After our ride to the hotel, we decided to go to the downtown area. The island is surrounded by a 20 km road that creates a ring between the mountains and the ocean. From the hotel, the downtown area is 8 km away.
The best way to get around is the scooter: it is energy efficient, well suited to the nice weather and the narrow road and was probably easier to bring to the island by boat too.
The problem is that I don't have my permit and Min Lin's doesn't like to drive... Well, at least we thought it would be a problem because I was handed the keys to a scooter without any questions!
So off I went driving my first real motorized vehicle on the narrow and weaving roads of the island, Min Lin sitting behind me and squeezing me, reminding us from a typical scene from a romantic Chinese movie. The scooter tops out at 80 km/h as I discovered on a few straight stretches.
Luckily, there are very few other visitors to the island right now, because Taiwanese drive as crazy as in Taipei - zig zagging between other scooters and pedestrian at high speed. We seem to be also the only ones wearing an helmet even if the law requires it!
That night, it was also my first time (like everything else on a motor vehicle) driving in the dark. There is no light provided on the road but apart from a few near misses where we almost drove into the water, we made it back safely.
For some weird reason, Min Lin walks away from my rides feeling stressed...
1 comment:
I have a driver's license, I like driving, I've driven since I was 16 and yet neither Aya nor my Mom like it when I drive. They do say I drive "well"... but they still stress out when I drive...
So welcome to the male-driving community ;).
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