There are just a few weeks left of the first phase, and we are still no closer to finding out who will finish top.

Uni Lions

The Lions went 2-3 last week at home and had another mixed week on the road but came with 3 wins and 2 defeats.

There was no Loree/Sosa to face at on Wednesday or Thursday as the Lions took on Fubon at Xinzhuang. Wednesday’s game resulted in a 10-4 Lions win, with 4 runs in each the 4th and 6th making the difference. Thursday started well enough as the Lions went 5-0 ahead, but were pegged back to 5-2 before Lin Wei Ting’s grand slam. Fubon would go on to win 8-5. Ryan Verdugo is now 2-2 since his comeback with an ERA at 4.18.

The weekend saw a trip to Taichung for the first weekend Lions v Brothers series there this season. It was another split series, and there were three really good games. Friday’s encounter was level after 3 innings at 2-2 but regular Lions runs after that ensured a 6-2 win.

Saturday started like a rollercoaster, Chen Yung Chi’s 97th career home run put the Lions up 2-1 in the 1st. It went to 3-1 before Brothers went 5-3 ahead in the bottom of the 4th. Immediately the Lions came roaring back, going 7-5 up, in part thanks to Lin Tzu Chieh’s two-run homer. That was as good as it got, Brothers hit a grand slam in the 5th and led 11-7 after 5. 8 more runs in the 7th led to 40-year-old Lions 1st baseman Kao Kuo Ching becoming the first position player to pitch for the Lions in 10 years. Ironically, he conceded nothing. Final score: Lions 7-19 Brothers.

Sunday’s game was a cracking encounter which the Lions edged 4-3 thanks to Su Chih Chieh’s 9th inning RBI.

A 3-2 week so the side moves onto a 23-24-1 record with 12 to go with 8 of those games at home in Tainan. The hitting looks better but there are still bullpen questions. There is also the issue the Lions are effectively playing with just 1 foreign pitcher.

Lamigo Monkeys

The reigning champions continue to stutter along, with a 2-2 week at home in Taoyuan and are 5-5 over their last 10. Tuesday’s game at home to Brothers was unsurprisingly called off due to heavy rain but they managed to win Wednesday’s encounter 3-2. Roger Bernadina grabbed the game-winner with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 9th after Alex Liddi had levelled for Brothers in the 6th.

The week saw another disappointing series v Fubon Guardians but any side facing Mike Loree and Henry Sosa on their current form will have some serious issues.

On Friday, Lamigo faced Loree who gave up 6H, 2R as Wang Yi Cheng took his first defeat of the season (5-1) in a 5-2 loss. Probably more of a concern was giving up 15 hits at home, it could have been worse.

Saturday’s game was very much different. Lamigo made 23 hits with much of the damage coming in an insane 6th inning where Lamigo hit 10 runs. Going into the inning it was 4-3 Lamigo, but this blew Fubon and their relief pitchers out the water. Both sides would combine for a further 9 runs with the final score being Guardians 10-16 Monkeys.

Sunday and the tide turned again. Henry Sosa played his last CPBL game and gave up 2 hits over 8 innings/115 pitches. Fubon scored 5 times. From 23 hits to 2, quite a comedown for those in Taoyuan.

Lamigo leads the league with a 23-20-1 record, so 16 games left with 7 at home, 9 away.

Chinatrust Brothers

The season started so well for Chinatrust Brothers but have the wheels started to come off? It was another disappointing week for a side that threatened to be a surprise package but now look unlikely to make a push for the first phase title.

They only played one game in midweek, and that was away at Lamigo Monkeys on Wednesday. Alex Liddi reacted to being put on notice with a 2 run homer to tie that game at 2-2 only for the reigning champions to walk it off in the bottom of the 9th thanks to their own foreign hitter, Roger Bernadina.

The weekend series against Uni Lions was interesting, to say the least. Brothers Tsai Chi Che picked up another loss on Friday evening, giving up 4H, 3R (2ER), after that, Brothers used 6 relief pitchers and gave up 3 errors in total. Final score, Lions 6 Brothers 2.

On Saturday, Brothers made an astonishing 19 runs, 17 hits and 0 errors as they demolished Uni Lions 19-7 in Taichung. Brothers had trailed 3-1 after 3, but then went on a tear scoring 18 runs in 4 innings. Dramatically, the Lions had scored 4 in the top of the 5th to go 7-5 up, only for Brothers to respond in brutal fashion with Wang Sheng Wei hitting a go-ahead grand slam to put Brothers 11-7 ahead after 5. 8 further runs followed in the 7th to cap off a brilliant display and a memorable night for the home team.

Sunday saw Brothers edged out 4-3 in a thrillingly close game, Wang Hong Cheng taking the loss as he conceded the winning run in the top of the 9th.

Brothers go 1-3 for the week and sit with a 21-24-1 record with 14 games to go, 7 at home and 7 away. They need wins and fast, with a 2-8 record over their last 10 games.

Fubon Guardians

It’s the end of a very short era for the Guardians as it was announced on Monday, Henry Sosa has been bought out his contract by KBO side SK Wyverns. At least the league got to witness what the Loree and Sosa combo could do together, the fans of the teams who play in yellow and white/orange/black will be glad to see him gone.

Wednesday’s home game v Uni Lions saw Fubon use their 3rd foreign pitcher. Bryan Woodall has not had a good season and is now 2-7 for the year. If it wasn’t for Sosa’s departure, he could well have been finding himself on the block. On this occasion, he gave up 11H, 8R although only 4 earned in a 10-4 loss.

Thursday was better despite Lin Yu Qing conceding 6H, 5R, 4BBs in the first 3.2. Lin Wei Ting’s grand slam put Fubon 6-5 up and the Guardians bullpen gave up just a solitary hit. Final score, Lions 5-8 Guardians.

That deadly duo of Loree and Sosa was a downright menace in Taoyuan. Loree gave up just 6 hits and 2 runs on Friday evening. Fubon made 15 hits, every one of the starting line-up getting to base in a 5-2 win.

On a night of 52 runs in the CPBL, Fubon’s pitchers didn’t have a very good night. Fubon only trailed 4-3 after 5, then things went off-piste very quickly. Lamigo Monkeys shredded Fubon in the 6th, scoring 10 runs and despite a commendable, 10 runs, 14 hits, it wasn’t anywhere near enough. Final score, Guardians 10-16 Monkeys.

