A fun filled trip to the dream beaches of Penghu Islands

I went for a fun filled four days and three nights trip to dream beaches of the Penghu Islands in Taiwan as a part of break from my daily routine few weeks ago. That trip was one of the best trips I had in my student life. That was my first experience to play in cool ocean waters. I enjoyed almost all the beach activities I did. The fun I had made me relax for a while and forget all the hardships I faced before the trip. In fact I was very happy because all of my friends liked the place and we enjoyed in our own ways. I can say camping on Penghu Islands either with your BFF group or with your dream girl (boy) is really a good idea. You can have quality time there. All the Islands can be covered with bike and traffic is very smooth. People who like driving will definitely enjoy the trip better if they work on the itinerary properly. You can ride for a while and whenever you feel like relaxing you will have a scenic view, recreational area or a beach to stop by. You can go around in the morning, reach a beach of your interest by evening and get lost among yourselves in the sea waves until dusk and settle down there for chat under the starry sky until you want to fill your stomach. I want to share with you all some of the most memorable moments of the trip.

Map of Penghu Islands

To start with I will give a brief introduction of the Islands and how we can reach there. Penghu is mainly classified to three recreational areas namely North sea recreational area (Famous Islet: Jibei Islet, for water sports), Penghu recreational area (Magong city is present here and it is a mixture of beaches, landscapes etc..) and  the South sea recreational  area (famous Islets: Cimei and Wangan , commonly known as romantic Islands). You can reach Penghu Islands either by taking either a ferry or a plane from Chiayi (Taichung in case of plane), Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taipei (only plane).

 We flew to Magong city from Taipei using Far eastern airways (round trip 3700NT$). We booked our accommodation with Love Penghu Home stay guesthouse. Mr. Maco, owner of the guesthouse kindly picked us from the airport. He is an alumnus of NTHU our neighboring university, so he took more care of our trip and us. He helped us in renting bikes, getting boat tickets to Jibei, Wangan and Cimei Islets, water sports tickets, provided pickup and dropping services to the boat centers for free and gave demonstration about the island routes. He charged just 3600NT$ per person (which includes room rent 600NT$ per night*3+Jibei water sports (includes round trip boat fare)- 800NT$ and Wangan+Ciemi round trip boat along with scooter rental-1000NT$). We felt it was a decent price. Because of his timely guidance we could enjoy our stay and absolutely forget about the trip plan and boat schedule.

At taipei airport

For the first two days we toured the Penghu recreational area using our rented motorbikes. We covered most of the island in these two days. We travelled around 90kms per day on the bike. I particularly enjoyed the bike ride. The traffic was quite smooth, so I drove like a free bird with a minimum speed of   70kmph during the day and more than 80kmph during night. Evening drive was more pleasant than the morning because of the cool summer breeze from the surrounding ocean. Among the places we visited we liked Whale cave, Basalt columns, Aimen beach, Lintou park, Shanshuei beach, Fongguei cave and the sunset at Siyu light house. We particularly enjoyed the evenings we spent in Shanshuei beach. We enjoyed the ebbs and flow of the waves, surfing, swimming for a while when we had less tides. According to locals and the guide book Shihli beach is good for swimming but my friends preferred Shanhuei beach because they can relax after swimming with beers. :-p 

