August 2011. Cycling together with Ke Menghan on a rental Giant bike

I had made a new friend in Taipei and his name is Ke Menghan. I met him playing basketball in Zhishan. Apart from that he also cycles. So we started doing bike rides together

I came home after classes and went for a lunch in the small restaurant at the corner, whose female owner even visited Amsterdam once. That shocked me.

Taiwanese always wanting to have a cheers with me drinking beer.

But they are friendly and kind people

After lunch I went to a small bike shop very close to my home and rented a giant bike for only 100 NT per day. It made the cycling a lot more fun than the small green female bike

We rode from Zhishan to the little cycling cafe under the bridge.

We had many small talk here and just enjoyed our time. It was not about miles those days, it was about enjoying the process.

That summer I bought all my cycling kit with him. I bought a few pants and sweaters for cycling. It was the very beginning of a new chapter in my life.

Ke Menghan is a very strange guy. He is not a bad guy, he was being friendly to me, but he was just strange.

Saying I did not have a good time with him would be a lie.

He actually had a very nice racing bike. Those days the idea of a 600 eur bike baffled me.

I had this buddy to keep me company. It served me well that summer.

We cycled to Tamsui. Right before Tamsui there is a small steep hill on the bike path. It became my habit to nail that one. Not that it was so tough, but at the time it was a nice challenge, one that Ke Menghan could not make. So he always complimented me on that, which made me enjoy the cycling even more.

We took a few pictures at the Tamsui MRT

These are my cycling young days

I was a lot bigger than now, probably weighing over 90kg.

A few pictures of us together.

Local musician

Then we went to the Tamsui Old Street where there is a lot of food and games. It is a tourist area where many people gather.

And then we took the little ferry to the other side, Bali

Strange combo of dressing styles, but what did it matter in the end

Crazy Ke Menghan

All aboard

The boat was already approaching

On the other side

Wonderful days without worries

The discovery of Taiwan was a big success for me

Correct me: we were going to the fisherman's warf in Tamsui

This boat is a bit bigger than the one that leads to Bali

This feeling of freedom was very nice

The itinerary was a bit longer than Bali

Just chilling

Nice

Approaching our destination

Guess who was acting stupid again

Our bikes on the boat

This is the very expensive Furong hotel

Some more pictures at sea

We walked around there a little, there was a game arcade where we played basketball. When we went back, it was already dark, but the bike paths brought us home safely