The Sosa era ended with a win, a convincing win. It is extremely rare to hold the Taoyuan Lamigo Monkeys to 2 hits, but that’s what he did. Fubon’s hitters did what they needed to do, score a few runs and Sosa finished his short-time in the league with an 8-2 record and an ERA of 1.56. Fubon won 5-0, but Sosa will be a huge loss. Ryan Bollinger is expected to step up from the 2nd team soon.

Fubon sit in 2nd place, 22-21-1. They have 15 games to go, 7 at home and 8 away.

This week’s fixtures

Lamigo Monkeys v Uni Lions @ Tainan on Tues/Wed at 6:35pm

Fubon Guardians v Chinatrust Brothers @ Taichung on Wed/Thurs at 6:35pm

Fubon Guardians v Uni Lions @ Tainan on Fri/Sat/Sun at 5:05pm, Friday is a public holiday.

Lamigo Monkeys v Chinatrust Brothers @ Taichung on Fri/Sat/Sun at 5:05pm.

There is around 1/3 of the first phase to go, and we are still no closer to finding a clear leader.  Every team has had their issues for whatever reason with the consensus being that the league is weaker than last year, this week saw the league get even tighter.

Fubon Guardians

I start with the Fubon Guardians who had the most impressive week of all five teams. That deadly combination of Henry Sosa and Mike Loree is starting to work out, or at least it did on 2 of the 3 game nights this week.

On Tuesday, Sosa had impressive game giving up 6H, 1R as Fubon cruised to an 11-1 win over Uni Lions in Tainan. Mike Loree was even better, giving up 2 hits in a 107 pitch shut-out, final score: Guardians 1 Lions 0.

Onto the weekend and Fubon won 2 out of 3 at home to Lamigo Monkeys. They lead 6-4 early on Friday evening and easily won, 9-4. The series was won on Saturday partly thanks to another great pitching display… from Chen Shih Peng who gave up 5H, 1R over 8 innings. The hitters did their job, as Fubon won 7-1.

What is this? Henry Sosa has had a poor game? He didn’t last the first six innings as he gave 9H, 6 runs (4 earned) as Lamigo Monkeys became the first team to give Sosa bit of a beating. Fubon falling to a 6-5 home defeat. In his previous 6 games, Sosa had only given up… 6 runs! A blip, but a fantastic week for the Guardians.

Fubon move to 19-19-1, a 0.500 record.

Lamigo Monkeys

Last year’s champions has obviously quite a bit with the loss of superstar Wang Po Jung but maybe Argentine Roger Bernadina can plug the gap in centre field.

It was a good start to the week for Lamigo with back to back away wins in Taichung. Wednesday’s affair was a close one. Michael Nix had another shutout giving up just 4H and 0R in 6 innings. Lamigo took a 2-0 lead into the 9th, went 3-0 up and despite Lin Bai You giving up 2 runs with 0 outs, Wu Cheng Che came in to end the inning without further damage, final score, 3-2.

Thursday win was a bit more convincing. Lamigo took apart Brothers Tsai Chi Che in the first 0.2 innings, scoring 6 runs and ended up winning 7-0.

The weekend saw a series loss away to Fubon Guardians with Radhames Liz taking his 4th loss of the season on Friday. The fireball throwing starter topped out at an insane 157kph (97.5mph) but gave up 11H, 8R in a 9-4 loss. Saturday, rookie Wang Wei Chun had another iffy game, giving up 8H, 7R in the first 3 innings as Lamigo struggled with the bat, going down 7-1 to the Guardians. Sunday was more impressive, scoring 6 runs off Henry Sosa in a 6-5 win.

Lamigo ended the week 3-2, and stand top with a 21-18-1 record.

Uni Lions

A mixed week for the Lions too as they came up against Henry Sosa and Mike Loree on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday saw Sosa come to Tainan but the eyes were on Jiang Chen Yen who had pitched a great game against Sosa back in March. Sadly the crafty lefty gave up 10H, 8R in 5 innings as Fubon romped to an 11-1 win. Wednesday, the Lions had no answer to Mike Loree making just 2 hits but on a positive note, despite taking the loss Shih Tzu Chien only gave up 5H, 1R.

To the weekend and Chinatrust Brothers were in town. Ryan Verdugo pitched fairly well 6H, 4R (3 earned) but took the loss for the Lions, Brothers winning 5-2.

The week ended on a happy note with two wins. Saturday’s win was strange. Wang Yu Pu ony lasted 0.2 innings giving up 2 hits, 3 walks before being replaced by Austin Bibens Dirkx. Then the Lions only made 6 hits but managed to score 10 runs, Brothers making a season worst 4 errors and gave up 8 walks, the final score Brothers 6 Lions 10. Lions fans are beginning to question, after another poor start on the mound, whether it’s worth continuing to keep experimenting and failing with Wang starting games.

Sunday and 37 year old Pan starter Wei Lun picked up win five for the season in a 6-2 Lions victory.

Despite huge injury issues, Uni Lions are 20-22-1 for the season and only 2.5 games off the lead with 17 to go.

Chinatrust Brothers

Brothers had the worst week of all four sides, going 1-4. It started with back to back home defeats to Lamigo Monkeys. On Wednesday, Mitch Lively pitched well giving up 5H and 2R but it was enough for the loss, despite a 9th inning comeback. Final score, Monkeys 3 Brothers 2.

Thursday was a night to forget for Tsai Chi Che, giving up  4H, 6R, 3BB before being just 0.2 innings into the game. Brothers hitters would not recover the game, striking out 13 times as they made just 5 hits in a 7-0 loss.

The bright night of the week was Friday, pinch hitter Chen Tzu Hao hit a 3 run blast to push Brothers to a 5-2 win over the Lions. It was not the start of a glorious weekend though despite huge away support down in Tainan.

Brothers practically gifted both bases and runs to the Lions, giving up 8 walks and 4 errors and despite taking a 3-0 lead early on, fell to a 10-6 defeat.

Sunday saw Brothers start rookie pitcher Wang Yi Kai but he quickly lost his eye for the strike zone. He gave up 2 hits, 3 runs and 7 walks before being replaced in the 3rd inning. Tsai Chi Che gave up 3 more hits, 3 more runs and 2 more walks as Brothers fell to a 6-2 defeat.

They are now 20-21-1, 2 games off the top with 18 games to go,

This week’s fixtures

Chinatrust Brothers v Lamigo Monkeys @ Taoyuan on Tues/Wed at 6:35pm

Uni Lions v Fubon Guardians @ Xinzhuang on Wed/Thurs at 6:35pm

Fubon Guardians v Lamigo Monkeys @ Taoyuan on Fri at 6:35pm, Sat/Sun at 5:05pm

Uni Lions v Chinatrust Brothers @ Taichung on Fri at 6:35pm, Sat/Sun at 5:05pm

What’s this a 7:30am alarm? Really, oh no, please. Why this time?

Oh right, I was supposed to be doing a full day of tourism in Kinmen and I had to drag myself up. Snoring/noise from the other 3 people in the dorm had kept sleep to a minimum and I begrudgingly got up and left the hostel by bicycle just after 8:00am.

Today’s plan was to roughly follow the ‘Historic Monument Route‘ then the ‘Adventurous Scenic Route‘ on Little Kinmen aka Lieyu. The first route would take me south of Jincheng then head out west to Shuitou to get the ferry to Little Kinmen.

The weather appeared a bit nicer and it was a short 10-minute ride to Jugang Tower, just south of Jincheng town. This landmark from the Chinese civil war period appeared to be a lot older than just 66 years old. There was some interesting information inside, and the view from the top was of course obscured by haze/fog and ‘oh no, what was that’, a mainland tourist blowing into a horn repeatedly, deafening anyone within 5 metres.

Not wishing to be deafened, or indeed irritated within the first half hour of the day’s tourism, I left and worked out my route for the rest of the morning.

The one problem with Kinmen’s cycle routes was that they had branches off, and if you wanted to do a circular, a lot of backtracking was needed. That said, you can’t reasonably expect everything to be done in one linear or circular route. This was what I came up with…

 

Google Maps has its limitations and obviously this wouldn’t cover it perfectly, with a couple of side-trips, my route back to Jincheng etc…

I wanted to get over to the east side of Jincheng and followed a backroad past the Stable Masters Shrine to the main road down the east side. I soon reached the village of Oucuo, one of the seven traditional villages of Kinmen. It was a lot less touristy than Shanhou had been the previous day, almost too quiet. I saw about half of the village but moving on down the road to the next village of Zhushan.

 

The architecture was similar in Zhushan but there was a pavilion up on a hill overlooking the village. I guess on a clear day it would give a birdseye view of the area but not on this day. It felt a bit more quaint than Oucuo, and there was definitely more ‘going on’.

My next destination was Zhaishan Tunnel and looking at Google Maps, I saw a backroad east of Zhushan that would take me down the coast, rather than going south-west, then south-east and having to backtrack later.

I got on the road, and it quickly turned into a farm track, reaching another military area, then turned into a sandy track! I wasn’t quite sure whether it was right, but it brought me out at a backroad in the forest. I checked Google Maps, and voila, I simply had to follow the road past the landfill site 2km to Zhaishan tunnel.

I knew to expect tourists and lots of mainland Chinese, and after I parked up and walked towards the entrance, two coachloads had arrived. They hovered at the entrance to the tunnel, ignorant to their surroundings and I, unfortunately, had to push my way past, covering my ears from the deafening instructions from their tour guide.

Zhaishan Tunnel was built for military purposes in 1961 in a U shape, outside there were different landing craft and anti-aircraft weapons. Inside, you had to go through a tunnel, to then descend to the main U shaped tunnel. There were another group of mainlanders but upon turning the opposite way to them, wouldn’t have any hassle for the rest of the day.

For one of Kinmen’s main tourist attractions, it was… ‘ok’. It was more history, but nothing too special, although worth 40 minutes which is what I spend there.

Just as I was about to leave I picked 2 Taiwanese sausages and thought about my next move. I looked at the time, and it was 10:30, I knew I had to give Little Kinmen a good 3-4 hours but also didn’t want to miss anything in the Jincheng area.

For the next hour, I steadily made my way towards Shuitou where the pier was for Little Kinmen. I first stopped off at Kinmen’s only natural lake, Gugang Lake and its tower.

5 minutes later I reached Jinmencheng village, the home of Wentai Tower and also having 4 gates. I turned left at the east gate down towards Wentai Tower but the car-park area was being rebuilt, I backtracked a little into the centre of the village near to Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor’s factory, the site of another of the village gates. From there, I turned left uphill and there it was on the corner Wentai Tower…

I backtracked once more, heading back to the main road (not on the official cycle route but a branch route) and got a photo of the north gate. Nothing particularly special given how many ‘gates’ I have seen in my time in Taiwan.

My next stop was another short ride away (7 minutes) Shuitou, another of those 7 traditional villages. This was bit more interesting as it described how merchants made their money in places like Indonesia then came back to Kinmen to build extravagant houses, and how they needed to protect them from pirates.

Concerned about time, I made my way down the road to Shuitou Pier for the 12:00 ferry across to Little Kinmen. I had no idea where I was going, all I will say is, keep going straight, the ticket office is on the left (if you need it, I left my Easycard in my room!) and the ferry just beyond it.

The ticket was 60NT with space on board the ferry for well over 100 people across two floors, this was never tested!

Since the morning the views had not improved one bit, not one bit at all and the water was quite choppy.

Reaching Little Kinmen I expected there to be somewhere at the port to buy something to drink, but no. I didn’t have much water left and knew I was going to run out within an hour.

At first, I didn’t know where to go, there were no signs for the cycle path at first but as I walked towards the visitor centre and Jiangong Tunnel I found a map. I looked at my phone and surmised the cycle route began on the main road.

So at Jiugong Tunnel, I thought I may as well stop and have a look as it was one of 24 sights to see. Note, I did not do all 24 with some of them on the interior of the island!

Jiugong was another classic Kinmenese tunnel, going through the mountain to Luocuo harbour. It was quiet with few tourists, and after making my way through to the Luocuo side, turned around and walked back to my bicycle parked outside.

I backtracked to the port, and the main road, the cycle began with a steep climb and I wondered if the route around Little Kinmen would be by road…

No. There was a signpost to the right towards the top, and the cycle route began on a track. It turned out most of the cycle route would be on a dedicated cycle path around the island.

The first couple of km were non-descript as I made quick stops at General’s Fortress and Tiger Fortress but didn’t get any photos. They were just standard fortresses, of which I’d seen a lot of over the weekend.

As the path got into the open I got a glimpse of the new Little Kinmen to Kinmen bridge, unfortunately due to these works the path was suddenly blocked off. There was a sign directing people left, and as such, no real diversion route. I was starting to get thirsty and was hoping, by getting on the main road I might somewhere to get water.

