After a good night's sleep, I got up early on Tuesday, July 7th, had breakfast, and left Hsinchu City (新竹市) at about 7 o'clock. I travelled to Zhudong Township (竹東鎮) on County Road 122 (縣道122號), and from Zhudong I travelled on Provincial Highway 3 (台3線). I passed Hengshan Township (橫山鄉) and stopped in Guanxi Township (關西鎮) to take a few photos. From Guanxi I went to Longtan Township, Taoyuan County (桃園縣龍潭鄉), pass the Shihmen Reservoir (石門水壩), and continued to Dasi Township (大溪鎮).
My first stop in Dasi was at the Cihu Mausoleum (慈湖陵寢). Cihu Mausoleum is the temporary resting place of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石/蔣中正). When Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975, he was never buried in the traditional Chinese fashion but entombed in a black marble sarcophagus since he expressed the wish to be eventually buried in his native Fenghua (奉化) in Zhejiang Province (浙江省) once the Kuomintang (中國國民黨) recovered mainland China (中國大陸) from the Communists (中国共产党). Cihu literally means Benevolent Lake, and it refers to the lake located near the tomb-site. It was used to be called Green Water Lake (碧水湖澤), until Chiang Kai-shek renamed it as Cihu in 1962 because the scenery reminded him of his be-nevolent mother and his home town, Fenghua (奉化). Chiang loved the lake so much that he had an official residence built nearby to architecturally resemble the houses in Fenghua (奉化). He also named his favorite residence Cihu (慈湖). This house was converted to his mausoleum upon his death in 1975. His body lies in the main hall of the residence.
On my first visit to Cihu I went to the mausoleum, but this time I went to the new Cihu Sculpture Memorial Park (慈湖雕塑紀念公園). The Ci-hu Sculpture Memorial Park (慈湖雕塑紀念公園) was established in 1997 by the Daxi Town Council. It is the only memorial garden in the world dedicated to sculptures of a single person, in this case Chiang Kai-shek. As of November 2008, there are a total of 152 sculptures of CKS in the park in full figure, bust, seated, and standing forms as well as riding a horse.
From Cihu I went to the Dasi Old Streets (大溪老街) in Heping Road (和平路) and Jhongyang Road (中央路). Arriving at the old streets I had to find a place to leave my backpack, and then I walked al the way to the Dasi Bridge (大溪橋). To reach the bridge one has to walk through the Jhongjheng Park (中正公園) stap. Built in 1912, Dakekan Park was renamed Dasi Park (大溪公園) due to local restructuring of administrative districts and again renamed Jhongjheng Park (中正公園) in memory of the late President Chiang when he passed away in 1975. Taiwan first built parks during the Japanese Occupation Period. Before city planning was put into practice in 1937, there were only 23 parks and Dasi Park was ranked 12th.
After taking a few photos at the Baroque style Dasi Bridge, I walked to the Dacing Tunnel (大慶洞), and from there to the Dasi Old Flagstone Path (大溪老石板道路). From there I went back to the old streets. These streets have preserved a number of older brick residences and stores with exquisitely adorned stone facades, pillars and beams, and baroque-style archways. Many of the buildings are long and narrow, with the shops in front and the residences of the proprietors in the rear. I spent some time there taking photos, and then had to continue with my journey.
From Dasi I rode to Taipei County (台北縣), passing Sanxia Township (三峽鎮), Tucheng City (土城市), and Jhonghe City (中和市). Arriving in Yonghe City (永和市) I had to look for the Amigo Hostel. It is located at No. 14, Lane 157, Yonghe Road Section 2 (永和路二段157巷14號). Finding Yonghe Road was easy, but finding Lane 157 was a bit of a problem. I forgot that it is near the Dingxi Station (頂溪站) of the Taipei Metro (台北捷運). I ended up at the police station asking for help. None of the officers on duty was able to speak English. In the end, after making a few phone calls, they were able to direct me to my destination.
After riding about 128.3 km, I arrived at the Amigo Hostel at about 3:00 PM.
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