cycling Taiwan

Much of what you say I agree with. I would say there's a big difference between northern Taiwan and southern Taiwan. Taipei seems much better policed and the driving seems reasonable and it's more modern than Kaohsiung. I lived in Kaohsiung in the south for two years (I left last year) and the traffic was very chaotic! People driving on the wrong sides of the roads, everyone running red lights, many people driving on sidewalks and weaving in and out like they were in a racing video game, no one ever uses their turn signals. (still better than footage I've seen of Vietnam) Culturally and politically, there are also differences between the north and south. Many Taiwanese I knew considered southerners to be more chatty and relaxed than people from Taipei. Kaohsiung is "city country" my Taiwanese friend used to say. Southern Taiwan is not as cosmopolitan as Taipei. The Taiwanese dialect is widely spoken in the south, especially in rural areas and it's the stronghold for the DPP party (more anti-China). To me, it feels more distinctly Taiwanese than Taipei which has a more international feel. Taiwan is like an undiscovered gem. I agree that it's a great place to cycle.

"The island is kept very clean, with everybody concerned about the environment."
Well, I guess all things are relative. I first came to Taiwan from Japan, and was disgusted by how polluted it is here, and the general lack of awareness when it comes to keeping things clean.

"The people are VERY law abiding, traffic is not at all chaotic with everybody staying on the proper side of the road for the direction they are travelling in, so I don't have to worry about people travelling on the wrong side of the road & nobody crosses a red light."
LOL! You can only be talking about Taipei here. I live in central Taiwan, and the traffic conditions are just like what #1 describes.

I love Taiwan -- it's a great place to travel and the people are very friendly.

But I would suggest taking OP's comments about cleanliness and law-abidingness and "no pollution" with a grain of salt (or several grains). Such assessments are highly subjective.

I have to say that, objectively, there is a lot less pollution in Taiwan than there used to be, say, 20 years ago. I think the reason is that so many of the polluting factories have been moved by their Taiwan owners to Dongguan in Guangdong province, where they can still belch multi-colored fumes into the air (and which blow down toward HK and Macau.) Beggar-thy-neighbor environmental policies are alive and well in Asia.

I've been told that Kaohsiung has the worst air pollution of all the major cities in Taiwan and I believe it as I used to live there. I used to climb "monkey mountain" (shoushan) every weekend and the only time I didn't see a ring of brown smog over the city was after a typhoon. I wonder if the author of this post visited right after a typhoon. The pollution is way worse in the winter (at least in Kaohsiung) when more coal is burned on mainland China and the smog drifts over. Sometimes they'll be sandstorms in mainland China that are powerful enough to send debris over. Still, the pollution problem is much smaller than in mainland China and it shouldn't deter anyone from visiting Taiwan.

I love mangos & they are so good here.
Best mangos I ever had I bought in Yunnan.

The difference is mainly due to CP versus KMT.

I am guessing that our original poster is not a Chinese national (I mean born in China) person. All I hear that people from mainland China say when visiting Taiwan is how much everything sucks and nothing is as good as they were told it would be. I have a very high opinion of Taiwan and although I have allergies (mostly spring pollen and animal hair), I've never had any problems in Kaohsiung. I know people talk about how polluted it is and there is some truth to that, but I didn't think it was ever as bad as some people claim it is.
I think that Taiwan has much to offer visitors and I really enjoyed my visits there. I'm sure I'll be back before too long.

I think you guys have to consuider this from the perspective of someone who lives/ed in China. When I just moved here from Beijing I was impressed with the low pollution, cleanliness, hospitality and orderly traffic I saw in Taipei, and shocked to hear people who came straight from Japan, Europe or Niorth America complain.
Taiwan may not be perfect, but let's give it some credit- it's pretty clean (how can you compare Japan to anywhere when it comes to cleanliness?), pollution in tolerable, and in Taipei usually not noticable, and walking is actually a viable mode of transport.

"how can you compare Japan to anywhere when it comes to cleanliness?"

Actually, zhaoyun, when I was studying Japanese at a school near Nagoya a few years ago, many of the Western students there often complained how dirty things were! I, on the other hand, having returned to Japan after spending some time in Taiwan, found myself frequently marveling at the cleanliness of the streets and the freshness of the air, much to the astonishment of the first-time arrivals.

I've never been to China (only to Hong Kong, and back when it was still a British colony), but I'm sure Taiwan has a much nicer living environment. However, subjective opinions are, as a matter of course, based on personal experiences. So please indulge those of us who smile at the OP's enthusiasm, especially when we are wiping the black soot off of our faces with a tissue after nearly being run over by a truck that went through a red light while going the wrong way.

Taiwan has a lot of good things going for it. But as I said in my previous posting (#2), all things are relative. In fact, I have an American friend who has spent a lot of time in the Philippines, and has much the same impression of Taiwan as the OP, including traffic conditions!

I am curious if anyone besides the OP has actually done a bike trip in Taiwan? I have. Many. The OP is not talking about riding in the cities but down the east coast which has a population density about that of East Timor, no air pollution, roads with 2m wide shoulders, traffic that clips along at 60km/h, and lots of county roads (as opposed to highways) where one car will pass you every 5-10 minutes. The 197 for example that runs through the rift valley is so quiet you scare flocks of birds in the rice fields when you come round a corner.

The east coast is really ideal for biking. Good safe roads, little B&Bs and campgrounds, coffee shops and restaurants, fishing villages for fresh seafood, but not too many to spoil things. The scenery is astonishing and the cool thing is you can choose the coast highway or the rift valley just a few dozen km inland. The rift is more of a favorite with me as you have high mountains on either side, quiet country roads to ride along, hot springs, and lots of quaint old houses. The plateau of Luye is just the sweetest bit of farm country in Taiwan. Loshan is also really beautiful. It's an entirely organic growing valley and has a section of mud volancos.

Anyway, Taiwan is great for biking. Yeah, the country has lots of blight on the west coast, and lots of polluted cities with bad traffic, but you don't go there for a bike tour unless you are Taiwanese and want to go round the island as a riet of passage.