Cycling From Daxi to The Xinpu Valley: Relaxed Round Taiwan Trip Part Six
This post will cover the ride from Daxi to Shimen and then up to the high point at the head of the Xinpu Valley. I saw a lot this ride, so much that I've had to split Xinpu into another post.
Daxi to Shimen: The Normal Route
The normal way to reach Shimen is to leave Daxi via Kangzhuang Road and, apart from an optional shortcut onto Neishan Road, just follow Kangzhuang until Shimen. This route is nice enough with no steep uphill sections, and it isn't especially busy. There isn't anywhere interesting to stop off at along the way. As you approach the dam you can follow the steep Huanhu Road to reach the top of it, or pass around the base of the dam and take the gentler road up to the Shimen hotel area.
Daxi Town and the base of the Shimen Dam spillway
Daxi to Shimen: My Stupid, Convoluted, but Ultimately More Interesting Route
I stayed in a hotel across the river from Daxi at the top of the steep valley side. I did not realize when I booked it that it was up a cliff. I don't recommend this as you simply climb a hill to nowhere and then descend it to the Sankeng/Shimen area. The only site that you’ll miss by not going up here is the old theater. All the sites mentioned in this post have google map pins on the Hidden Taiwan Map and I’ve made some route lines. Crossing the Daxi Suspension Bridge and heading through the riverside farmland is the much better option and that route is marked.
Chaotic street furniture at Daxi
I started the day on a horrible busy road with very little space for cyclists or pedestrians and lots of trucks. I did my best to leave it from time to time to ride through the more rural lanes alongside it, and at one point passed what looked like a fairground prop storage facility.
Horrible roads and strange backlane sights
A little further on I stopped at a disused mid-century movie theater called Jianxin I'd seen mentioned in this article. I have more than a passing interest in vintage theaters, and it's an interest that's grown stronger through reading the posts on that site. Even though it isn't a spectacular example it was still nice to stop off at an increasingly rare example of Taiwanese movie history.
Sankeng
From here I left the terrible road and dropped down the slope on some quiet lanes around a military facility. My target was the Sankeng Canal, a large channel moving irrigation water from the Shimen Reservoir to the Taoyuan plains. This was a relaxed and easy ride along a very gently sloping stream and I really enjoyed it after the misery of Yuanlin road.
You'll pop out right by the quaint little village of Sankeng. This is worth a quick ride around for its pretty lanes and old red brick houses. It also has one of the few examples I've seen of a public laundry stream. The lanes and fields near the village are fun to cycle around, with lots of old farms and small woodlands, and it seems leisure cycling tourism is established here. I recommend finding your way over to the Daping Red Bridge.
Scenes around Sankeng including the laundry stream
This is a little hard to find despite a prominent Google Maps pin and I got a bit lost looking for it. At one point I was pushing the bike on a dirt track through a plantation. There is a trail however, complete with steps down to the bridge and a groove for wheeling your bike. The bridge dates from 1923 and is pretty, though a little over-restored. The tree at one end was swarming with small birds catching flying ants.
Cross the small bridge further downstream and climb the small hill. Turn right at the top and rejoin the main highway before turning off at Minzhi Road towards the Shimen Dam.
Shimen
The Shimen Dam was completed in 1964 and supplies water and electricity to the Taoyuan and South New Taipei areas. It is a lot bigger than I had expected it to be! I highly recommend cycling to the top of the dam, despite the steep climb, and crossing over it as the views and scale of the site are impressive. The facility suffers a lot from silting and during my visit the reservoir was quite low. It looks like you can take little boats out into the reservoir on certain days.
Sesame Hotel
A little like Wanli a few posts earlier the area around Shimen went through a burst of tourism development, followed by a decline. Taiwan seems to have an issue with boom and bust tourism cycles and I've documented a few places like Wanli and Beitou that have suffered from this. Both are strewn with ruined developments and waste from exuberant and ill-suited projects. Shimen is no different and the area is littered with a few vast ruins, both around the dam and further around the reservoir.
The Sesame Hotel was built in 1976 by the same businessman responsible for the abandoned tower at Xinyi Anhe MRT in Taipei. The building I explored seems like an unfinished annex of the much larger abandoned complex next door. The larger building is unfortunately guarded. The annex is not but it was tricky to enter, I clambered through a tight space near the tennis courts. I actually visited this ruin quite some time ago and have recently found it has cameras and is possibly a bit harder to enter.
The larger, but guarded, hotel next door. There are a lot of antennae on the roof so that’s probably why there’s security
On entering I went straight to the top floor (always a good idea just in case there are unfriendly guards around) and began to take a good look around. The hotel seems half finished; some rooms were bare, while others had some destroyed furniture inside. A few parts, like what looked like a bar on the upper floors, and a possible staff storage room in another area, seem to have been completed. While most of the hotel is a shell I enjoyed the scale of it and the quirky 70’s architecture
The old tennis courts
There's a pretty in depth history of the site here so please check it out if you'd like some more information as this is just a cycle route blog.
Shimen to the Xinpu Valley
The first part of this ride follows Cycle Route 1, the official round Taiwan route, along Longyuan Road. While this official route heads to Guanxi and then down into Hsinchu, I took the route through the Xinpu Valley. The climb here is not particularly hard and the road shoulder is wide.
Turn right at Gaoyang S Road and follow this around until you pass over a freeway. Gaoyang is a quieter road that passes through tea farms, light industry, and a few rural communities. It is also pretty level and easygoing. If you'd like to visit Guanxi instead, continue on Longyuan Road and follow the blue cycle signs. I will cover this section of the ride at somepoint!
At the T junction after crossing the freeway turn right and then left onto Section 1 Yangtong Road. You'll eventually pass an abandoned military site on the left, before a ginormous factory building looms up also on the left. This site manufactured LCD screens for a company called CPT (華映) and it spreads out over seven large buildings. The company went into foreclosure and this modern factory is now abandoned. The future is uncertain and it may well have already been demolished if you're reading this a few years into the future.
An old military site and part of the huge Longtan LCD factory
The next part of the route heads downhill into Xinpu, and then Zhubei and Hsinchu. It’s easygoing and in places beautiful. Check out all the points on the Hidden Taiwan Map, and while you’re on the site please check out my gallery here.