I had to use Google Maps to find my way back through the backroads north of the construction site to get to my next two sights, Yongshi Castle and Tieshan Fort. On reaching Tieshan Forts I was met with an exit turnstile? Confused I walked around a bit and couldn’t find an entrance. Slightly aggrieved, I backtracked up the road towards Yongshi Castle.

There was a visitor center there, surely they had water? No, even better! There was a water machine with ice cold water, exactly what I needed!

Yongshi Castle was a confusing maze of tunnels with barely any light. There wasn’t a map and I spent 10 minutes randomly walking down corridors hoping to find something of interest. It was obvious most of the tunnels didn’t see much use.

Rather accidentally, I stumbled into a well-lit tunnel and it appeared to be going somewhere, where? I didn’t know! It appeared to be a connection between two things and later it was obvious what the was.

It turned out I’d found a landmine museum with displays on boards on the tunnel walls. Not knowing much about landmines I learned about the minefields in Kinmen, types of landmines and international efforts to stop the production/use of landmines.

Perhaps the most interesting/scary bit of the museum was the interactive minefield. There was a trail of fake mines on the floor that ‘exploded’ when a motion sensor picked up your footsteps. It looked realistic enough, that I wasn’t 100% sure if they were totally fake or not, as dumb as that sounds.

I made my way out through the tunnels, and unbeknownst to me, was now in Tieshan Fort. I thought it was simply an extension of Yongshi Fort and didn’t spend much time there, except finding my way out!

My next destination was Lian Lake and the beach there, in the 0.6km cycle, I somehow managed to lose the path and end up on the main road, rather than the coast road!

The path continued to another military museum, Hujingtou but the short 2km ride wasn’t without incident. I was heading downhill when a mainland Chinese tour bus came roaring through the other way, given the path was suitable for bikes/motorcycles and one lane for larger vehicles, this seemed a bit stupid.

Hujingtou Museum was small and quiet, but with a few nice displays. The next hour was spent cycling down the west coast, towards the south-west tip of Lieyu stopping off at minor tourist attractions, such as small temples, more forts and lakes. It was really quiet though and a peaceful part of the afternoon.

I got towards the south-west tip and there was a small diversion to Shaxi Fort, not on the official bike route. This was the best attraction on the island. The views from here were superb, the beach looked beautiful and it was a really nice way to end the sightseeing for the day.

I must just advise that where the route splits, don’t go uphill towards the actual fort but downhill instead to a small car-park.

I made my way back to the port, the path continued past fields, not far in from the coast. There was one or two steep climbs, but it was pleasant, relaxed 7km back to the port. I was surprised to see the path end, exactly opposite where it began and it had taken about 4 hours to do.

I had plenty of time before the 5pm ferry and my trip to Little Kinmen (Lieyu) and indeed Kinmen was pretty much over, right?

No. I got the ferry back across and there was one more attraction a short diversion off the main road, between Shuitou Pier and Shuitou village, Maoshan Tower.

This looked like a long hike from the car-park but in-fact took me just a couple of minutes. It was similar to Wentai Tower but the views were awful as the light was fading and the fog remained.

I was back in Jincheng around 5:50pm and enjoyed a nice beer before going back to the hostel. The plan was to do Jiangong Islet, an islet only accessible for an hour a day the following morning.

That didn’t happen. I woke up to torrential rain and the fog was causing issues with flights. Instead, I got up later and took the 9:30am bus back to the airport. Thankfully there were no issues with my flight and I was home at 12:30pm.

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So Kinmen, Little Kinmen? Is it worth a weekend away? Absolutely. I was very unlucky with the weather, it didn’t rain but the fog/mist never cleared all weekend and that definitely took a shine off.

Kinmen has history, both cultural and military history. It’s somewhere to escape to, away from the craziness of Taiwan’s main island. In Tainan and other cities, you constantly have to worry about traffic and it’s crowded, Kinmen is the total opposite. I was cycling around with very little concern for traffic, because there was hardly any.

I will be following up this post with another one, more about the practicalities of a trip.

You’d made it to the end of this very long, second half of the post, thanks for reading.

Kinmen, one of Taiwan’s two sets of island counties close to mainland China but far more importantly, one of two counties in Taiwan that I hadn’t visited. Last year, I explored Penghu just off Taiwan’s west coast in the Taiwan Strait but that left Kinmen and Matsu also known as Lienchang County.

Soon after returning from Penghu last year I made Kinmen my next priority with direct flights from five airports on Taiwan’s main island making it far more accessible than Matsu. I didn’t end up doing Kinmen last year as I initially planned due to Uni Lions success in the baseball but, come late April this year, I needed a break.

You see, Uni Lions injury crisis was huge and the team was out of form. I wanted to go before summer, because of the stifling heat but didn’t have many weekends to play with. 11th/12th May – non-starter as I was working the Saturday (I didn’t), 25th/26th May – Lions in Tainan (I don’t miss Tainan games), 1st/2nd June (working again on 1st), after that, 4 day weekend and more baseball in Tainan on 15th/16th June. It left the 18th/19th May.

I looked at flights, I wanted to go early Saturday and come back Sunday evening but unsurprisingly flights back were all sold out. That was it? No trip?

Of course not!

I looked at Monday morning and there were seats left on the 11:10am Kinmen to Tainan flight. Living in Tainan’s East District this was perfect and I had my weekend away. I just knew of no-one, no-one who knew anyone who had been there. Taiwan as a tourist destination isn’t the most frequently visited by westerners, and even fewer venture to islands, Xiao Liu Qiu/Green Island may be the main exceptions. I knew I was going to somewhere, a bit off the beaten track. Anyway, I digress…

Sod’s law would have it, Uni Lions began to pick up form. That said, I really wasn’t in the mood for yet another trip to Taipei for baseball. Usually, when researching, my first thought would be tourist buses but looking at Kinmen’s excellent tourist board website, it appeared there were 5 separate self-guided cycle tours around Kinmen and Little Kinmen (Lieyu) so I based my plans loosely around them. I booked a hostel for 600NT but otherwise, I didn’t do too much research.

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Friday evening, I was too tired to pack and it appeared as if I really couldn’t be bothered with yet another weekend travelling. Yet, I didn’t get much sleep and was awake from around 7am. My flight was 9:40am but living close to the airport didn’t have to set off until 8:30. I packed, t-shirts/trousers for the evening and shorts/base layers for the cycling. I remembered sun-cream, something I always seem to forget in Taiwan!

