Penghu Activities | 4everdiscovering

A Weekend Getaway to Penghu: Exploring the Beaches

If You Thought Taiwan was a Small Island, This One is Even Smaller!

Well, it’s official: Emily and I finally took a ‘personal day’. We both decided we really wanted to visit one of Taiwan’s smaller islands in the West, but knew we needed a little more time to explore. We came to the conclusion that we work hard, and deserve a day off to venture around one of the many islands Taiwan has to offer. I felt like a mother leaving her children for a day when I was preparing for the supply teacher; I even felt a little guilty about leaving my students for a day (but only for a tiny second). The feeling of guilt washed away as soon as I walked out of the school doors (I told you, I only felt a little guilty).

Luckily for us, Emily and I had a local friend help us with our trip to Penghu. She is originally from there, so she knows all the ins and outs of the island. She helped us book our tickets, and took about a 30 minute flight from Taipei to Penghu. This was our first time taking a domestic flight in Taiwan, and boy was it ever easy. The best thing about having our friend tag along with us was not having to worry about any of the planning. We booked our own hostel, but she dealt with everything else. Her dad even came to pick us up at the airport and drove us to our hostel. I kid you not, Taiwanese people will do anything to help you. I always thought Canadians were some of the nicest people out there, but living in Taiwan for a year has definitely changed my mind. I am so thankful for everyone who helps us over here! It really makes traveling so much easier (especially with the language barrier).

After flying to Penghu late Friday night, we had about 3 full days to explore the island. There isn’t any public transportation, so the best and most convenient way to travel the island is by scooter. Emily and I were a little nervous at first; I don’t have the best track record with riding ‘scooter-like’ vehicles. But, we knew this day would come. We want to be able to drive scooters around Southeast Asia, so it’s better we start practicing now! There is no way I would drive a scooter in Taipei, but Penghu has very little traffic. It was a great place to start and help us feel more comfortable driving around. We were a little rusty after not driving for 8 months, but it’s just like riding a bike. You get the feel again after a few minutes. Easy peasy.

We rented the scooter for about $40 canadian for 3 days; not a bad deal at all (that was for the both of us). We started off our morning driving around the island, and making our way to the longest bridge in Taiwan. Something to know about Penghu is it is an archipelago of 90 small islands. That means there are a lot of bridges to drive across to make it from place to place. It is also important to know the weather in Penghu is VERY windy. Being so small, there isn’t really any safe place on the island to escape the wind. That made driving on the scooters a little more interesting. It felt pretty amazing to ride along the ocean, with the wind in our hair, and nothing but the sun shining (cue cheesy film clip). But seriously, you don’t know what freedom feels like until you have to chance to drive one of these bad boys by the water. I could do it forever.

We drove across the longest bridge in Taiwan, and stopped for some cactus ice cream along the way. I know, sounds weird. Well, that’s exactly how it tasted as well. They use the flowers that grow from the cactus to make this ice cream, and it isn’t creamy at all. It is very well known in Penghu, but I wouldn’t try it again. The fluorescent pink colour made it look pretty, but didn’t taste as good as I was expecting. Ice cream fail.

On the other side of the bridge, we drove to a temple that housed HUGE sea turtles in the basement (don’t ask me why). It was like a mini aquarium hidden in this temple, but was totally worth a visit. The turtles were huge! We also drove to see the Whale Cave. I don’t know if it was just my poor eyesight, but this cave did not look like a whale to me. It was supposed to resemble the outline of a whale hitting the rocks, but looked more like a circle to me. Sometimes you need to be really creative to make up the names of these tourist spots. Driving around the islands of Penghu was a great way to start our trip. We really got a feel for the laid back lifestyle (and it definitely helped with our scooter skills taking the day to drive around).

For our second day in Penghu, we took a boat to one of the most famous spots to see: The Twin Hearts. We took a VERY bumpy boat ride over to see these. It was so rough, every seat had a garbage bin beside it in case you got a little sea sick. With the wind, the waves were particularly large, and the small boat size didn’t help our cause. Believe it or not, the ride back was even worse. We were actually getting about a foot of air every time we hit a big wave. It was almost like a roller coaster ride. I know a few people who would never be able to take this boat ride. By no means was it enjoyable, but sometimes you do whatever it takes to be a tourist.

The Twin Hearts were originally used by fishermen back in the day to catch their daily fish. When the tide was high, the fish would swim into the hearts. Then, when the tide dropped at the end of the day, the fish would stay trapped in the hearts. Ta-da. Easy enough to catch, eh? Emily and I took our pictures at the top, and then decided we should go for a swim in the hearts. We didn’t see any signs telling us we couldn’t, but apparently it wasn’t allowed. We had people from the top of the hill making an X with their arms. I’m telling you, sign language is the best way to break a language barrier. We understood what that meant, and made our way out of the hearts. I still think people were just upset we were ruining their picture from the top. I’m sure we were the highlight in many people’s pictures. They can have the free souvenir of the crazy Canadians swimming in the twin hearts.

Because Penghu is a small island, there are many beaches and water activities you can try. Emily and I were happy to just relax at the beach, but finding out how cheap the water sports were made our decision to have some more fun even easier. For $20, we went to Aimen beach and got unlimited time with their water activities. There was a banana boat, jet ski, and many different kinds of tubes to try. Because it was a Monday, it wasn’t very busy, so we had lots of chances to ride around in the water. We tried everything, but called it a day after over an hour. It was a lot of fun, but very tiring. The driver was going so fast, you had to hold on for dear life if you didn’t want to take a dip. He was also going so fast, the water splashing in our faces hurt the most. I couldn’t even open my eyes. It felt like sharp bullets hitting my face. Needless to say, I was ready to relax on the beach after our ‘exciting’ time with the water activities.

Overall, our trip to Penghu was nothing short of relaxing. We got to spend our days at the beach, and eat many delicious local dishes (that blog is coming!). We saw everything from beautiful, white sand beaches, to a lover’s paradise at the Twin Hearts, to Moses parting the Red Sea (if you visit this area when the tide is low, there is a path to take you to a small island in the ocean. We didn’t see Moses, but it was pretty cool to walk across). This trip was just what we needed to help us through the rest of this semester; it was a way to refresh our brains and re-energize our bodies for the final stretch. The best part was coming back to school after a day off, and seeing how excited all the students were to see us. I’m sure they thought Emily and I had gone back to Canada and left them all alone. It reminded us of how important we are to them, and they are to us. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye!