Taiwan Penghu Islands: CiMei - Magong (澎湖岛: 七美-马公)

*continuing from Taiwan: PengHu Islands (澎湖岛)*

TIP #1: Originally named '大嶼乡', the island was renamed as 'Ci Mei' (七美) to commemorate the Seven Beauties who fought for their chastity.

Story has it that the men were out in the sea, when the Pirates attacked the South side of the island. Seven beautiful Maiden sacrificed their lives to protect their chastity. 

Choosing death over humiliation and dishonor, the maiden jumped into a well which later grew into 7 rare Catalpa Bungei trees. 

~ ~ such a sad but brave story! 

Without knowing the legend when we visited Ci Mei (七美), the two naive tourists went:

Naive 1: Oh look! That looks like an attraction! (it's a sign when you see hawkers outside)

Naive 2: Okay, let's have a look!

We randomly asked someone what are there to see inside? And were told.....Trees! (Okay, that person is the naive-est of all)

So we thought   Harr? An entrance fee just for tree-viewing isn't quite our thing and we left with the shrug of shoulders.

Aiya~ Sadly, missing the 'Seven Beauties Tomb' (七美人塚) is like having  Fish & Chips without the Fish! 

 

TIP #2: So don't make the same mistake we made! 

From there to the next attraction (which is what we are here for really), we saw......

a bull sun-tanning by the lawn

Beautiful flowers by the roadside

Cute girl....oh that's me! hehe

Goats!

And more goats!! Meahhh~

(I think they're saying: You jump I jump LOL)

FINALLY~!!!

We are here!!! So excited leh~ it's so beautiful on postcards we wonder how does it looks like in real!

We headed towards the crowd......

And excitedly squeezed through the packed lookout area to have a look at the beau~tif..... HAR?? This BIG only ahh?! 

haha that was my first reaction!

Hahahaha Silly me! Of course it's bigger than this but we were so high up, that's why it looked small.

We tried all sorts of angles trying to capture the Twin-Heart Stone Weir (双心石浥) with us in it! With our meaty faces and pea-sized  Twin-Heart Stone Weir, the pics are really out of proportion.

Then bling, I got an idea! 

Tada~~~!

Good idea leh~!

TIP #3: My cheeky dear dear was wondering if there is anyway we could get closer and we found a staircase at the far end of the lookout!

Now this is more like it!

See the human and the bulldozer behind? That is how BIG it is!

Awwwwww~~~~~

It's romantic here!  We can't help but to set up our video and did our self-choreo couple dance here. LOL!!

(hahaha you won't want to watch it!)

Then dear dear took my hand and together we picked up a rock and stacked it on the already existing pile of rocks (Awwww Max Romance).

TIP #4:　Just for your knowledge, Twin-Heart Stone Weir were used as a fishing tool to trap the catch of the day.

With the heart shaped designed stacked on top of one another, once the fish is in (high tides), they are trapped (low tides). 

Smart! Very smart! What an effortless way of fishing! 

TIP #5: And did you know that there is a Penghu Stone Weir Festival? Click the link to read more!

I also wanna have my catch! 

And......wait for it.... wait....

be patient...

and a little bit more...

YAY!! I caught a charming one~!! Awww~ love love love love love 

We saw this at the hawker centre. I think it's call Sea Porcupine, I mean Sea Urchin.

People are eating it live!

Hmmm~  not sure about that, to kill it liddat is a bit too much for my guts to handle. I am not that adventurous wan boh! 

In the end, we just stood there and watch the man ate the whole Sea Porcupine Urchin! 

Next attraction: Little Taiwan

TIP #6: Some readings for you.

Wuu~ so this sea-eroded platforms are one of the the fishing spots huh?

Looking at this big Taiwan map make me so wanna draw our route on it !!!

Not far from Little Taiwan is FenChaZai (分叉仔)

It's a 50m high basalt wave cut platform. It was said that Starling birds were attracted to this stand alone structure, hence it's a good place for bird watching.

A quick photo of US! =) =)

Further down south of FenChaZai (分叉仔) is the Great Stone-Lion (大狮-龙埕).

On the right we have the Lion

(though frankly speaking, I see no lion, it's more like a single humped, short necked camel resting by the sea =.=")

In the middle, we have 母老虎. (HAHAHA)

(Do excuse my fashion sense, it's for sun protection LOL)

On the left we have the Dragon (Yeah this one is obvious!)

Wahhh we saw so many animals today, it almost felt like we are at the zoo! hahahahaha

TIP #7: There are few more things to see here like Waiting-husband Reef (望夫石)，Abalone Cultivated area (九孔养殖区) but we were running out of time. 

TIP #8: So Click on Penghu Islands Website and Ci Mei Website for details, here is another link on Proposed scheduled, Interactive map (avail in different languages).

TIP #9: Remember in my previous post (click if you haven't read) I said we plan to head to Ci Mei via speedboat and back via Daily Air (德安航空) ? 

Well, I changed my mind.

Since I didn't throw up on our way here, I guess it wasn't that bad after all. Okay, we're heading back via Speed Boat!

Guess....

How many bags this time?

Jeng jeng jeng~~~~!

NONE!! *chest circles* How rare!

TIP #10: Upon returning to Magong (马公) we rode all the way to XiYu Township (西嶼乡) to see 大菓葉柱狀玄武岩 (Map here)

TIP #11: This amazing structure is formed due to the rapid cooling of lava many many years ago. 

Can't resist to put my hand on this spectacular gift from nature!

Me: *looking serious* Dear, it's talking to me!

Dear: Har?!! What does it say?

Me: *feel*............5 mins ago...a bird poop here! Not far from where my fingers are!

Dear: 这个baby啊cheeky cheeky 啊

Hahahahahaha!!

TIP # 12: Then we headed to Erkan Historical house (二崁聚落). It's a heritage of culture and architecture from the old days. 

Indeed Nostalgic!

A photo of us before I rushed him to find me the loo. LOL!!! Aiya! Can't laugh I need to hold my pee.

I was worried that since it's a nostalgic historical site, I wonder if they have proper toilet or not! 

But worry not, they do!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Like it or not dear? 

A new look for you! And And And you finally carry my bag! HoHoHo!!!

I'm ready to go home~~!! 

On our way back, we had another drama - we ran out of fuel.

But I am cool! As long we are not rushing to the airport, I won't panic one. There must be other way, maybe it's gonna be even more adventurous leh, I told Kenny.

'Petrol station close early today and we still have a long way to go Baby!'

 

Actually, not only the Petrol station closes early that day, a lot of other shops too. It took us a while before we manage to randomly catch the local GPS people for the closest petrol supply.

In the end, we were directed to a shop that refuel for us with a funnel. Ha! Interesting! So I am sitting on top of the petrol tank all these while?  (yeah, how silly of me, but that's me)

TIP #13: On our back to MaGong, we found a place for seafood! Highly recommended! It's called 海龙。

You can catch your catch yourself!

And grill your seafood right in front of your eyes!

Or you can have the taukenio (who really looks like 李心洁）to have your food ready.

Check this out!

Brilliant!

Wuuu~ look at that!

It's Sea Urchin served with special sauce on ice!

Squid with Mayo.

So that was our Day 6 in Taiwan. 

Tomorrow, we are heading off! I'll do a summary post on useful links and show you our couple-T k?! It's gonna be a short one but super useful!

See ya! =) =)