From One Island to Another (and then another) -- Part 1

Last weekend Toby, Adam and I headed out early Saturday morning for the Matsu (Ma-zu) Islands. Adam and I were excited since it was our first trip going somewhere farther than Taipei since we got here, and it was a chance to explore somewhere new with Toby. The islands are located just off of the coast of China's Fujian province, so the prospect of getting a glimpse of our nearest neighbor was also kind of thrilling. Although there are 18 islands, our timeline limited us to Beigan and Nangan, two of the four islands that have towns on them. The islands are also home to military bases, where Taiwanese men in their twenties serve out their mandatory 1-year military service, which promised to add an interesting element to the trip.

After a bus ride, a subway ride, a fifteen minute walk, and a ride on a twin-prop puddle jumper airplane we arrived on Nangan. After walking down the stairs onto the tarmac and into the airport, we stopped by the visitor's center which was conveniently staffed by an English speaker. He gave us instructions on how to get to the ferry so we could move on to Beigan, but not without adding "Beigan? Why would you want to go there? They don't have anything. Just a bunch of temples." To us, that sounded perfect.

We had a bit of a wait for the ferry, then piled onto a motor boat full of soldiers and islanders for a choppy fifteen minute ride to Beigan. Once there we somehow conveyed through our map pointing and Adam's impressive jabbering in Chinese that we wanted the taxi driver to take us to Tangchi Village, what appeared to be the best starting point for finding a hotel and scooter rentals in our travel guide. Since we didn't know exactly where in the town we wanted to go, 7-11 was the natural landmark to start our search. Walking around, though, we determined that we'd stumbled into a town much smaller than we'd expected, only two long blocks wide and three blocks deep!

After a few laps we figured out that the street signs were all in characters, none of the buildings had the word "hotel" on them in English, and our illiteracy had definitely caught up with us. Again utilizing our pointing skills and the traditional standby of talking louder and slower in hopes that someone will figure out what you're saying, we finally headed into a hotel (which I had SAID was a hotel the last 3 times we walked by it, but, who's counting). Somehow the cards were in our favor when we were greeted in English and accommodated in one of the most interesting rooms I've been in with a 5 flight walk up but a great view of a temple out our window. Although we spent a tiny bit more than we'd hoped to on the room, the atmosphere (and relief that we weren't spending a night on the beach), breakfast, and help with a scooter rental were worth it.
(the view out of our window!)

Once we'd dropped off our bags and climbed on the scooters, Adam and I were met with another surprise. Toby's only previous two-wheeled transportation experiences were limited to the type with pedals and gears, a far cry from the 125cc scooter that he found himself sitting on. He caught the hang of it, though, and we cautiously sped off with Toby in the middle of our caravan to explore the island. Since we'd spent quite a bit of the day getting to Beigan and getting situated, we only had a few hours before it got dark and we'd have to park for the night. As it turned out, though, a few hours were just enough to see most of the island even if we couldn't explore it thoroughly. We saw temples, traditional Fujian buildings, fishing villages, and fabulous views of beach, ocean, and greenery around every corner.

(Toby and Adam on their scooters by a fishing village full of traditional Fujian architecture)

The government here is aiming to make the Matsu Islands into a bigger tourist destination, which means that many of the sights have at least a sign in English pointing it out, if not an explanation of its significance. Also, many of the streets and temples have been renovated, making for an easier drive on the scooters, but at times a slight feeling of inauthenticity when looking at something that has recently been fixed up. On the other hand, living in Hsinchu we've had firsthand experience with seeing temples that have been overwhelmed by modernity and darkened by smog and general lack of upkeep.

(a renovated temple near the port on Beigan)


The drive was a spectacular, relaxing few hours of discovery which led to a meal of traditional foods such as fish-noodles (yes, made of fish!), fried eel, sweet potato dumpling soup, cooked greens, red pork, and "Matsu bagels." Since we ordered whatever they told us to at the restaurant, we were quite surprised to be served smallish sesame seed bagels and then be told that they were typical islander fare, but between the three of us we didn't leave a scrap on the lazy susan. Adam and I took a quick nighttime scoot (the verb form of the noun scooter) down past the airport and then up to a hillside park, and a short walk on the beach and then the three of us bunked down on our big platform bed. Luckily, it was big enough for multiple mattresses!




Since this is already WAY to long for most people's attention spans, more about the rest of the trip will follow. To see more pictures, though, click here.