Never Trust A Scarecrow

[lupestripe]

I am currently sat in a homestay on the island of Nangan, one of the 19 islands (six inhabited) which make up the Matsu Islands. Aside from the island of Kinmen, this archipelago is the closest land to mainland China, which is only 15km away and on a clear day can be seen from the various fortifications which are dotted around the coastline here. The islands belong to Taiwan, and due to the fractious relationship between the two countries, there is still a strong military presence here, although many of the fortifications built in the 20th century have now been opened to the public as relations have thawed between the Taiwanese and Chinese over the last 20 years or so.

I am touring with Wild Cheetah, a fur who knows the island well having performed his mandatory 11-month military service here some years back. He had hoped to meet his former commander here, who he would have introduced me to, but unfortunately he is out on military exercises today and is consequently unavailable. We are staying in a homestay owned by friends of Cheetah's family. On the ground floor there is a small coffee shop with terrace overlooking a charming rocky bay while the sleeping quarters upstairs are Japanese in style, with a bamboo wicker mat and pillows surrounded by a mosquito net which makes you feel like a beleaguered bride should you get caught up in it. I am not a big fan of sleeping on the floor - as I sleep on my side, it is uncomfortable on my hips - but once I got to sleep last night, it was surprisingly comfortable. The facilities here are basic, with the only toilet being one of those squat ones which I am terrified of falling into, but the atmosphere is homely and the house is of traditional local style, built of stone and the family who own it are very charming.

Indeed, last night we had a long chat with the family, although Cheetah had to do most of the interpreting. However, they do speak a fraction of English so I did manage to discern that their dog is called Shi-wu, is two years old, and their meowing little kitten was born just last week. I accidentally kicked the kitten as I wasn't looking where I was going, and before this incident she did try and bite me as well, but I think I earned her trust in the end - I just need to watch where I am going. Shi-wu, meanwhile, is my new best friend as he always comes over for pettings. There are mosquitos everywhere here and, upon spying the wounds on my leg, Shi-wu came over and licked them clean, such is his friendly doggy nature. The repellent is doing little, I had to buy a Chinese version for the plane over here due to the damn 100ml container rule, and the peasant farmer character on the bottle looks far too pleased with himself for my liking. On second observation, it's actually a scarecrow. Never trust a scarecrow. Last night was most excellent though - as we were the only two people staying here, and Cheetah was here three years ago with his fursuit (there are pictures on the tables of this), we got to chat to the family over their homemade lychee wine. The new stuff was stronger than their three-year mature batch I thought, while we also shared lychees and delicious fried sweet potato snacks, coated in sugar. Conversation was limited, such was the language barrier, but they did admit I was cute (several times) and said all of the other Brits who stay here never talk to them. They were wondering whether there was something wrong with us.

The flight over here was fine, a mere 50 minutes from Taipei so it was up and down rather quickly. It was courtesy of a prop plane though - I haven't flown on one of those since 1994 - I always feel that this way feels more like flying as you feel every bump and bit of turbulence. We then managed to get a lift from the airport to the homestay, lugging our bicycles with us. We had intended to bike around the island today but, having gone out on the bikes to a local restaurant last night and finding it tough, we opted to rent a motorcycle instead. I was okay with last night's evening ride in the end, but the island has very many steep hills and I would struggle with those in the UK, let alone the 35 degree they have out here at this time of year. Plus a motorcycle is quicker, allowing us to take in more sights in a shorter amount of time, which is an important thing considering we only have one full day here. The lack of bikes did come as something of a relief as Cheetah was playing music throughout our ride yesterday, whereas I would have preferred to have heard the tranquility of this quiescent island.

We started our day with four meaty pancakes and a folded up egg, a rather nice breakfast, before we donned our Vietnam-style motorcycle helmets and headed off on a tour around the island. We started in Matsu village, where we picked up supplies and saw the Magang Matsu Temple, with its Sacred Crypt of Mazu, a wondrous sight flanked with columns of yellow light, with LEDs circling the supporting structures. These are the modern equivalent of candles and are lit as an offering to the gods to bestow health and prosperity to a particular family. To the left of the Temple is a giant sword, which reminds you of the island's strategic military situation while there were army boats docked in the nearby harbour. I didn't turn my camera to face them, just in case I took pictures of something I shouldn't.

Tunnel 88 was next, which is in the east of the island, by the airport. This is one of the few cool places on the island and is now used for storing wine in large glazed ceramic vessels for periods up to 20 years. There are also huge steel tanks filled to the brim with wine too. In days of yore, it is where locals took refuge from pirates before it was enlarged to fit tanks and an entire infantry, serving as a useful connection point to the military airport.