I cycled to the airport which took 15 minutes and was surprised at just how small it was. There was a single gate to manage the 8 daily departures, I handed over my passport and received my boarding pass a solid 50 minutes before the 9:40am UniAir flight from Tainan to Kinmen. At 9:10am the gate opened, a quick security check was done and at 9:25 ‘boarding’ started. Boarding passes were checked and passengers were shuttled out to the small, 80 seat plane a 2-minute drive away.

It was all very casual, and after taking off at 9:55, the plane hit the tarmac in Kinmen at 10:41. A short comfortable journey across the Taiwan Strait with a nice cup of coffee being served on board.

 

I walked out of the airport, and just as I got to the bus stop, a Blue 1 bus arrived for ‘Jincheng’ which is where I was staying. One thing I noticed was the inconsistencies in the transliteration of Chinese to English, both Kinmen and Jincheng have the same first mandarin character, 金 but in English, it’s Jin/Kin, weird…

I got the bus at Zhongshan Elementary School where it was a short walk to the hostel. I knew I couldn’t check in but I wanted a bicycle. I knocked on the door, nothing. There was something in Chinese next to the door. I looked and there were five bikes, none of them locked. I took a moment to think, and thought ‘Well, I’m stopping here and I’m bringing it back later…’ I got on and pedalled away.

My plan was to visit the east side of the island and do parts of the Flora/Greenery cycle route and part of the Lake and Mountain route in the north-east/south-east of the island in Jinsha and Jinhu. As both were circulars and I didn’t want to do everything on the routes, I planned to do half of each.

First I had to get out there and I also wanted to do Mt Taiwu, Kinmen’s highest point at 257m. It was an easy 10km ride, along the main road out towards the town of Shanwai, pretty much through the middle of the butterfly-shaped island.

 

My lack of research came into play at this point, I got to the Martyrs Shrine car-park and signs directly tourists around the military area, onto the paved road up the mountain. The problem was, as I climbed, there was nothing to indicate where the summit may be. It took 20 minutes to get to the top of the road, and from there I had no idea. I walked down towards the temple trying to find where the summit may be. The views were not great anyway because of a thick layer of haze/fog. I ended walking up/down the road for about 30 minutes more, taking in Reflection Tower (倒影塔).

I got frustrated and eventually took a path along Caicuo Trail to what looked like a summit of sorts. It was a couple of huge granite boulders just off the dirt path and the views were not great, it felt as if I had done a hike.

 

I started my descent from the granite boulders around 1pm, and walked back to my bicycle.

I headed downhill towards the town of Shanwai to join the Lake and Mountains cycle route. I didn’t stop at Shanwai, simply through to Jinhu Lake, a manmade lake east of the town. The fog lingered and the views were poor, more interestingly was the August 23rd Artillery Battle Museum just 2 min cycle ride away and it gave me my history lesson about Kinmen.

Despite a few mainland Chinese who quickly dispersed, I enjoyed the museum as they described the Chinese shelling of Kinmen and how the locals, with the help of Taiwan fought back. Outside were replicas of some of the equipment used, Howitzers, tanks etc and it was the first moment on Kinmen I enjoyed.

I made my way back to the lake, then out east and things got progressed more rural. I stopped off outside at the Agricultural Research Institute for two photos with cows drinking milk/eating ice-cream and for the next 40 minutes, plodded along through the countryside.

 

I got to 7 Eleven at a crossroads in central Jinsha and I had an important decision to make.

Option 1) Go left, and back to Jincheng (11km)

Option 2) Go straight ahead, to Mashan Observation Post then back to Jincheng (23.5km)

Option 3) Go right, and up the coast to Mashan then back to Jincheng (26km).

I refuelled with some nuts and a bottle of Pocari sweat after 10 minutes, set off, turning right. I wanted to see all of the island or as much as I could, and even though I was tired from my early start, knew I could easily do 26km.

I made my way along Yangsha Road and it felt even more rural and isolated. I skipped past a sight for Bishan village which looked like a lovely traditional village and as I cycled further up the road, started to kick myself a little. About 10 minutes later I stopped off at the ‘Vessel Shaped Fort’ which is exactly what it sounds like, a boat-shaped fort, next to a very nice looking beach. Perhaps it may have looked better but for the terrible haze/fog, and it looked as if was going to rain.

Just a couple of minutes up the road was another traditional village but on the main road and upon getting off my bike, it turned out I was at Shanhou Folk Culture Village. Little did I know, this was supposed one of Kinmen’s better tourist attractions.

The old Fujian style village had been turned into a small tourist attraction, comprising of 16 houses so quite a bit smaller than Erkan, which I’d been to on Penghu.

I wasn’t exactly sure how much daylight I had left and it looked like rain was closing in. Still, I pushed on to Mashan heading uphill away from Shanhou before turning right towards Kinmen’s northernmost point. It was straight across a roundabout and 15 minutes later, my final goal of the day had been achieved, 35 minutes before it closed, Mashan Observation Post.

Mashan was used to broadcast propaganda across the water to People’s Liberation Army soldiers in Mainland China. As it was the end of the day, the tunnels to the observation room at the back where you can Mainland China, were empty.

I’d done everything I wanted to, and it was a ‘simple’ case of making the 17km cycle back to Jincheng. I expected it to take about 50 minutes on tired legs and indeed not long after I set off, it started to rain.

I got back to the hostel very sweaty and quite tired. I checked in, had a shower and relaxed for the evening. A good first day but day two would be longer with more tourist attractions to see…

So, it’s a case of the status quo as Lamigo Monkeys as continue in relentless pursuit of their 6th title in 8 years whilst Uni Lions and Fubon Guardians continue to struggle. Oh no, wait, I’m being told that this was last week. Let’s see what really happened…

Uni Lions

Oh hello? 2 weeks ago your season was in the toilet and now look what’s happened, the Lions have now won 8 out of their last 10 games! A few players have come back from injury but Roenicke and Chen Chieh Hsien remain on the long-term absentee list.

Midweek saw the Lions sweep Brothers in Taichung in a closely fought games. On Tuesday, the Lions trailed 2-1 going into the 9th inning. but thanks to an error on 2 outs  tied it up. Austin Bibens Dirkx struck out three in the bottom of the inning and it went to a 10th. A second Brothers infield error allowed the Lions to take a 3-2 lead and that’s how it stayed.

