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.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation