GO ASIA TRAIL 
I participated in the Formosa Trail (English: Formosa Trail; Chinese: 福尔摩沙古道), a trail running race held in Puli, Taiwan, for three days from November 30 to December 2, 2018. The Formosa Trail has five categories: 104 km, 65 km, 40 km, 16 km, and 8 km, and I entered and participated in the 40 km race.
Since the trip was very intense in content, I will divide the article into Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.
- Day1: November 30, 2018 (Kansai International Airport => Taoyuan International Airport => Taipei Station => shuttle bus => registration the day before)
- Day2: December 1, 2018 (race day, 40km Formosa Trail)
- Day3: December 2, 2018 (the day after the race, after party, awards ceremony, dance, etc.)
Transportation Access
Directions to Puli
Puli is the central city of Nantou County, Taiwan, and is located roughly in the center of mainland Taiwan. The nearest airport is Taichung International Airport, but as there are no direct flights from Kansai International Airport, I entered the country from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. There are direct flights from Narita or Naha to Taichung Airport (Mandarin Airlines as of December 2018).
As for transportation access, official shuttle buses (paid and reservation required) are available from Taipei Station (台北车站), Taoyuan International Airport, or Taichung. However, the bus from Taipei Station departs at 17:00 and takes 3 hours even if it goes smoothly. When I took the bus, it took more than 4 hours due to traffic jams on the highway both ways. 104 km and 65 km people will start at 4:00 a.m., so getting up at 2:00 a.m. is a little short on sleep...
Personally, I recommend taking the Taiwan High Speed Rail (台灣高鐵) from Taoyuan or Kaohsiung to Taichung and then taking the express bus to Puli Bus Center (埔里総站). This way, there is less risk of encountering traffic jams, and since there is not much traffic between Taichung and Puli, you will be able to get to the venue smoothly. The registration venue is the Lakeside Resort Hotel (Tian Shui Lian Grand Hotel), about 5 km from downtown Puli, and there is a cab stand next to the Puli Bus Center.
Accommodation
There are a few hotels around Li yu tan (鲤鱼潭), the registration and starting point, but there are not many and they fill up quickly (and are expensive).
Unfortunately, I was unable to secure lodging near Li yu tan, so I secured lodging in central Puli. Reservations are required (free of charge), but shuttle buses leave from the Puli Bus Center at 3:00 AM (for 104km and 65km) and 4:00 AM (for 40km), which will take you to the race start site (鲤鱼潭). It takes about 10 minutes.
The hotel I used is here. There were several European and American trail runners staying there. As of confirmation in January 2022, the hotel where I stayed seems to be gone.
Genealogy
I arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport by Tiger Air Taiwan (Taiwan Tiger Air) departing from Kansai International Airport at 11:30. I didn't see any trail runners on the way. After that, we took the Taoyuan MRT to Taipei Station (台北车站). We had more than two hours before departure, so we ate Taiwanese sweets "Douhua" at the Taipei Station.
As it was going to be a long trip, I secured a meal for the night (Taiwanese station bento). When we arrived at the east gate of Taipei Station at around 16:40, trail runners from all over the world began to gather. We call out to a Japanese-looking person, who turns out to be Japanese (104km), and we start working together. 17:00, we leave Taipei Station. We then get stuck in a traffic jam (accidental traffic) around Hsinchu City. We then arrived at a highway service area on the way. We bought some snacks there and left after about 20 minutes.
We arrived at the Lakeside Resort Hotel (Tian Shui Lian Hotel) a little after 9:00 p.m. We then signed an agreement and made an emergency contact. We then sign a consent form and receive our race packets with emergency contact information. Then, at 21:30, you leave the venue in a hurry to catch the bus to central Puli, and check in at the hotel around 22:00.
After preparing for the race, taking a bath, and brushing my teeth, it was 23:30 and I had only about 3 hours of sleep...quite a hard schedule. Fortunately, I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep and it was only 40km. Also, I had brought my Venex recovery wear and took Kewpie Kowa Healing before going to bed, so even with the short amount of sleep I felt tired.
That's it for Formosa Trail 2018 Day 1.