🏝 Matsu | Things to do on Matsu?

My better half and I are planing to travel for a long Weekend to matsu nangang and beigang. Has anyone of you been there? What is your impression of the islands?

I just came back on Tuesday morning from Matsu, my second time there.

I love scootering around the islands, taking in the scenery and enjoying the small town feel and lack of traffic. Just ride and stop at whatever looks interesting.

This trip I went to Daqiu 大坵, a small uninhabited islet off the northeast coast of Beigan, which I highly recommend. It’s famous for its Formosan Sika deer which wander free on the island. It’s a ten minute ferry ride from the harbor at Qiaozi Village, and you’ll return two hours later, which is plenty of time to walk around the islet, enjoy the great views, and mingle with the deer.

On Beigan I like to go to Qinbi Village on the north side. The old style terraced village hugging the hill looks like something out of a Mediterranean coastal village. There’s a cool little beach there. I like Qin Wo 芹沃 Coffee Bakery there, which has some high quality fare including an Italian calzone which is big enough for two.

Also on Beigan, check out Hou’ao Village 后澳村 across the thin strip of beach next to the airport. Besides the quaint village there’s a War and Peace Park Museum which is interesting, but I really like exploring the abandoned military structures, especially Stronghold No. 6 (it’s here, but not listed on Google Maps) which has underground tunnels with gun ports, offices, and sleeping quarters. It’s cool and breezy in the tunnels which is a relief in the hot summer sun.

Nangan has the world’s largest Mazu statue. I personally like the views and snacks at Furen Cafe 夫人咖啡館, but of course part of the fun is just riding around and seeing what you find.

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Any other folks make recent visits?

What’s the weather like?

Found this.

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Would love to try the new ferry service:

Unless it’s three hours of puking…

The lighthouse on Dongyin is really pretty. I also like the tunnel experiences.

Next time I want to walk the Luoshan Nature Trail on Beigan Island, visit the deers on Daqiu Island, and check out Xiju (last time we only made it to Dongju, where we stayed in a nice old-house homestay).

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That’s a very detailed article. Thanks. :+1:

I’m getting a serious fever for Matsu.

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Ha!

Does Taiwan deport illegal immigrants from China? I can’t imagine they’d want to spend tax dollars on keeping them in prison here for any longer than necessary.

I hate travel blogs, but here’s a travel blog, with commentary.

We spent three days on Nangan. There are plenty of b&bs to choose from but I wanted something a bit more compelling, so we found a yurt. A young man from Beigan runs it, and actually lives in one of the yurts. Showers are campground style. The place is a five minute walk to the Matsu Statue and you are looking at China. It gets windy but there are cats.



You’d think the night sky would be sweet but nah, light pollution from the China coast takes care of that. But, the cats will kill and eat an entire mouse in front of you for absolutely free.

The statue itself is wonderful. Day or night. And the view at night with the breeze is a delight.



The last picture is Matsu from our yurt.

Mazu Village is just down the hill. They have a 7-11 and cats.

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Sold!

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Mazu Village is two streets. Get your deep fried sesame bagel pork and egg sammy in the morning, and coffee from 7-11 when she decides to open.



I don’t have a picture of the temple but there’s a temple. Use your imagination.

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We drove north to Si Wei and it is rural there. No street lights, no shops. I loved it. Some farms, a detention center I imagine housed that numbnuts who swam over from China, and a beach next to the Blue Tears Ecological Museum.



Some of the older buildings do have the propaganda stuff from wartime. The fruit is poisonous, and on the NE side they are building a huge library or something.

Down to jinsha village, which on that day was located on the surface of the sun. I was impressed. But that place is a bit too removed for me. It’s a tourist stop and click place. We ate some food. I think you can windsail there.





The food was a fried dumpling thing with cabbage pork and a fried egg. I know, right. But it was gooood.

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The following day went went to the middle East side of the island, where one of the bigger attractions was, the carved out canal ride and we stopped to check out one of the coastal bunkers. Along the way we stopped at the fermentation cave which made me sick to my stomach.





The boat was cool, and you could walk through it as well. Doesn’t take long.



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The last night, we just got some chicken and other fried food and ate on hidden beach where there were cats.

In the AM of the day we left, I found that the walkways go almost all the way down to the port from Mazu Village. It’s spectacular. I literally could walk it every day. You can see Beigan in that picture.



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On to Beigan, and the famous fish noodles. We didn’t really go out of our way to eat great food in Nangan, but Beigan was different. They’ve got some very good stuff!

And Beigan is also spectacularly beautiful.



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You can scoot everywhere in five minutes. Really. Beach to restaurant is five . Restaurant to b&b is five minutes. But there are so many paths and trails I could literally spend a month there and be happy surprised every day.




That is sunrise.

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That boat is still there? I played around that boat like five years ago.

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Hiking is great but pick your time. It was very hot. Someone above wanted to do the Luoshan Trail. It’s nice, really nice, but when it’s windy ltfout. The trail ends with a sign for Confucius praying or something. You can actually go down the incline as that rock is on the beach. I stood there for five minutes wondering when they’re find my body. I was alone and it was way too gusty. Noop.

We hiked to Clam island and that was fun. Totally secluded. You cannot cross over though, which is a shame.

So, you hungry? How about pizza? Really good pizza in Qinbi Village, which is the best B&B locale.

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