Visit to Tongpanyu island - basalt columns
Trip Start
Nov 06, 2006
1
77
99
Trip End
Dec 31, 2008
Tongpanyu, Penghu,
Taiwan
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Altitude: not worth mentioning
Waking up is not easy after the second night of interrupted sleep. Nevertheless I have a boat to catch - the only boat for the day going to Tongpanyu.
I buy my breakfast and eat it on the terrace of my hostel with view on the ocean. I see two men swimming in the small harbor in front of the hostel. Then I stroll down to the main harbor from where the boat will leave at 9:30am. The boat is pretty small. I stay on deck as I do not trust my stomach on high seas. On board I meet a lady from the french part of Canada. Her name is Katherine and she was sent to Taiwan by her company to visit a conference on construction and geology in Taipei. She is is a combined engineer/geologist and builds dams. She extends her trip to Taiwan to two weeks and will visit several spots in Taiwan. There is also a group of Chinese from Taiwan and Seattle ( USA ). They are all family-related and the family members living abroad have come back to cast their votes in the Presidential election. One of them explains to us a lot about Taiwan's politics ( he is a strong supporter of the DPP and Taiwan's independence - a bit strange I think to myself for someone who lives securely in remote Canada. Other topics are the terrible times of SARS and now Avian ( Bird ) Flu and the geological formations in Penghu.
The short 20 minutes boat ride is pretty wild and the small boat jumps up and down the waves as soon as we leave the protection of the harbor.
Basalt columns on Tongpanyu
It confirms again that my stomach ( motion sickness ) is pretty good under control on such wild jumpy rides ( what I am awful at are soft movements by big ships ). We hang on to the poles. The water is splashing all over the boat and at the end we are all half wet; hey, it's fun. Then we arrive in the small harbor of Tongpanyu. Now we want to see the famous geometrically shaped basalt columns - all Penghu is built from volcanic activities and this small island shall have some of the most impressive columns. The whole Penghu Archipelago was born through volcanic action, when lava was pushed from deep within the earth to rise above the surface of the water. That's how almost 100 islands were formed of basalt. After reaching the sea water the lava cooled quickly and contracted, forming the geometrically shaped basalt columns. Katherine and I walk around the island along a marked trail. And really, here they are, the impressive basalt columns - great. Really a natural wonder. The columns are crowned by cactus plants, some in full yellow blossoms and some with their fruits.
Later the trail leads us up to the plateau ( 30 meters high ) and into an old, almost completely abandoned village The old houses here are still fascinating and we walk into some of the houses, partially still with old furniture. We only see one house still occupied. Some other houses seem to be used as kind of artist village, as wall paintings seem to indicate. I also read about the artist village in the Lonely Planet, but for now nobody is here and nothing is open. At the end we stroll along the harbor with the crystal clear water.
The boat ride back is at 12:00 noon and even wilder than the previous ride. We have some more exchange with the man from Seattle. In the harbor he introduces us to his brother, who is an expert on the geology of Penghu. He gives us from his car several materials about Penghu - very, very nice of them.
Katherine and I have lunch together in the old part of the town in a coffee shop. After lunch I show her a bit around and then we make an appoint for next day to rent a scooter and drive over the whole island chain to the north.
I go again to Starbucks and read my newspaper.
Don't ask me about the night: Same, same.
