New Taipei City’s (新北市) Bali District (八里) has recently converted what was originally a landfill site into a park complete with an area where cyclists can camp overnight.
According to Lin Sung-chin (林松槿), the manager of the original landfill rubbish dump, the park decided to set up a bicycle resting stop because many cyclists had said that it was difficult to find places to stay in the area.
Located between Linkou district (林口) and Bali, the original landfill site faces onto Provincial Highway No. 61, also known as the West Coast Expressway, and there are no lodgings or restaurant amenities located nearby, Lin said.
Photo: Tsai Pai-ling, Taipei Times
To address cyclists’ needs, the park area set up a bicycle rest area so that cyclists can access tires-inflation facilities, water supplies and to re-charge — both electronically and biologically, Lin said.
Four wooden platforms have been erected on the lawns that now cover the site of the original landfill, with each being able to accommodate up to six to eight people, Lin said, adding that the platforms also included facilities for green-power re-charging.
Cyclists will need to bring tents with them, Lin said, adding that if the campers were lucky, they might awake see some sheep grazing nearby as well.
With more people opting to go on round-island bicycle tours — including many Taiwanese and foreign cyclists — the park decided it made sense to provide the camping area for cyclists.
The camping grounds are for cyclists only and reservations can be made via the park’s Facebook page, Lin said.
Lin said that he hoped more people would use their zero-emitting bicycles now that the camping area has been set up, adding that this summer nearly 40 people had opted to camp there.
The landfill area is no longer a dirty, smelly pit full of garbage, but has now become a park with a rich ecology suitable for family trips, Lin said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to