It was 0940 when I took the right turn and slid out of the front gate of the uni with grace. The shocked and consequently dumbfounded expression on the guard's face was priceless, I couldn't help grinning. The first stop was the Japanese department, followed by the Spanish and ended with the ATM of the post office. There concluded the short trip to the uni and the beginning of the proper ride.
In a little more than an hour I found myself entering Dajia. If my memory services me right, it had already been like 6 years since the last time I was here. Didn't linger for too long, just pedalled through, but the impression it gave me wasn't too bad. However, it could be just me for I was fresh setting off and the elements hadn't had their hands on me yet.
Shortly after lunch in a roadside FamilyMart somewhere between Yuanli and Tongsiao, it started first to drizzle and then shower down the road. The weather forecast man surely wasn't bullshitting this time. After a gentle round of verbally versatile rhetorical exchange with the rain under the shade of a grocery store, I put my sleeping bag in the heavy duty black garbage bag courtesy of the friendly folks over there at the Arigato gozaimasu department, and my handlebar bag in another one. With rain and safety (reflective vest, thanks Grace!) gear up, I promptly got out of shelter.
Guaranteed To Keep You Dry™ my ass, about an hour into cycling in the rain I was soaking wet, not from the rain breaching the outer shell, but from the gathering moisture and sweat imprisoned inside the barrier, let alone my rain pants which were just normal nylon. At the end of the day I was as wet as the result of a galactic orgasm.
Then before me the road bifurcated into two separate ways all leading to Hsinchu, one followed the faster coastal Expressway No.61; and the other was the originally planned route, longer yet faithful to the old Provincial Highway No.1 through Toufen. I'd been trying of no avail to get in touch with A-Pe ever since I past Tongsiao trying to tell her that I was in the vicinity. So I rang her again and waited for sometime at the bifurcation. Upon not getting any replies and the hour too late I decided to take the No.61 and head for the day's destination directly.
Just as I was taking a break from the uphill made incessant by the rain and chatting with the farmer, Mi-Er and A-Pe rang. But calculating the extra kilometres, the hour and the strength I had left, I knew it was already too late for me to turn back at this point. When I reached Toufen I wouldn't be able to do the remaining 18k to Hsinchu. So I pushed on and when I finally hit Hsinchu the moon was hanging high on the sky.
The church charged me an extortionate NT500 (US15) for one night, surely the nun was passionate about ripping off sincere, talented yet short-of-fund youth. Hsinchu strikes me as an odd place, it didn't feel like a city at all, only later did I found out that I hadn't entered the city yet, I was still in the outskirt. That night it rained and the wind blew so that alone in the spacious room inside the church with only the cellphone connecting me to the outside world, keeping in touch with any real human beings, my thoughts were overshadowed by the following day's ride to Taipei.
八月七號.
早上9點40我優雅的做個90度的彎衝出學校大門往清水方向快速推進。當我8點半緩緩騎進學校時，站在門口校警隊工讀生那像看到神經病的表情真是讓我想到就好笑。校內拍照比耶的第一站是日文系，接著是西文系，最後是郵局的提款機。
約莫一個小時之後我人已經在大甲溪橋上。如果我沒有紀錯的話，最近一次來大甲已經是6、7年前大二或大一的事了，我對自己國家地理的不熟悉也不是完全沒有理由。我並沒有在大甲逗留太久，但是它給我的印象還不算太差，可是現在說還不準因為我才剛開始騎不久，速度不錯，士氣還算高昂，也還沒有遇到任何狂風或是暴雨。
像是預言般似的，於苑裡和通霄中某處路旁的一間就是你家吃過中餐後不久毛毛細雨就開始在天上隨風而飄。起先我還不是很在意，但當它倏地變形成磅礡的天殺大雨時我只好落荒而逃趕緊找地方躲起來。在和從天而降的生命泉源低聲辯論過一些有關長輩的議題之後，我把手把袋用塑膠袋包著，睡袋則放進日文系熱情贊助的黑色大垃圾袋裡。我也穿上雨衣、雨褲和反光背心繼續前進。
在雨中騎了差不多一個小時，我因為穿雨衣濕氣跑不出去加上流汗而全身溼透，當我騎完之後我就濕的有如剛看完A片似的。“保證讓您乾爽”，再一次證明了廠商的廣告總是誇大不實，而且價格貴的嚇人。
不久，台一線分叉：一條比較長，經過頭份通往新竹；另一條比較短，接西濱61號快速公路直接連新竹。自從經過通霄之後我便一直打給阿pe，但都沒有人接，我在交叉口又等了一會兒卻也是沒有回應。最後因為時間的壓力，我當下就決定走較短的西濱跳過頭份。但就當我於騎上那因雨勢而更顯永無止盡的小山坡而疲憊不堪在路旁和農夫交換有關天氣的訊息時，她們打了過來。但這為時已晚，等我折返，再到頭份時我早就沒有精力再騎到新竹，而且等到那時天色勢必已晚。
我一向不是很喜歡晚上趕路。在冰島有一次因為朋友早上六點多的飛機，所以我就摸黑拔營動身前往差不多30幾公里外的機場送行。不久，當地的朋友聽到這件事之後，卻跟我說我走的那條公路上傳言有女鬼出沒。
所以我就繼續沿著西濱走，當我抵達新竹時月亮已經高掛在天邊。當然，我不是因為怕遇到阿飄而毅然決定走西濱，這是原則的問題。
經過路人指點，我住進一間教堂裡。那修女我不用懷疑，直接認定她是掛羊頭賣狗肉，因為她竟然跟我索取500元住宿費！這簡直是土匪搶人，現在就只差她頭上戴著絲襪、手中握著棒球棍我就可以叫警察來抓人了。但因為我又髒又餓又累只想洗澡吃飯睡覺所以保護費繳一缴就給他進去了。當晚狂風大作，而雨就像洩洪一樣撲天蓋地淹了下來，獨自坐在空蕩蕩的教堂內寬敞的房間裡，我唯一跟外界的聯繫就是我的手機。看著窗外，這時我心理已經有需要坐車去台北的準備，但是問了好幾間客運它們都不能帶腳踏車，阿火車又不能同時和人一起到，於是我就在煩惱著明天到底要怎樣去台北中睡著了。
In a little more than an hour I found myself entering Dajia. If my memory services me right, it had already been like 6 years since the last time I was here. Didn't linger for too long, just pedalled through, but the impression it gave me wasn't too bad. However, it could be just me for I was fresh setting off and the elements hadn't had their hands on me yet.
Shortly after lunch in a roadside FamilyMart somewhere between Yuanli and Tongsiao, it started first to drizzle and then shower down the road. The weather forecast man surely wasn't bullshitting this time. After a gentle round of verbally versatile rhetorical exchange with the rain under the shade of a grocery store, I put my sleeping bag in the heavy duty black garbage bag courtesy of the friendly folks over there at the Arigato gozaimasu department, and my handlebar bag in another one. With rain and safety (reflective vest, thanks Grace!) gear up, I promptly got out of shelter.
Guaranteed To Keep You Dry™ my ass, about an hour into cycling in the rain I was soaking wet, not from the rain breaching the outer shell, but from the gathering moisture and sweat imprisoned inside the barrier, let alone my rain pants which were just normal nylon. At the end of the day I was as wet as the result of a galactic orgasm.
Then before me the road bifurcated into two separate ways all leading to Hsinchu, one followed the faster coastal Expressway No.61; and the other was the originally planned route, longer yet faithful to the old Provincial Highway No.1 through Toufen. I'd been trying of no avail to get in touch with A-Pe ever since I past Tongsiao trying to tell her that I was in the vicinity. So I rang her again and waited for sometime at the bifurcation. Upon not getting any replies and the hour too late I decided to take the No.61 and head for the day's destination directly.
Just as I was taking a break from the uphill made incessant by the rain and chatting with the farmer, Mi-Er and A-Pe rang. But calculating the extra kilometres, the hour and the strength I had left, I knew it was already too late for me to turn back at this point. When I reached Toufen I wouldn't be able to do the remaining 18k to Hsinchu. So I pushed on and when I finally hit Hsinchu the moon was hanging high on the sky.
The church charged me an extortionate NT500 (US15) for one night, surely the nun was passionate about ripping off sincere, talented yet short-of-fund youth. Hsinchu strikes me as an odd place, it didn't feel like a city at all, only later did I found out that I hadn't entered the city yet, I was still in the outskirt. That night it rained and the wind blew so that alone in the spacious room inside the church with only the cellphone connecting me to the outside world, keeping in touch with any real human beings, my thoughts were overshadowed by the following day's ride to Taipei.
***
八月七號.
早上9點40我優雅的做個90度的彎衝出學校大門往清水方向快速推進。當我8點半緩緩騎進學校時，站在門口校警隊工讀生那像看到神經病的表情真是讓我想到就好笑。校內拍照比耶的第一站是日文系，接著是西文系，最後是郵局的提款機。
約莫一個小時之後我人已經在大甲溪橋上。如果我沒有紀錯的話，最近一次來大甲已經是6、7年前大二或大一的事了，我對自己國家地理的不熟悉也不是完全沒有理由。我並沒有在大甲逗留太久，但是它給我的印象還不算太差，可是現在說還不準因為我才剛開始騎不久，速度不錯，士氣還算高昂，也還沒有遇到任何狂風或是暴雨。
像是預言般似的，於苑裡和通霄中某處路旁的一間就是你家吃過中餐後不久毛毛細雨就開始在天上隨風而飄。起先我還不是很在意，但當它倏地變形成磅礡的天殺大雨時我只好落荒而逃趕緊找地方躲起來。在和從天而降的生命泉源低聲辯論過一些有關長輩的議題之後，我把手把袋用塑膠袋包著，睡袋則放進日文系熱情贊助的黑色大垃圾袋裡。我也穿上雨衣、雨褲和反光背心繼續前進。
在雨中騎了差不多一個小時，我因為穿雨衣濕氣跑不出去加上流汗而全身溼透，當我騎完之後我就濕的有如剛看完A片似的。“保證讓您乾爽”，再一次證明了廠商的廣告總是誇大不實，而且價格貴的嚇人。
不久，台一線分叉：一條比較長，經過頭份通往新竹；另一條比較短，接西濱61號快速公路直接連新竹。自從經過通霄之後我便一直打給阿pe，但都沒有人接，我在交叉口又等了一會兒卻也是沒有回應。最後因為時間的壓力，我當下就決定走較短的西濱跳過頭份。但就當我於騎上那因雨勢而更顯永無止盡的小山坡而疲憊不堪在路旁和農夫交換有關天氣的訊息時，她們打了過來。但這為時已晚，等我折返，再到頭份時我早就沒有精力再騎到新竹，而且等到那時天色勢必已晚。
我一向不是很喜歡晚上趕路。在冰島有一次因為朋友早上六點多的飛機，所以我就摸黑拔營動身前往差不多30幾公里外的機場送行。不久，當地的朋友聽到這件事之後，卻跟我說我走的那條公路上傳言有女鬼出沒。
所以我就繼續沿著西濱走，當我抵達新竹時月亮已經高掛在天邊。當然，我不是因為怕遇到阿飄而毅然決定走西濱，這是原則的問題。
經過路人指點，我住進一間教堂裡。那修女我不用懷疑，直接認定她是掛羊頭賣狗肉，因為她竟然跟我索取500元住宿費！這簡直是土匪搶人，現在就只差她頭上戴著絲襪、手中握著棒球棍我就可以叫警察來抓人了。但因為我又髒又餓又累只想洗澡吃飯睡覺所以保護費繳一缴就給他進去了。當晚狂風大作，而雨就像洩洪一樣撲天蓋地淹了下來，獨自坐在空蕩蕩的教堂內寬敞的房間裡，我唯一跟外界的聯繫就是我的手機。看著窗外，這時我心理已經有需要坐車去台北的準備，但是問了好幾間客運它們都不能帶腳踏車，阿火車又不能同時和人一起到，於是我就在煩惱著明天到底要怎樣去台北中睡著了。
2 comments:
哈哈 這次沒有被作者陰!
我直接先往後拉看有沒有中譯!
快快快~ 我在等你的後續耶!
A片與掛羊頭賣狗肉修女
這兩段是經典啦 XDDD
你沒被修女帶去賣掉就不錯了
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