Our next stop saw us go to the Beihai Recreation Area, where we observed the Beihai Tunnel and Dahan Stronghold, which were again both important military installations. The former is a large tunnel network (18 metres high, 10 metres wide and 640 metres long), circular in nature and taking 820 days to complete, which was cut into the rock to provide access to the sea and supply routes from it. It runs deep into the mountain in a lattice shape and can contain 100 battalion. It was built with a limited amount of dynamite, with the sweat, blood and lives of soldiers being the main price. The area is under four feet of water at low tide and a further three feet at high tide, so it is effectively a large underground river created artificially in a cave. You could get a boat to see it but I didn't think a pedallo in the shape of a swan had a strong military theme so we opted to walk. This also gave us more opportunities for photographs, as well as to see some of the sheering surfaces of the rocks in the walls and the ceilings. The access to the sea is guarded by wooden doors so we couldn't actually see the ocean, but you could hear it inside the atmospheric cavern.

The Dahan Stronghold (which was dug out by soldiers, starting in 1975 and completed in March 1976) was used primarily to house guns and monitor the sea at this point on the island. Three guns still remain, pointing out into the ocean, while in some of the rooms, you could see canvas posters of the military hardware which was once installed here. There were three levels here, all with different functions, and officers did use this as a headquarters. This, alongside the Iron Fort, which was our next destination, were the most overt examples of the military presence on the island aside from the barracks and checkpoints which crop up with significant frequency as you are driving around. These are still active and can largely be ignored (you can simply drive past the checkpoint on the way to the Iron Fort for example) as the Matsu Islands are still used for military training to this day. Sadly, I got stabbed by a plant at the Iron Fort while climbing over the top of it. Thankfully though, we didn't have to climb over the rocks which jut out to sea, as these have had glass fragments implanted in them to hinder any ocean-led invasion. In the Iron Fort, we also got to look at the basic living conditions, stone bunk beds and a very primitive toilet. It must have been difficult for the soldiers living here, but at least there was a special quarters for the dog, which looked quite palatial in comparison. It is a remarkable sight when looking down from the hill on the approach to the fort, which was carved out of the coral rock and has now been painted in camouflage colours.

After some of the best beef noodles I have ever tasted in one of the fishing villages, we headed to the traditional settlement of Jinsha, which means Golden Sands in Mandarin. The sands here certainly are golden but this isn't the main draw in this 'Cultural Village', it is the classically built stone houses. Situated on the extreme south-west of the island, Jinsha sits at the bottom of Yuntai Mountain and was a strategic military stronghold and consequently was often the first point of enemy attack. Since the fishing industry here declined, the residents largely left, and this has preserved a classic stone village of winding streets and cobbles. This was evident in one of the shops here, which was effectively an old lady's house with a stall in one corner - we walked in when she was having her lunch. Nearby stands the small Fort Art Gallery, which has now sadly been neglected, with works of art cracked, hanging on the walls with no one to look at them. The front entrance is ornate though, with the Taiwanese symbol - a sun - on the top of a small doorway which leads to an underground chamber, which was once the gallery. You have to duck down to clamber in, adding to the sense of adventure of it all. On the doorway, inscribed in Chinese, is the phrase 'Fight against the communists, resist against the Russians, kill Ju De, and remove Mao Zedong'. So neutral then.

We climbed to the top of a hill to overlook the sea and village, before getting lost in its labyrinth of streets and eventually finding the temple, which is of a common style erected in all fishing villages, assumedly because certain gods need to be appeased in this profession. Standing guard of the temple was a female lion and a male lion, the latter with a fantastic golden cock. I love the temples here, they are all brightly coloured, with a vibrant red typically being a dominant theme. Inside, there are alters to various gods and a thick smell of incense in the air while the roofs are so ornate as to be breathtaking. There are also many sculptures of dragons here, twisting their way around the supporting columns and standing rampant on the roofs of the temples and the pagodas which are often associated with them but off to one side.

Continuing our walk through Jinsha, a giant teddy bear with no neck tempted me into one of the shops where I got to try a popular snack here - whole, dried tiny fish. I don't know what they are called but they must be no more than 3cm in length and the whole fish is present, from head to tail. I also tried a gelatinous milk tea which I believe came from fish too. This was quite grim and I left half of it.

With the Sun in the sky getting intense and Cheetah tired from all the driving (I am surprised the motorbike could cope with the steep hills and a combined furry weight of 27 stone, but it did so remarkably well), we headed back to the homestay shortly afterwards, from where I am writing this account now. We will be going back outside in about half an hour now the Sun has died down a bit for some more sightseeing on this beautiful island.