Beijing man's Taiwan bike trip becomes internet hit

Beijing native Wang Zhen biked around Taiwan on a two-week trip last October.
=============================================================

A collection of 17 articles posted by Chinese traveler Wang Zhen, about his solo bike trip around Taiwan last October, has attracted over 100,000 visitors to his website and drawn others from China to the country.

Wang, who hails from Beijing, last October began his Taiwan trip from Taoyuan international airport equipped with 30 kilograms of luggage and his bicycle. He spent 14 days riding 1,200 kilometers around Taiwan, encountering a three-day storm in the eastern part of the island.

After returning home, he wrote a series of articles with photos describing what he saw on the trip and posted them on his blog, Trip of a Sailor. Within six months, the site's traffic skyrocketed, from just hundreds of visitors to 100,000. Many Chinese internet users said they wanted to fly to Taiwan immediately after reading his blog entries.

Wang was impressed with Taiwan's old architecture, which he believes is the true spirit of a city.

Many visitors from China were surprised at the old appearance of Taiwanese cities, but Wang said it is commendable that the country maintains these old traces of its history.

Among the things that surprised Wang was religious practice in Taiwan. "Devotion is a kind of spiritual commitment for people in Taiwan, as well as a kind of self-actualization," Wang wrote in one article.

Wang was also moved by what he said was the calm and content attitude exhibited by people in Taiwan. A couple in their 30s told him that they did not have enough money to buy a house in Taipei, but would take their time in planning their marriage.

"I should learn from their calmness and simplicity, and not ask for material wealth," Wang said.