Pescadores Day 2 Part 1/澎湖二日目前半/澎湖第二上半

On day 2 of my trip to the Pescadores, I drove north to the islands of Baisha and Xiyu, which are connected to Makung by bridges.  It's kind of neat, so check it out on a map; the bridge between Baisha and Xiyu is one of the longest in the world.

澎湖諸島の旅、二日目だ！この日私はバイクに乗って馬公の北に位置する白砂島と西嶼島に行ってみた。白砂と西嶼を繫げる橋はかなり長い。地図で見てみてね。

澎湖旅行第二天！這天我去馬公北方的白沙島和西嶼島。在西嶼跟白沙中間的橋非常長、所以也算是觀光地。

I was blessed with beautiful weather every day I was on the islands.  A typhoon actually came through Taiwan right after I left, so I felt particularly lucky to have dodged that bullet.
我離開澎湖之後颱風到臺灣來了。但是我很有幸運、在澎湖每天青天。

澎湖にいた五日間はずっと天気が良くて、本当にラッキーだった。

Hey, buddy, you forgot your boat.

これは馬公と白砂の間の橋だ。

Here we are on a bridge.  I think it must be the one between Makung and Baisha.

Bugs!  Yeah!

The entrance to the bridge between Baisha and Xiyu.  Since it's super long, they make a big deal out of it and it has a fancy arch entrance.
下のアーチは白砂と西嶼の間の大橋の入り口に成っている。めっちゃ長いからこう言う風に観光地にされている。
這是從白沙到西嶼的大橋。

Also, since the bridge is super long, like many major public places throughout Taiwan, it has a statue of Chiang Kai-Shek.

また、大橋の入り口の近くに蒋介石の銅像も置いてある。以前、台湾の至る所まで蒋介石の銅像が有った。最近は少なく成っているが、まだまだ多い。

It looks like he's taking a leak if you take a photo from behind.  There's even a piss stream coming down between his legs.  I think a statue of Chiang Kai-Shek taking a piss on Taiwanese soil is pretty appropriate really, so congratulations to the artist who made this.
後ろから見たら、小便している様に見えて、杖が尿流に見える。

在尿尿的蔣界石。

Here's another cairn.  Like I said in the last post, there are a bunch of these on the islands, but I forget what they mean.  (I actually feel like kind of a moron.  I'm realizing as I write up these posts that I have forgotten a lot of the details of this trip already.  Don't wait a month to do something when you could do it right away instead is the lesson.)

前のポストにも載せたけど、こういう石塚が澎湖には沢山有るみたいだ。
澎湖有很多礧、可是我忘記了它們有甚麼意思。

A painting of a diver on a local fishing building.
地元の漁業関係の建物に海女の絵が描かれている。

I'm a creep, so I took a picture of someone's grave.  (below)

ちょっと変わったお墓だ。椅子みたいな形は普通だけど、真ん中の石塔は始めて見た。

I think the Pescadores are famous for these flowers.  That's what someone said to me.  I don't remember what they are though.  Oops.

最初に行ったのは西嶼の西端に有る灯台だ。泊まっている馬公から一番離れているので、先にそこに行って、帰り途中で他のところに寄ってみた方がいいと思ったのだ。灯台への道にこの可愛い灯台君が手で行方を指していた。
And here's out first stop!  I drove mostly non-stop to the end of Xiyu Island so that I could see the lighthouse there.  I figured it was better to see the stuff farthest away first and to stop at other places on the way back.  (Uh, by the way, that's not the actual lighthouse in the photo below, you do realize, right?  That's just an adorable lighthouse-man who's showing us which way to go to get to the actual lighthouse.)

到了燈塔！

Another creepy grave photo.

I see something!

灯台に着いた！

灯台の隣りに基地が有った。基地は駐車場と灯台の間に有って、駐車場でも、灯台辺りでも写真を撮っても問題は無いのに、灯台に行っている途中、基地を通っている時は、撮影禁止に成っている。意味が良く分からない。灯台に着いて、高いところに乗って基地の方を向いて写真を撮ったら、完全に基地の写真が撮れる。軍隊秘密の有る場所だったら、観光地にするな！

在燈塔旁邊有基地。進入禁止！
So apparently, right next to the lighthouse is some sort of military base with radar/communications towers and all of that.  You actually have to walk on a path that goes kind of right through the base to get to the lighthouse, so there are all these signs warning you not to take photos, which is silly since you can take them at the entrance, and you can take them once you get to the lighthouse, even if you are looking back towards the base.  Worst secret base ever, guys.

The lighthouse!

灯台と邪魔なお姉さん達。

A map of lighthouses in Taiwan.  Also, a map of my future trips around the islands.

