Staycie's Taiwan Journey: Penghu, Taiwan

The last weekend in March seemed to be a great time to hop on a puddle jumper (or small airplane), and fly to the island of Penghu, where my friend, Adora, lives and teaches for the MOE. Penghu is about as opposite from Taipei as one can get! Penghu is a military base, so there are lots of military boys who live there, and Penghu is mainly a fishing village, so a lot of its residents don't get back to mainland Taiwan often. Needless to say, I encountered a lot of stares from passers-by. And by stares, I mean, mouth gaping open, eyes following, cars slowing down, types of stares. It bothered me at first, but I soon adjusted and didn't notice the stares unless Adora pointed them out. I guess having blonde hair and blue eyes in a fishing village would make a person stand out a bit more!

When I arrived, Adora met me at the airport and we hopped on a scooter back to her apartment. This was the first time here in Taiwan that I had been on a scooter, so it was a bit scary, although I trusted Adora completely.

After we dropped my bag off, we walked to the downtown area of Penghu and checked out what Penghu is famous for: black sugar cake. It tasted alright, as far as Taiwanese cake goes, and I picked up a package to take back to my co-teachers. That night we ate at a nice Italian restaurant and caught up on each other's lives.

Saturday morning, we grabbed breakfast at a little coffee shop and then hopped back on the scooter. Adora took me to see Sanshia beach, which was deserted as it was a little chilly and very windy. We climbed up some rocks and took some pictures, then hopped back on the scooter.

The next stop was to see a windmill farm. Penghu is one of the windiest destinations in the world, and they use windmills to generate energy, which was wonderful to see! It's just one of the examples of using a renewable energy source, which is a fantastic way of helping our environment.

After the windmill farm, we stopped in a small town to see a 300 year old banyan tree. This tree serves as the town's square and covers a couple of city blocks It was amazing to realize: 1) This one tree is over 300 years old, and 2) It all sprouts from one trunk.

As we took in the Great Penghu Bridge and a woman stuffing puffer fish for souvenirs, we enjoyed a Cactus Ice. Up until this point, I had not realized that cacti actually produce fruit, and the cactus ice was really delicious!

We then traveled to an Erkan village, which has been preserved by the Taiwanese government to help keep it in its original form. There is one family that still lives in the village, and some of them even open up their homes for visitors to peruse. The first house we entered serves the "best almond milk in Taiwan," so of course I had to try some. The almond milk was wonderful and it was amazing to see how the Erkan people live. There were traditional Japanese style beds, along with family artifacts for guests to admire. A couple of houses down, Adora and I wondered through one of the oldest houses in the village, and saw the biggest wok I've ever seen, along with the room at the back of the property which holds the family's elders and the original family well.

Sunday afternoon, Adora bid me good-bye at the airport and I returned to the mainland of Taiwan. It was a wonderful visit and Adora was a wonderful travel guide!