On Wednesday, it was rather more straight forward as the Lions won 3-1 with Chen Yun Wen picking up his 2nd save in 2 nights.

Both young Lions starters, Jiang Chen Yen and Shih Tzu Chien continue to look more like last season’s versions of themselves. Jiang hasn’t given up an earned run for 3 games/19 innings and Shih has only given up 1 earned run in his last 2 starts/13 innings.

Onto the weekend, Friday’s game was cancelled due to rain then wasn’t played on Sunday due to rain. However, the Lions swept Lamigo Monkeys in the two games played. An impressive 8-1 win on Saturday was followed up by a walk-off homer to win 10-9 on Sunday. Lamigo had rallied back from 9-5 down in the 9th before Kao Kuo Ching’s homer with the Lions 18th hit of the game, won it.

So, an impressive week for the Lions with 44 hits in 4 games. The bullpen has settled down, Austin has found his use as reliever, the hitting is looking better, the fielding is looking better. Uni Lions are 1.5 off the top with an 18-1-19 record…

Lamigo Monkeys

The defending champions had another mixed week and are 4-1-5 over their last 10 now. On Wednesday they drew 5-5, Chen Chen Wei tied the game in the bottom of the 12th with a 2 run shot. Thursday’s game saw the Monkeys show a bit of their 2018 selves, rallying back from 4-0 down to win 10-4, 4 runs in both the 6th and 7th innings.

The weekend wasn’t so good as they made the short trip to play Uni Lions at Tianmu Stadium. On Saturday they gave up 11 walks, including 7 from Radhames Liz as they fell to an 8-1 defeat. Sunday saw another defeat and this was cruel, they lead 5-3 after 3 innings then conceded regularly to go 9-5 behind. Lin Hung Yu and Chen Chun Chiu both hit 2RBIs to tie it as 9-9 in the top of the 9th before Kao Kuo Ching walked off for the Lions as the Monkeys lost 10-9.

Lamigo’s starters aren’t quite looking as effective with Zeke Spruill being released on Monday although he did relieve in this game. It’s been a sorry decline for Zeke who in 2017 had a 15-4 record with a 2.56 ERA. He went 7-1 last season, but his ERA was 5.12 and this year, has been ineffective 0-1 after 7 games with a 6.82 ERA.

Lamigo Monkeys remain top with an 18-1-16 record.

Chinatrust Brothers

The wheels are beginning to fall off for Brothers who go into this week 2-8 over their last 10 games.

They lost both midweek games at home to Uni Lions, 3-2 and 3-1 respectively with infield errors losing the game on Tuesday. Both of these games could have gone either way, with Brothers putting two on base in the bottom of the 9th in Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat before Lions closer Chen Yun Wen got the 3rd out and ended the game.

The weekend’s rain meant they only played on Friday and Saturday against Fubon Guardians. 4 different Brothers players hit home runs as they cruised to an 8-2 victory on Friday evening. Saturday’s game was curtailed after 1 out in the bottom of the 6th and with Fubon leading 7-4 at the time, were awarded the win. Up to this point, Brothers starter Huang En Tzu had given up 6 runs in 3.2 innings and his ERA is now 6.59, with a 1-3 record over 9 games.

Brothers only have two foreign pitchers playing at the moment, Mitch Lively and Nick Additon, the latter of whom has struggled to keep his ERA down. They are playing with young Taiwanese starters who are quite inexperienced, maybe a 3rd foreign pitcher would have been more useful than Alex Liddi batting 0.259 and starting in the field.

Brothers are now 19-1-17.

Fubon Guardians

Like Lamigo Monkeys and Chinatrust Brothers, Fubon carry a losing record (4-1-5) over their last 10 games. They also went 1-1-2 for the week.

In midweek they travelled to Taoyuan to face Lamigo Monkeys and after Chiang Chih Hsien’s 2 run blast in the top of the 12th to go 5-3 up, Fubon fans must have been excited. Alas, Lamigo hit back with their own 2 run blast and tied the game 5-5, which was how it stayed, both teams making 12 hits too. Mike Loree a non-factor in this one, giving up 6H, 2R over 6 innings.

Onto Thursday and Fubon were taken apart in the 6th and 7th innings. Debut starter hen Pin Syue gave up 3 earned runs, Lai Hung Cheng another as Lamigo went 5-4 ahead. Lin Chen Hua then gave up 4 hits, 4 runs and a walk as Lamigo eventually cruised a 10-4 win.

The weekend series v Brothers was split and poor Bryan Woodall. The 4 year CPBL veteran is now 2-6 over 9 games this season with an ERA of 4.94. He gave up 10 hits, 7 runs as he took the loss against his former side on Friday night. Saturday saw Fubon end the week with a rain-shortened 7-4 win in Taichung against Brothers.

Fubon are now 15-1-18 but are only 2.5 games off the top.

This week’s fixtures

Fubon Guardians v Uni Lions @ Tainan on Tues/Wed at 6:35pm

Lamigo Monkeys v Chinatrust Brothers @ Chengcing Lake on Wed/Thur at 6:35pm

Chinatrust Brothers v Uni Lions @ Tainan on Fri at 6:35pm, Sat/Sun at 5:05pm

Lamigo Monkeys v Fubon Guardians @ Xinzhuang on Fri at 6:35pm, Sat/Sun at 5:05pm

I mentioned several weeks ago that I would only be posting about my trips if there was anything worth talking about. I became to get the impression I had run out of things to do in the Taipei area but, that’s not exactly true.

On a usual Saturday trip to Xinzhuang, I would leave Tainan at 11 and arrive at 3:30pm in Taipei and go to the baseball. I couldn’t do that on Saturday, it is the NBA playoffs and I wanted to watch Golden State v Houston Rockets but it was a 9am start. I couldn’t watch the game and get the 11am bus. To ensure I watched the full game, I needed to take an earlier bus so I could watch it on my phone as I travelled north.

This would put me in Taipei around 12:00-12:30pm, 4-5 hours before the game so I needed to find something to do. It didn’t like it would be too hot and I wanted to do a little bit of hiking, nothing too crazy just a nice trail and looking at the Xiao Bai Yue’s or small 100 mountains, there were a couple of options.

Guanyinshan was the initial choice but Jiantan was close to the centre of Taipei and was close to the Red MRT line, perfect. I downloaded a map of the trails and as I arrived in Taipei at 12:30, got off the bus at Daqiaotou MRT station and made my way to Jiantan MRT station.