物干網。もしかして兵士が使っているかも。

Clotheslines

兵士の（？）シャツとパンツ。

誰的？說不定是軍人的呢？
Some guy's shirt and underwear.

A photo looking back at where we came from.  The TOP SECRET military base is in the background. (Don't arrest me!)

這個墓碑在門的外面、所以不能靠近看好了。我不知道是誰的、為何在這裡。
A grave.  This was outside a gate, so I couldn't get any closer to get a good look at it.
このお墓は閉じた門の外に有ったため、近付く事は出来なかった。誰のお墓なのだろうかな？しかも、基督教の。

These stone gourd things are all over the Pescadores.  I'm sure they have some significance.
在澎湖我看到很多石頭的葫蘆。

ウンコ。
じゃなくて、瓢箪だと思う。澎湖のあっちこっちで瓢箪を見掛けたけど、澎湖では何かの特別な意味が有るかもしれない。

ほら、めっちゃ基地が見えるだろう？どこが撮影禁止なのか？

Surprisingly fancy bannister on the staircase

燈塔和旁邊的基地。

太陽に向いて写真を撮ったら、こう成った。
Oh no!  What happened!?  (I think I pointed the camera at the sun.)
我拍了太陽、拍得這樣子。

Yeah, that's better!
白色的旗幟應該是軍隊的吧。

赤い旗は皆さんが知っている筈の台湾国旗だ。（厳密言えば、中華民国の国旗だけど。）白いのは何かはっきり分からないけど、基地が有るから、多分何か軍隊関係の旗だと思う。
I think the white flag must be some military-related flag.

灯台の近くに下の写真のコンクリートで出来た大砲が有った。最初はなんでこんなところにこんな変な物が置いてあるかなと思ったけど、近くに有った看板を見てみたら、これは日本軍がアメリカ軍を騙す為に建てた物だと分かって来た。
The next stop after the lighthouse was nearby in a field in the middle of nowhere.  There was this giant, concrete gun turret.  At first I mistakenly thought it was some local politician's desperate and stupid idea to increase tourism in the area, but after reading the sign nearby, I learned that this is actually from the Japanese period.  During the war, the Japanese military built this concrete gun turret to try to fool the American planes.
這個東西是日本軍為了騙美軍做的。當然不是真的大砲。

The plant life on the Pescadores reminds me a bit of the Austin, Texas area, where I have some family. It's probably a pretty superficial resemblance, but it's the only reference I have since I grew up in a place that gets snow just about every winter.
因為仙人掌多、所以我想起來我家人住的德州。澎湖應該下雨下得多、可是因為島是珊瑚礁做的、所以應該雨水不停在土裡、就流到海裡沒有了。我知道沖繩也是這樣子。

澎湖は沖縄の南部や宮古島などと同じく、珊瑚礁で出来た島だから、水保ちが悪い。雨が沢山降るにもかかわらず、結構乾燥していて、木があまり生えていない。私の親戚が住んでいるテキサスを思い出す。

次に行ったところは「西嶼東台」と「西嶼西台」と言う砦だ。この砦は清朝とフランスの間の戦争の後で建てられた。日本時代までは使われて、もしかしてその後中華民国軍も使ったかもしれない。
The next stop was at these old forts, still on the island of Xiyu.  These forts were originally built during the Qing period, and were built in reaction to the war between the Qing and France(!) for control of Taiwan.  They were still around during the Japanese period where they would have seen use since the Pescadores Islands were an important, strategic military location for the Japanese navy.
我也去西嶼東台和西嶼西台看看。它們本來是跟法國打仗了之後清朝做的。

ウンコ門（西嶼東台の大門）
東台大門。葫蘆在上面。

Another gourd on top of the gate to the Xiyu East Fort.  (Constructed 1887)

The Xiyu East Fort was the more aesthetically impressive of the two.  (The other being Xiyu West Fort.)  It's got these beautiful, smooth, white walls with a million entrances you can climb around inside.

台湾、いや東アジアと思わないぐらい変わった様子の砦だ。

Probably the location of a cannon.

