Twenty-eight-year-old Taiwanese Wu Shih-chang (吳時暢), who embarked on an around-the-world bicycle tour as a way to celebrate his 30th birthday, has recently reached Vancouver, Canada after starting his tour in Alaska on June 1.
A tanned Wu on Tuesday had his first good meal in 70 days at a Japanese restaurant at the invitation of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the city.
Wu says the most frightening experience on his ride from Alaska to Vancouver was the eight bears he encountered on his way through the Yukon, which straddles the Arctic Circle, and British Columbia. Although the bears didn’t seem hostile and didn’t follow him, he has taken some friendly advice and bought anti-bear spray.
PHOTO: CHANG LING-CHU, TAIPEI TIMES
Wu said the bears heard him coming from far away, but that he just kept on riding as if nothing had happened.
A story about him in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) led a reporter from the German DPA news agency to find him, and it was only because this German reporter later sent an e-mail to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office that the office was made aware of Wu’s arrival in Vancouver.
Wu said he first thought that riding around the world on a bicycle was a romantic thing to do. After setting out, however, Wu said he came to realize there was nothing romantic about it, as he instead had to deal with loneliness and learn to survive.
Every day, he was busy thinking about how to make his food last until the next food stop 100km down the road and about where he would set up his tent that evening.
Wu said that during the first few days of his ride in Alaska, he miscalculated and didn’t bring enough food. With the next shop more than 100km away, his blood sugar levels dropped and he started feeling dizzy, as all the trees seemed to be white. After that experience, he said he never dared set out again on an empty stomach.
Every day he slept in a tent, and bathed and washed his clothes in rivers. He said the water in Alaska in June was only about 5ºC, so every time he washed his hair, it felt as if it would explode.
Wu said he hoped he would be able to ride around the world in 1,000 days. So far, he has only spent US$8 per day, which is within his budget of US$8,000.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS