The Hawaii of Taiwan over the Moon Festival

The Moon Festival in Taiwan is their fall celebration.  There is a folk tale that goes along with the celebration, concerning the lady in the moon.  My students tried to share the folk tale with me, but it appears as with so many folk tales, there are a variety of translations- the basic story is that a woman is married to a man, who has been given two pills, each of which offer eternal life.  This is where the story differs- some tell the story that the woman saved the day by taking both pills herself, because the man was a tyrant.  Instead of giving her everlasting life, however, since she took both pills, they allow her to fly to the moon for the rest of eternity.  Some tell the story that the woman was a deviant who stole both pills and thus, she ends up on the moon.  Somehow, rabbits also feature in the folktale and end up on the moon as well.
However, in practice, the moon festival actually ends up being a celebration of the end of the hot weather (though we have yet to see this), and to spend time BBQ-ing with family and friends. It is also a time to give each other moon-cakes (spherical cakes- in honor of the moon- filled with a wide-range of things, from red bean paste to eggs to ice cream).  In our case, it was vacation time.  HOORAY! 

We headed off to Penghu for some much needed R and R.  Penghu is an island off the coast of Taiwan and is described by Lonely Planet as the "Hawaii of Taiwan".  

Penghu is known for its temples, of which there are many.  The temples often have very elaborate designs.  I was particularly impressed with the carvings inside one temple, as seen below:

We spent a lot of time on Penghu's many beaches.   The beaches are pristine, and at least when we were here, largely unoccupied. You felt as if you had the whole beach to yourself.  One of the best parts of spending time at the beach was the shell hunting. Here is a picture of me- very sun-burned, with a piece of coral that Myron found.

We got around the island by renting scooters.  I must admit that it was very exhilarating, riding around on scooters.  Even though Myron is pictured here, I too had my own scooter. 

We stopped at an aquarium, which actually had some very impressive exhibits.  We both enjoyed the sea turtles the most.

 Penghu is also known for its various basalt formations, the most famous of which is found on Tong-pan island.  We took a boat over to this small island, where you can walk around a path to see the basalt formations. 

Overall, we enjoyed this island and found it to be a very beautiful and fun island to explore. 

We had a fun time and would certainly recommend a visit to Penghu by anyone visiting the Taiwan area. 

We were also very happy to celebrate our first moon festival and our first vacation.