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I had been told about a shrine not far from where the Jiantan Mountain Trail started and almost opposite the MRT station, beside the local water station.

I walked up the steps beside the closed water station to the shrine, and to be honest whilst the views were OK, I didn’t see the significance of it. I got a couple of photos before making my way back down the hill, to the main road and to the start of the trails.

It was only a short walk from the MRT and I knew the trails were well walked. Some people had said the signposting was confusing and whilst there was a map at the bottom of the steps, I didn’t end up needing to use that, or indeed the map I had downloaded onto my phone.

Jiantan mountain stood at 157m which sounds ok and a relatively short climb but as like many other trails in Taiwan, this started with a lot of steps. It only took about 10 minutes to make the short, steep climb to the first observation deck.

The path levelled off after the first observation deck as views opened up to the south-east of central Taipei and there was a mix of trail, paving and boardwalk for next 300 metres or so. That said, despite it was hotter than expected and I was glad I’d decided to wear a base layer instead of a cotton t-shirt as I do usually when I hike on weekends away like this.

‘Jiantian benchmark’ signposted off to the left and I presumed correctly that it was the summit marker. There were views over to the Tianmu area and behind that Yangmingshan. I couldn’t quite see Tianmu Baseball Stadium as it was hidden behind other buildings.

I carried on, and they were never that many people on the trail. It meandered up and down as it moved eastwards to the plane spotting platform that overlooked Songshan Airport. I was limited by time, and one of the signs said it was 1.9km back to Jiantian station but 3.6km onwards to Jiannan Road station. Without hesitation, I decided to press on, and after a short uphill climb, that track turned to a road.

I was never really sure if that 3.6km was true, as I came to a sign that said 1.9km back to the plane spotting platform 15 minutes after I left it. One hundred metres later, it said it was 1km back to it. There was one moment of confusion when I reached a military area, the signs were in Chinese and I was happy I could identify it was right and downhill to Jiannan Road station. It was a steep downhill walk back to civilisation and I was on at MRT train at 2:35pm, a nice 1hr 30-minute hike.

With the hike done, I took the MRT to my accommodation for the evening to check in and onto the baseball. Uni Lions won 2-0 and I was up early on Sunday for a completely different kind of tourism.

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Around 11 days ago on another non-descript evening after work, wasting countless hours on YouTube I came across a video about things you must do in Taipei. It had the usual, Elephant Mountain, Taipei 101 but then suddenly, something of great interest. Somewhere I’d never heard about before, and within minutes was scouring the internet frantically for reviews, trying to find out as much as possible.

At this point in time, I was still unsure whether to go to Taipei to see the Lions on the 12th. I had supposed to have been working Saturday which was then cancelled on the Monday before. By the time last Tuesday came around, I was on 100% set on going to this place. It just looked too good, I just tried to get my head around everything and decide exactly what I would like.

I checked out the hostel about 9am and took the MRT around to Xingtian Temple station. It was only when I reached the temple had I realised I have been there in my first month in Taiwan but that wasn’t where I was going. I continued north, under an intersection and through some backstreets and after 20 minutes I had finally arrived.

It took me a moment to gather my bearings and make sure I knew where the entrance was, I was here, at Addiction Aquatic Development.

What on earth?

Addiction Aquatic Development, I just told you.

Ummm…?

You know, the gourmet marketplace offering some of the finest seafood in Taipei, a seafood lover’s paradise.

And?

Did you not know already?

Know what?

I absolutely love seafood. I can’t describe the excitement I had in the 11 days leading up to this. Usually, I’m known for my somewhat, tighter tendencies. I don’t usually splurge on food. In fact, the more expensive meal I’ve had in Taiwan cost about NT$700, I rarely spend more than NT$350 on food when on my own.

I love seafood, but I love sashimi and nigiri, tuna is one of those foods I simply love. I walked in through the entrance and I was immediately struck by how smaller the building was than first expected. It was dimly lit and that helped with the atmosphere.

There were tanks of huge crabs upon walking in on the left, then up the ramp to the right, was the supermarket that seemed to reach around like a tentacle. Towards the back was the seafood bar that opened at 10am.

I came to the standing sushi bar on the middle corridor and I had a quick glance at the menu outside. I took a deep breath and entered. I felt a bit out of place, I don’t usually splurge and with the dimly lighting it felt like going into a very posh restaurant and there I was with my backpack and Lions cap, only 4 hours removed from watching baseball again.

I was presented with a menu and with at least 6 pages to browse through, there was an overwhelming amount of choice. I had looked at the menu before on the internet, had done my research and yet was still, clueless. There was too much choice. I wasn’t interested in price, I was interested in getting a good variety of food.

I guess I would have to learn the hard way. When it comes to seafood, I can eat seafood at a better rate than I can most other foods but my fear was portion sizes and over-ordering. That would be my downfall in an incredible next hour.

For the record, if you would like to see the menu please click here I started with the Deluxe Sashimi Set and I italicized standing for a good reason. I noted, learning the hard way for a good reason as I would wait 20 minutes for my order. I was presented with a bowl of 10 pieces of sashimi; tuna, salmon, prawn and scallop. I almost felt nervous, as I picked up my chopsticks and savoured the moment.

Needlessly to say every piece was melt in your mouth delicious, it put my mouth on the verge of a virtual orgasm and the experience was over within a matter of minutes. Time to order plate two.

The two English speakers to my left had ordered tuna, I enquired and was told it was a Deluxe Tuna Nigiri set, without hesitation I ordered that too. Looking around, I would guess there was space for around 40-50 people. I knew the sushi bar was notorious for its long waits and it was at half capacity by the time my second order had arrived.

This platter looked too good to be eaten, I guess there is a good reason why people don’t eat too much when it comes to high-quality food. I almost felt guilty for eating it.

As I finished the last piece of tuna nigiri I contemplated a third order but had been on my feet for an hour and really did not want to spoil the moment. I paid my bill and was politely escorted to the exit, with was at the far right of the building, next to ‘To Go Seafood’ which offered live lobster, oysters with cheese, abalone and yellowtail amongst other delights. This small shop was square shaped, I took a few moments to look around before moving into the supermarket area towards the middle.

I browsed for around 20 minutes but it was becoming increasingly busy. Some of the produce was fresh to eat such as ‘sashimi’ and ‘nigiri’, there was also meat, wines, beers, fruit juices and a whole lot more.

