This was not just any old cycle ride. 🚴 It’s not every day, after all, that I meet a dinosaur riding around Taipei City on a yellow U-Bike. This was Saturday, January 10, with a cold 10°C to start the day, and dark until about 6:20 am. At 5:20 am, off I set, to try and get all the way from the start to the end of the great river (Tamsui River and its upper branches, Jingmei and Xindian Rivers) that runs all the way through Taipei – and back. This means riding from Gongguan 50 minutes upriver to Muzha, at the end of the MRT Brown Line, also the location of Taipei Zoo and the big giraffe-painted incinerator chimney. By then, dawn was breaking, with lots of people out and about, exercising, running, cycling, roller-skating, dancing and walking. After dawn at Muzha, back along the bike path and to Bitan for sunrise, famous for its scenery, paddle boats and weir. From there, off northwards to Shezidao by mid-morning, then to Guandu and so to Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf at the rivermouth by noon – and back home by 4:00 pm, in time for ice-cream. Family Mart has a new flavour each month, and this month it’s strawberry, so yummy.

And the dinosaur? 🦖🦕That dinosaur at Guandu is roaring, moving, and leaping out of a shipping container; it’s all part of a brand new and wonderfully named, ‘Dinosaur Resurrection Park’, which officially opens on January 17, featuring over 70 ‘ultra-realistic, dynamic’ dinosaurs; complete with feeding stations and breathing effects. Never realised until now how much I needed a dinosaur resurrection park to brighten up my riverside bike rides, ah, it’s so much fun! 🤣

Wishing you all a Happy New Year 2026!