Snapshots - Wanted In Taiwan

Two Germans Take On South East Asia

14 Jul 2016

Taipei crossing.

…Attempt! After Merlin's first try on this two ladies came out of the federal building (in the back) and formed a human shield to protect the sun bleached artwork. There was no chance to do it again at that point so we left the spot waving goodbye more than sure to come back later for another try.

Two iced coffees later the ladies where gone but instead they put up a yellow fence which Merlin had to move moments before he got on top of the arty wave again.

This old lady's husband saw us right after leaving the spot and Europeans seems to be a rare sight in Kaohsiung. He pulled us in his little store not speaking a single word of English and his wife was adamant that she took care of Merlin's fresh wounds. She covered all of them with a weird looking jelly out of a plastic bag.

Love you loong time.

This dog was our very own security guard at the first manny pad in Taipei. Luckily he was too fat to keep the speed.

Crewed up in Tainan.

Ken Chen - Curved wall over the rail at my favorite spot in Taiwan.

Vincent Sylvain - Bars on the last day in Taiwan.

Shoutout to Andrew for taking care of us while over in Tainan. Beers & Gang signs on lock!

Ken Chen guiding the way.

When I first went to shoot Vincent’s table at this mini right behind the giant wave he hesitated, but after some convincing he was stoked on the result.

The homie Kevin Cheung from Hong Kong was a little bit sad about Taiwan’s herb supply but was still laughing his ass of all the time. Positive vibe champion of the trip for sure!

Mike Gonzales was in Taiwan to sort out all the new Sunday complete bikes and couldn't believe we chose it as a holiday destination instead of Austin, Texas.

We went up the biggest hill Khaosang had to offer to ride some amazing transitions just to find their remains, so we got a tourist shot in front of the temple instead.

Merlin - Drop-in. Tainan, Taiwan.

The new generation!

Taipei City.

Vincent Sylvain cruising.

Alive Industries rider Ryutaro Higa is originally from Japan but studies in Taipei at the moment. On our very last day in Taiwan we randomly rode into him and he instantly invited us for some relaxation on the university’s roof in the center of the city…

- and the view was amazing. Thanks again dude!

Arriving in Vietnam we knew things were gonna be different.

I guess our trip wouldn’t have been half as good if it wasn’t for this guy - Chiao-Hung Cheng held it down in every possible way. He also shares a name with some shirt company which we just realized on our last day.

Merlin - Smith. First day, first spot in Taipei, Taiwan.

Hanoi traffic.

After one day of riding in Hanoi we sent our bikes home and bought some cheap motorbikes even though we were missing valid driver licenses. Luckily Vietnam’s police are corrupt as fuck and just want to be bribed if they stop you. When one cop wanted to try this technique on us we just pushed the gas and avoided any trouble whatsoever.

Welcome to the jungle!

Vincent making his way through the the chaotic traffic in Ho Chi Minh City.

Dinner for one.

Merlin 'Martin' Czarnello - Peg chink to wallride.

Europe has buses - Asia has motorbikes.

Merlin - Wall smith in a city I forgot the name of (Taiwan).

This guy's interactions with us in chronological order: 1. Cleaning our shoes 2. Trying to sell us weed 3. Trying to buy our motorbikes for cheap 4. Reppin’ for life!

After trying to hustle Vincent for the price of his bike by having five people come to say there’s something wrong with it, we drew a $100 sign on this dude’s hand to show him what we wanted. After he realized there was a free helmet with the bike he was stoked. We sealed the deal and he probably started a career as a human cannonball.

Taipei 101.

I present to you the man with the best nickname in SE Asia: WALLRIDE!

We took a cab to the harbour city that is Keelung and almost died on the highway just to find out that all the spots we wanted to ride were either demolished or under construction. We ended up pedalling for an hour to find this gem which turned out the be shit to ride too. Believe me, this was the only rideable obstacle.

Stock photo - 'Asian guy on a scooter‘

It was hard not to stop with postcard views behind every second corner. Even if our journey was a constant race against the sunlight because my headlight didn’t work and truckers don't give a shit about motorbikes at all.

Merlin decided early on in our trip to take care of all the crashes. This was luckily the only one involving a motorbike.

Careful...

CAREFUL!

and...

Words by Merlin Czarnulla / Photos by Merlin Czarnulla and Vincent Sylvain

Earlier this year Vincent Sylvain and I decided to leave the German winter and get some tan on. After roughly planning a roadtrip along America’s westcoast we changed plans and decided to go to South East Asia instead. We switched from renting a car to renting cheap motorbikes and perfect Cali spots for amazing Taiwanese ones (and getting in trouble from the authorities for riding said spots). Before our trip we found that hashtag #formosa_gem on Instagram and were sold instantly (seriously check that out, you won’t be disappointed). Even though we didn’t know too much about the motherland of most modern BMX frames we ventured into the blue and had a seriously amazing time over there. The country is very organized and modern. The locals were some of the nicest and humble humans you can meet anywhere in the world and the architecture is amazing. After 2 weeks in Taiwan we flew to Vietnam which was a whole other story. There are close to zero spots to ride and the country is caught up in a very weird type of communism. Knowing that we sent our bikes home after one riding day in Hanoi, bought cheap motorbikes and tried to avoid most backpack culture. Oh yeah, we had our cameras with us as well so here are some pictures from our trip. - Merlin Czarnulla