Inside, it looks like this.
也可以進裡面去。

砦の中。

There were lots of bugs living inside.
蜂も蜘蛛も多かった。

上記の写真は間違いない東台だけど、下記の写真は西台かどうかはっきり分からない。訪れた時は西台だと思ったけど、後でインターネットで調べてみたら、自分の写真とウェブに有る写真の様子があまりにも変わっていて、もしかして西台には行っていないかもしれないと思ってきた。とにかく何かの廃棄された基地だけど、名前は確実に分からない。

I believe that the photos following are of the Xiyu West Fort, which I'm pretty sure I also visited.  I'm just confused because they look nothing like the photos I found online of it.  It could just be that the angles are different and I'm not recognizing it, or it could be that this military installation is a more modern one that was inserted in between Xiyu West and East Forts, and maybe I never even made it to Xiyu West Fort and didn't realize it.  Sorry for my continued ignorance.
當時我覺得我去西嶼西台。可是後來我看看網路、再覺得也許我去的地方總算不是西台。是因為我拍的照片跟在網路看到的照片不一樣。所以下面的照片是一個基地、可是我不知道算不算是西嶼西台。

Greek Orthodox crosses?

Decay!  Beautiful decay!

コンクリートで埋まった便器は生活感を漂わせて呉れる。
Concrete-filled toilets.  (They're Asian squat-style toilets.)

An old guy was burning leaves and branches here.  I assume he was hired by the local government to clear the area of brush, but maybe he just likes burning stuff.
一個歐吉桑把草木燃燒著。可能是這裡的管理人？

私の経験上では、日本でも台湾でもおじさん達は草木を燃やすのが好きみたいだ。ここにも燃やしているおじさんがいて、多分この古跡の管理人だと思うけど、単に草木を燃やす趣味が有る地元のおじさんに過ぎないという可能性も有る。

Originally a container to hold sand to put out fires, this concrete thing has become a planter.  (below)

このギリシア正教十字架みたいな物は何なんだろう？

二日目の写真はまだいっぱい有るので、ここで一旦止めて、今回続く。
Day 2 isn't done yet, but I'll continue in another post since I took an absurd number of photos on this day.
因為還有蠻多照片、所以今天只到這裡。下次我再要貼。

Pescadores Day 1/澎湖一日目/澎湖第一天

It's been a while since I updated, so let's make it a big one!  I went to the Pescadores Islands (Chinese name: Penghu) back in July, and I've been traveling pretty much non-stop since then, so I haven't had time to write up any posts for the most part.

The Pescadores Islands are a group of islands to the west of the main island of Taiwan.  They've been settled by Han Chinese people for quite a few centuries already (much longer than Taiwan itself has).  When the Dutch originally arrived in East Asia in search of direct trade with Ming China, they originally attempted to take Macau from the Portuguese.  They failed at that and took over the Pescadores instead.  However, since there were Han people living on the islands, the Ming considered them part of Chinese territory, and told the Dutch to leave.  It was at this time that the Ming suggested that the Dutch settle instead on the island of Taiwan, which they did.  Later, when the Qing dynasty lost the Sino-Japanese War in 1895, they ceded control of Taiwan to Japan, and the Pescadores were included as part of the package.  As a result, unlike Quemoy--about which I have previously written--the Pescadores have shared their 20th century history with Taiwan.  The islands were actually a major port (Mako) for the Japanese, and there are still a lot of military bases there even now, not surprising given the islands' placement right in between mainland Taiwan and mainland China.

お久しぶり！七月からずっと旅しっぱなしなので、あまりポストする時間がなかった。今日は七月の澎湖への旅についてちょっと書こうと思った。

澎湖諸島は台湾本島の西沖に有る。けっこう昔から中国人が住み着いた。オランダ人が中国との貿易を目指して東アジアに遣って来た時、最初はマカオをポルトガルから奪い取ろうとしたけど、失敗して、澎湖諸島に砦を作る事にした。しかし、中国人が既に澎湖諸島に住んでいるため、明朝はオランダに領土主権を主張して、結果としてオランダは澎湖を去って台湾に植民地を建てる事に成った。1895年に、日清戦争を負けた清朝は日本に台湾を渡したら、ついでに澎湖も譲った。日本時代の澎湖には、主な港町の「馬公」は日本の大事な港の一つだった。

好久不貼。七月我去澎湖之後、沒有時間把文章寫好了。那時候之後我一直在旅行。

我為了去澎湖、先搭火車去嘉義、再到布袋坐公車、最後坐船。在嘉義火車站對面有這些電影海報。好像以前的自製海報。現在這樣的海報應該不多。

 I went to the islands by ferry out of Budai, a coastal town near the city of Chiayi.  Chiayi is about an hour north of Tainan by train, so I got off at the main station there and caught a bus to Budai.  I noticed these old-school movie posters (for new movies) on the mall across the street from the train station.  These type of locally made, possibly hand-painted posters were pretty common back in the day in Japan and Taiwan (and America?  I don't know.) but you almost never see them nowadays.  Pretty cool.
澎湖に行くのは飛行機ももちろんあるけど、私は嘉義市まで電車で行って、そこからバスに乗って「布袋」と言う港町に行ってフェリーに乗った。途中の嘉義で、この昭和くさい、手作りの映画ポスターを見掛けた。凄くない？こういうのは現在あまり見掛けないから、吃驚した。

