospitality I get taken out for a lunch of pork stuffed tofu and fish, there is nice Chinese food around if you know what to look for. I have some difficulty finding a room in Meizhou but a young guy tells me I can stay at his house with him family, and being the bum that I am I accept immediately. Xiao Ban's whole family are incredibly kind and as 85 year old granddad is over, a special feast is prepared including god-awful fruitwine and chicken claws that I politely eat. I get taken around and stay another night as an honoured guest then head off again for Fouzhou.

After 700 km's I get to Zhangping and find a place to stay. The family who run the hotel say they've never even seen a foreigner in Zhangping let alone staying in their hotel so after holding up their children for photograph's I get taken to dinner (with cigarettes), breakfast (with cigarettes), a tour of the town on moped (with cigarettes), lunch (more cigarettes) then I catch a bus to Fouzhou as I'm running out of time, and a bit tired after 13 days of straight cycling.

I couchsurf in Fouzhou for a few nights then make my way to the ferry terminal to get to Taiwan. My last morning in Mainland China! In typical China fashion, no one can tell me where the ferry terminal is and there is no direct ferry so I have to go to Matsu Island which is part of Taiwan. Matsu Island is a military base with a population of a couple of hundred. There is no boat until the following day and I have no Taiwanese money. I sell some RMB and get a bed for the night then catch a massive empty boat to Keelung near Taipei with bored soldiers.

Is Taiwan part of China? Well technically yes but absolutely no. They do speak Mandarin, but they have their own money, a democratic government, they don't spit on the ground and smoke everywhere, they are clean and polite and the food is amazing. If mainland China is the empire, Taiwan is the rebel alliance but have way too many friends to be messed with.

I love it immediately, it's like being in Japan, well it was part of Japan for a long time. The people don't openly stare at me like in the Mainland but they're still watching. I get the train to Mioali and meet my friend Nick who I travelled with in Xinjiang and his girlfriend Ling. I stay in the woods of this surprising little island and enjoy the nicest food I've tasted in a very long time, go for hot springs, chew Binlan (betel nuts sold by half naked girls on the side of the road) drink whiskey, teach English for an hour to 8 year olds at a school ("I boy", oh whatever!) and have a laugh. We all go to Sun Moon lake in the centre of Taiwan for a weekend of camping, perfect weather, boats, Aboriginals, cable cars, fires, whiskey and long walks.

My last little adventure before Taipei is in Tainan where I stay with Nick's Sister Lauren in the shack built on top of an apartment complex. I scooter around looking at the temples, going to Moonworld, drinking Papaya milk, eating superb vegetarian food, partying in Tinpan alley and the Armoury, and being a rockstar. Another place I was sad to leave. Back to Mioli and a last night of epic drinking and dramas and I have to say goodbye to my friends and the Trooper 3300 (my bike) and all my gear. This part was very sad, 3500 or so km's together, from Xi'ning to Chengdu to Hanoi to here. I decided I'll come back and get it next year and continue on!

The last few nights in Taipei and I shopped, went to the Musuem where all the treasures of Mainland China are kept, saw the second tallest building in the world, looked for party's that weren't there, ate more great food, had my camera lens fixed then went to the airport to go to Australia and be back in the west.

It's been quite an adventure and I really can't imagine going to back to working a monotonous job, knowing what to expect tomorrow and waiting for the weekend - but who says I have to do that?.....