I picked a box of tuna and salmon sashimi for 370NT (£9.50 for anyone back in the UK) and made my way towards the checkout.

They offered utensils in boxes at the exit so people could eat directly outside the exit at tables, and outside on chairs at street level. I did neither and instead chose to get a coffee so I could sit down just outside next to the bar/charcoal grilled section.

I left around noon, with my next destination being Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium. I vowed to return to Addiction Aquatic Development on my next trip to Taipei, maybe next time I will order more appropriately at the sushi bar but there is a first time for everything. It is not the cheapest place to eat, I spent a little over NT$1,400 but, for high-quality food, you are getting exactly what you pay for.

Addiction Aquatic Development can be found at: No. 18號, Alley 2, Lane 410, Minzu East Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, 1049 or simply Google it. The nearest MRT station is Xingtian Temple and I highly recommend Google Maps to guide you there.

My next post will be a somewhat shorter one, focusing on what you must do when going to Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium

For now, that’s it.

Tom

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The season continues to progress and it’s Tuesday lunchtime, it’s time to look back on last week’s CPBL action.

Uni Lions

If you thought the Lions season couldn’t get any worse, and I’ve been writing that in my roundups for the last 2 weeks, it has. The disabled list is now up to an astonishing 24 players, see here for the full list, note since that was published another injury has been announced…

As for the baseball, it was a mixed bag with all five games being played ‘at home’ at Chengcing Lake Stadium in Kaohsiung. The Lions fell to a pair of defeats in the midweek series v Brothers, losing 6-1 and 7-2 on Wednesday/Thursday respectively. Lions Austin Bibens Dirkx is now 1-4 for the season and is now on thin ice.

The weekend series was a little bit better, but it was low scoring with just 10 runs over the three games v Fubon Guardians. Friday saw a rather unusual win, just a hit, a walk and an error but that was all the Lions needed to win 1-0. The run came in the bottom of the 7th.

Saturday saw the Lions defeated 2-1 making only 4 hits. Sunday was the best game of the three, after trailing 2-1 in the 1st, the game was levelled in the 5th and Mai Chia Yi won the game was a 2 RBI single in the bottom of the 7th.

On a positive note, Lions 3B/SS Huang En Tzu has hit 5 doubles in 13 games with 9 RBIs and secondly the Lions went back to back games without errors for the first time this season.

At 12-18-1 the first phase has long since been a write-off but with 24 out of 63 players across both the 1st and 2nd teams injured, you can’t complain too much. This hasn’t been the Lions season so far.

Lamigo Monkeys

A classic case of Chapel Tom cursing a team, and I quote from last week.

Full steam ahead Lamigo Monkeys and you get the feeling the champions are back for another run at the CPBL title.

Fast forward a week and after winning all 5 games last week, losing all 4 this week.  The midweek series was halved, on Tuesday the Monkeys fell 5-4 to the Guardians thanks to a walk-off hit from Lin Yu Ying. Wednesday’s game was postponed.

Lamigo’s struggles against Chinatrust Brothers continued and they suffered a 2nd successive walk-off defeat on Friday. Alex Liddi’s home run winning it for Brothers. Interestingly, Lamigo had rallied back from 6-4 down to lead 9-6 in the top of the 9th then gave up 3 in the bottom of the inning…

Saturday’s game was another high hitting game, Lamigo and Brothers combining for 25 hits. Brothers took an early 5-1 lead and went on to win 8-3, Radhames Liz is now 2-2 for the Monkeys this season but still boasts a decent 2.95 ERA.

If you thought two walk-off defeats in one week was bad, how about a third? This time Wang Sheng Wei did the damage, Brothers winning 7-6.

Lamigo fall to 14-14, 4.5 behind Brothers now.

Fubon Guardians

So what’s main positive from this week for Fubon? Their foreign pitchers all had good games. Henry Sosa remains a Guardians player for now and his ERA remains at a CPBL impressive, 1.76. He gave up 8 hits, 4 runs over 8 innings in Fubon’s 5-4 walk off win v Lamigo Monkeys on Tuesday evening.

No game on Wednesday due to heavy rain and on Friday, ace Mike Loree suffered a very cruel defeat against Uni Lions. He gave up 1 hit, 1 walk and 0 unearned runs, striking out 11 over 102 pitches over 8 innings. So how did he lose? A Lee Tsung Hsien error allowed Tang Chao Ting to advance to 3rd and Mai Chia Yi grounded out but allowed Tang to get home. Baseball can be so cruel.

Bryan Woodall looked a bit more like himself on Saturday, giving up just 4 hits, 2 walks and 1 unearned run over 5.1 innings. Woodall took the win as the Guardians edged Uni Lions 2-1.

The week ended with a second defeat at the hands of Uni Lions. Reliever Lai Hong Cheng gave up 2 hits and 2 runs, taking the loss in tight 4-2 defeat.

Fubon are 11-14 for the season.

Chinatrust Brothers

In Chinatrust Brothers legend Peng Zheng Min’s last season, are Brothers gearing up for a title push? They missed out on the finals last year after losing 4 straight finals but are definitely the CPBL side to watch so far.

Brothers did what Lamigo Monkeys did last and swept the week. I’ve already covered the results with the other 2 sides but Brothers notched up some impressive hitting stats, certainly by the CPBL standards of 2019.

9 hits, 6 runs on Wednesday. 12 hits, 7 runs on Wednesday. A further 38 hits followed at the weekend, scoring 25 runs. Around 60% of their hits are resulting in runs.

Going back to what was said a couple of weeks ago, Brothers are still grinding results out, as proven by their 2 walk-off wins (10-9 on Friday/7-6 on Sunday) v Lamigo Monkeys. They are getting the job done and sit 18-1-9 after 28 games. This was a team predicted to do very little but are so far, taking advantage of other teams struggles. Can it continue or just like last week, have I cursed Brothers to a week of defeats too?

This week’s fixtures

Chinatrust Brothers v Guardians @ Xinzhuang on Tuesday/Wednesday at 6:35pm.

Uni Lions v Lamigo Monkeys @ Taoyuan on Thursday at 6:35pm.

Chinatrust Brothers v Lamigo Monkeys @ Taoyuan on Friday at 6:35, Saturday at 5:05 and Sunday at 2:05.

Uni Lions v Guardians @ Xinzhuang on Friday at 6:35, Saturday at 5:05 and Sunday at 2:05.

Note, next weekend Sunday games will revert back to 5:05pm.