Meandering Through Matsu: Exploring the Tunnels of Nangan
Hello friends, I’m back with part two of my time on the islands of Matsu, Lienchiang County. I took a serious break from everything as work picked up, but now that I’m kind of over the busy part of the events that were planned for the first half of 2022, I’ll be taking more time to spend here :) I know you think that I’ve completely abandoned this page - but I promise you that I haven’t! It’s now been over a year since I’ve been living in Las Vegas, so I will be adding more of a variety in content coming soon…
I’ll be explaining the beauty of Nangan Township in particular, the largest of the two islands and also the most populous. Most people spend the majority of their trip to Matsu on this island, but I decided to do the opposite as I was more interested in the quieter Beigan. After taking a ferry from Beigan to Nangan, we headed straight to Jieshou Shizi Market 介壽獅子市場, a lively morning market only open from 6-10 AM. The ferry landed around 9 AM, so we had to book it over there real quick. We got there just in time to select a few specialties, but I would highly recommend going earlier if possible since most vendors had already sold out or packed up and left!
We had a chance to try the delicious oyster pancake, a Matsu hamburger (flat sesame bun with a flat meat patty and egg inside - we had a lot of these during the trip!), as well as a scallion pancake. All were fresh, fried, and affordable!
My absolute favorite stop on this island was visiting a coffee shop with an underground tunnel called Thorn Birds Coffee bookstore 刺鳥咖啡獨立書店 - it was way more than a coffee shop (and tbh, the coffee is not a reason to visit - so come for the views and the conversation!). The owner was a very nice guy who was interested in chatting about the location and his reason for being - his picture is below in the light gray sweater. It was wonderful to sit there on the rocks with my dad with the most beautiful sound of the water hitting the rocks down below. Check out some of the pics from the coffee shop here:
A few of the other areas we stopped by: the massive Matsu / Mazu statue 媽祖巨神像 on the other end of the island (with another hidden tunnel underground discovered by locals - far right photo) - a fascinating look at the famous sea goddess up close. It was humongous! Also check out my dad posing with another statue next to Mazu, hehe. We also visited the Baba Tunnel 八八坑道 (far left photo), a historical landmark that is dark, damp and smells strongly of wine - this was a very quick stop and it was crowded, so I’m not sure if I would recommend this in particular. But if you’re looking for more tunnels, add this one to the list :)
We enjoyed some 老酒麵線 Rice Wine Thin Noodles and fried golden dumplings with this sweet peanut paste inside. So yummy!
I really enjoyed my time on Nangan, but my highlight was definitely the coffee shop with the hidden tunnel underground! That is a 100% must-do if you are visiting the island. We were fortunate to visit during off-season, so we didn’t experience large crowds which was incredibly peaceful. Reminiscing on my time there brings back fond memories of scootering around the island with my dad even though neither of has a lot of experience with these types of scooters in particular - my dad did own a moped back in the day, so I guess it’s a good thing he was in charge of driving us around these narrow streets! I might have squealed a few too many times though and freaked him out, so I’m so glad we were able to safely traverse through the local streets of the island. We did a local scooter rental right outside of the market, which was cheap and easy - definitely would recommend coming with someone who has a scooter license in particular though. Anyways - more soon. Thanks for reading!
