Of course the good news is that even if you're not rolling in cash, you'll feel like a million dollars standing at the top of that temple. Stairs and a road snake through tropical gardens and past golden elephants to get you to the top or, like us, down to the bottom because we entered the temple from the road above, cresting the hill to be confronted with a view down a valley filling with evening mist. Far below is the valley floor into which we were about to descend. Had we been feathered rather than fendered friends, we might have soared over the side and wheeled circles in the setting sun. The smell of incense filled the air and a rare quiet descended on life in Taiwan.
Cycling truly is good for the soul.
The descent was dramatic and the longest, steepest and rockiest ascent followed quickly. Not long after that Frank decided he needed to get the Cannondale back. He was very starving and his mother had told him to be home for noodles so off he set on the yellow beast. We, meanwhile, wound slowly back to civilisation, happy to know that the beautiful island is still there. Thank goodness for the inhospitable terrain which preserves it and makes cycling over it one of life's pure pleasures.