Gone
worldseeing

We stayed in Fukuoka during golden week, which was a nice opportunity to see some of the festivities.

The first few days in Japan, we spent in Kokura. We walked around, tried some food and got used to the language a little. An eerie fact about the city is that it was the primary target for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. The target was changed due to weather conditions on that day.

Having completed the Grand Slam, it was time to prepare our journey to Japan! We headed to Busan again, checked the ferry terminal and completed the immigration paperwork. One day later we were on the ferry to Shimonoseki!

Yeah, we made it! We finished the Grand Slam of South Korea! Fun facts: 33 days 18 cycling days 1841 km in total 11177 m altitude 6 bus rides 2 ferry rides

From Sokcho we cycled to the most northern point we could ride the bike to get the first stamp of the east coast bicycle path. Unfortunately we could not enter the DMZ by bicycle, to see the museum. We were really interested to see the exhibition about the Korean conflict. From the starting point we cycled all the way to Yeongdeok. It was a nice trip through small fishing villages and tourist beach towns. Like almost every coastal road, it was quite hilly.

We took the metro out of Seoul city center to start the Bukhangang bicycle path. The cycle path ends in Chuncheon, where we took an intercity bus to the east coast.

After finishing the Ocheon bicycle path, we took a bus to Seoul. We spent a few days in the city, walking around different areas.

After cycling a few kilometers back from the end of the Geumgang bicycle path, we started with the Ocheon bicycle path!

From Gwangyang, we took a bus to Gunsan, to cycle the Geumgang bicycle path.

We had to cycle about 40km to get from the Yeongsangang cycle path to the Seomjingang cycle path. The northern Seomjingang river part was really beautiful. Wild river bed, with a lot of herons waiting to catch some fish.

After arriving in Mokpo, we cycled the Yeongsangang bicycle path. Almost at the end, we spent a few days in Gwangju. In Gwangju, we visited the Uprising Memorial Park and the Freedom Park including the museum. There, we learned about the Gwangju Democratic Uprising, which started on May 18th, 1980. The uprising was brutally suppressed by the military dictatorship, and caused many victims. It was a long, hard struggle for democracy in South Korea, until the first president was democratically elected in 1987.

From Busan, we took a bus to Yeosu and then a ferry to Jeju island, to complete the Jeju Fantasy Bicycle Path.

After finishing the cross country cycle road, we stayed a few days in Busan!

The last part of the cross country cycle road is the Nakdonggang bicycle path.

Enjoyed our journey on the Saejae bicycle path!

New country, new adventures are waiting. After putting the bicycles together and getting a SIM card, we are ready to go. First we cycled to Incheon to get the most important thing for this journey: The bicycle passport! The task is simple: Collect all stamps of all long distance cycle paths! We are starting with the Cross Country Cycle Route which contains 4 of the 12 larger bicycle paths in South Korea. It leads from Incheon to Busan.

Our final stop in Taiwan: New Taipei City. From here, we visited a few different areas of Taipei by subway, and finally made our depart by plane to Incheon, South Korea.

We arrived in Taipei, almost at the end of our trip around Taiwan. We spent a few days in the Zhongzheng district, exploring the surroundings.

In the north we saw beautiful shores and fishing villages. We also visited the run down port city of Keelung.

We went further north along the east coast, crossing the gigantic Taroko national park.

Hualien is the biggest city on the east coast and has the highest indigenous population in Taiwan. We stayed two nights exploring the city and surroundings. Hualien has one of the coolest nightmarkets and a nice long promenade with a huge park.

From Taitung we cycled north along the east coast. The east is much less populated than the west coast, with more nature and beautiful views of the sea all the time.

Quick stopover in Taitung, one of the bigger cities on the east coast.

From Kaohsiung we went south to Donggang to eat at the local fish market. Afterwards we cycled around the south tip of the island, enjoying the scenic views of the jungle and the ocean.

We stayed two days in the middle of Kaohsiung. We explored the surroundings, including a short ferry trip to Cijin island. Kaohsiung is quite nice with a big art scene located at Pier2.