 The Chiayi Statue of Liberty in a roundabout.
嘉義のロータリーに有った自由の女神。
嘉義的自由女神

 This is one of the four (!) ferries that goes to the Pescadores from Budai.  The islands are low-lying coral islands with nice beaches and lots of partially enclosed bays, so they are very popular summer vacation destinations, especially for people who want to go to the beach.  The presence of four ferries is probably justified by the summer crowds.
布袋から澎湖までのフェリー会社は四つも有る！以上のフェリーはその中からの一つだ。澎湖は珊瑚で出来た島のお陰で、ビーチも海も綺麗だ。毎年、夏期に観光客が沢山訪れて来る。

民宿的風景
The view from the hotel.
民宿からの景色。

 And my ride for five days.
澎湖を走り回るには、バイクがお勧めだ。暑い夏の風は気持ちいいし、自転車より大分楽だ。（自転車もきっと面白いと思うけど、一日行ける距離が限られているので、始めて訪れる人はバイクに乗った方がいいと思う。）

 An ashtray at the outdoor seating for a shaved-ice restaurant.
かき氷屋さんの灰皿。

這些照片是馬公島的南部。我到了澎湖就馬上騎摩托車去南部的半島看看。
The first thing I did upon arriving was to drive down to the southern part of the main island, Makung.  There were some beautiful views of the surrounding sea and other islands.
到着した一日目、馬公の南に有る細長い半島を走ってみた。周りの景色に美しい海も、小島も多い。

 There was a strange lookout structure here.
変な展望台

It was about a month ago already, so I actually don't remember where "here" is actually.  I know that this is somewhere on the southern peninsula of Makung.

這裡、蛇頭山、也是風景漂亮的、也是有歷史的一個地方。日本時代、海軍的船出事了、很多軍人過世了。（可是我只記得差不多、忘記了細小的事情。）

"Snake Head Mountain" This was a lookout point near the end of the peninsula.  It was also the sight of a major naval accident during the Japanese occupation where a lot of sailors died.
この蛇頭山には何かの事故が有って、沢山の日本海軍人が亡くなった。詳しい事は忘れてしまった。（記念碑の写真を撮れば良かったのに！）

 There are a lot of cactuses on the island.  Their fruits are used for local delicacies.
在澎湖生很多仙人掌。可以使用它們的水果、做點心。是澎湖的一個地產。

 仙人掌が沢山有る。澎湖の人はその実を使って、地料理を作っている。

 All this grand, scenic splendor is great and all, but Candy Crash is calling.

我站在蛇頭山就看到一個搭船的人。
Some guy in a boat on the bay.
湾内に舟に乗って人がいた。

Looks like he's doing something!
做起來一個動作、、、

Playing guitar?
下の写真ではギターを弾いている様に見える。
看起來他在彈吉他。

 I saw these weird trees (?) growing up like this every once in a while on the island.  Very strange.
時々こういう一本の木（木かな？）を見掛けた。

 布袋様かな？

以下的照片有一個很特別的東西。澎湖有幾個石柱。但是我忘記了它們的機能。

 There were lots of stone towers like this on the islands.  I can't remember what they were built for (what good am I?) but I think it was for some sort of ceremonial, not practical, purpose.
澎湖のあちらこちらにこういう石積み物が有った。機能を忘れた。（っていうか、忘れた事多過ぎじゃないか！一ヶ月前の旅だからしょうがない。）

把以上的照片看一下、就看起來這座廟有一條高高的尖頂、不過、、、
Hey, do you see something behind that building?
建物の屋根をよくみたら、、、

看好了、就看得出來其實是一個很大的偶人！他坐在廟後面。
Oh my god, he's huge!  (This god's statue seriously was absolutely huge.)
ああ！でかい神様の銅像が有る！

 Bananas!

 Near the main harbor and central city of Makung, there is this bridge that they light up with rainbow colors.  It's a little hokey, but actually really pretty too.
馬公の港にこの歩道橋が有る。夜に成ると、虹色で光っている。

這是馬公市的天橋。到了夜晚就照亮了。

 Makung at night.  Sorry for the blurriness.
馬公の夜景

Day two coming up next time!
ツービーコンティンニュード
下次、第二天。

Tainan Rainbow/台南の虹/臺南的彩虹

I saw this rainbow back in July, before leaving on my travels.  It was one of the most clear ones I've ever seen.
七月にこの虹を見た。かなりはっきりして、綺麗だから、写真を撮った。
七月我把這個彩虹看到了。很漂亮吧！