Next step on walk around Taiwan - Penghu islands
Trip Start
Nov 06, 2006
1
75
99
Trip End
Dec 31, 2008
Magong, Penghu,
Taiwan
Monday, March 17, 2008
Altitude: close to 0
Hello everyone. I am back for a next leg of my walk around Taiwan. As I am limited to about 3 weeks I will try to cover some more of the outlying islands off Taiwan's coast. For now only my first step is for sure: Penghu island group.
The flight from Taipei's domestic Songchiang Airport takes less than an hour and costs 1900 NTD one way.
Penghu's main island with the only real city Magong is Husi Island. The three largest islands Husi, Baisha and Siyu are connected by bridges. The airport is a few kilometers away from Magong and I decide to walk from the airport to the southeast and around the island Husi - walking is at least a main purpose of my trips and why not to start with it at once after such a long break
Penghu - walls from coral stones
. The island is pretty flat, has some nice sand beaches, a forest park and is otherwise very dry, grey and brown bushes covering most of the land. In between some villages with pretty nice houses for Taiwan standard and small fields surrounded by coral stone walls - they are really very special and have a particular feeling about them. Later on the ship to Kaoshiung a man tells me, when I ask him about the quite big houses on Penghu ( I wonder because there is not much commerce and industry on the island except fishing and fish farming ) that many of the fisherman made their fortune with smuggling all kinds of goods from Mainland China to Taiwan - I had not thought of this hidden side of the economy.In the early afternoon I arrive in Magong, which is a smaller city and look for the Youth Activity Center, which also belongs to the International Youth Hostal Association. I lose my way and have to ask for it. I read that the hostel is located by the sea. Finally I get there. After some discussion with a not very logical man at the reception I finally get a tong pu ( shared room with mattresses on the floor ). I have the whole 8 persons room with bathroom for myself for NTD 500 ( with IYH card ). The place is a bit older, but still in good condition. It is really located beside the sea. The coffee shop which does not seem to have many visitors ( as does the hostel ) at this time of the year looks a bit lost; the view onto the ocean is pretty and by night a colorful neon lighted bridge reflects in the water of the harbor
Coral wall
.Later I walk into town and find that the section near the harbor is very pretty with small shopping streets, a quarter with restored old houses and lanes, the oldest temple in Taiwan, an old city wall and the harbor itself. There are some good fish restaurants near the fishing harbor, a Starbucks coffee with terrace and view onto the harbor and some other smaller coffee shops, which also serve as simple, but good restaurants.
The evening has arrived. I settle for a good night's sleep in my big room. Good night ... bzzzz....bzzz ... damn a mosquito. Ignore it .... bzzzz .... sits down on me ... hit with full force .... autch, that hurts.... bzzzz.....did not get it. I could continue to describe this now for hours, but I suppose you can imagine. It costs me hours of my sleep. Light on, but the mosquito with a higher IQ than mine is hiding silently in a corner of the big room with dark wood panels. After I settle down again , so 5 to 10 minutes later, my eyes going into sleeping mode .... bzzzzz.
A few hours later I wake up totally groggy.