At Aimen beach

Sunset at Siyu

Bassalt Coloumns

At Grandmother banyan Tree

At Fongguei Cave

Whale Cave

Third day we went to Jibei Islet by boat from the North Sea information center located in the Baisha township. It took around 40 min. I guess. You can get a combo package at the North Sea center, which covers your round trip boat fare+ scooter rental and unlimited water sports package. Maco took tickets for us. So we used those tickets to enjoy the water recreational activities at Jibei. We tried all the water sports available there which includes banana boat, speedboat, snorkeling, floating sofa etc…. may be around 7-8 different sports. Though all were unlimited we only tried banana boat thrice. It was really thrilling one. Speedboat was fun but we were not allowed to drive it. Just we could experience it. Rest of the activities was funny but not really thrilling to us. Snorkeling at Jibei is not really enjoyable. Instead it is a good idea to do it at Yueli Bay of Cimei Township (price: 300NT$). My friends rated this activity as number one in their tour. Don’t miss it! After having lot of fun at Jibei we became tired by evening and gone to bed early. But when I slept on the bed I felt like I was floating on the ocean floor until I fell asleep. That experience was quite memorable for me. For the fourth day, the final day of our trip we headed towards the South sea recreational area for the romantic islands (Wangan and Cimei). Maco dropped us at the south visitor center and gave us a package ticket that covers round trip boat, scooter rental in both the islands. It is a good idea to purchase a combination ticket if you don’t plan to stay in the south islands. The boat started at 9:10am from the South sea center of Magong city and reached Wangon after 40 min. They have given us some time to go around and asked us to come back at 11:30am. We gathered again at 11:30 and headed towards Cimei and reached by 12:15pm. We are asked to return by 2:00pm. Both the islands were quite small and it was thrilling to have a bike ride there. They are filled with enthralling landscapes. That is why these islands are termed as romantic islands. Wangan has green turtle conservation center. We missed it because my travel itinerary didn’t support me to stay there overnight. If you guys are interested it is really worthy to stay there overnight. If you go in between April and June I recommend you to stay in Cimei because Penghu international firework festival takes place there. You can enjoy it. Of course if you go with a girl friend, any season Cimei is a best place to stay. 

Coral reef houses at Wangan

Crysanthemum flowers

Little Taiwan

Twin Heart Stone weir

We purchased lot of souvenir from Penghu fishermen association. We love all of them. We ended our trip with a closing dinner at Miramar food court in Taipei.

Most memorable situation:

First day we were at the tip of the Siyu Township for the sunset. After sunset while returning my bike tyre became flat. We called Maco and informed him the situation and gave him the location (203 line 34.5mark). He told he would come with in half an hour. It was dark and very less people. My friends parked bikes at the edge of the road and started playing cards with the aid of cellphone torches by sitting on the road that is leading to the beach. I am so tired as I didn’t sleep the earlier night. So I slept on the road that is leading to the beach with helmet as my pillow. I fell asleep very quickly. After a while one of my friends woke me up and when I when I got up to my surprise I found a grandmother on a motorbike behind my head. I blocked her way. L After I woke up she didn’t go. She enquired what was the problem with us though she couldn’t speak english. My friends explained her in sign language. Then she took one of my friends with her to the nearest mechanic shop but that was closed and mechanic was reluctant to help us at that odd hour. She gone back and my friend returned and they became busy in playing. After a while a car stopped by us. Several people got down from it and started speaking to us in english. They are none other than the neighbors and grandchildren of the grandmother we met earlier! They all came just to help us. Few of us couldn’t believe this gesture shown by Taiwnese. All of us are moved by the kindness shown by the locals. We told them not to worry as our Maco is on the way. Later he came and brought us dinner. He also came with his whole family. Especially I couldn’t believe how he could he bring his small kids (one is few months and the other few years) in that night! After we finish dinner he took care of us. We were rescued but that incident has become yet another example of the attitude of Taiwanese people. Long live people!!

People who came to rescue us

   Exciting Boat Ride:

The boat ride from Magong to Cimei is very exciting. Ocean waters are not really smooth. Whenever boat reached rough waters we are thrilled and excited.

Accident at Cimei:

Injury

Wangan and Cimei Islands are very small and has less people than Magong. So we started travelling with out helmet in these islands. Everything was smooth until my friend met with an accident while we are returning back to take a boat at Cimei Island. The reason for the accident is he took of his eyes from the road. As that road was curved, he hit the wall. We could’ve prevented that accident and injury if he was wearing helmet instead of cap. Actually, his cap was flying so he removed it and he want to keep in the front comportment of the bike. So he lowered his head and within seconds he was injured. Luckily it was not a major accident and we could come home with smiles on our faces and beautiful memories of Penghu in our heart. Otherwise everything would’ve gone. Guys! Just follow traffic rules so that we always can have a pleasant journey.

After first aid at Magong airport

Maco with his family at the airport

We took almost 20GB pictures in this four days. So I couldn't show you many pictures here. If you guys are interested you can take a look at few more by clicking the link. I posted captions to most so you can easily identify the locations.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2312065239637.136269.1189573106&type=3&l=9bce8e9592

I am deeply indebted to Mr. Hemanth Nag for sharing the pictures taken with his Cannon Digital camera.