Taiwan: Want to get away?

Wang An Kou beach, in Wang An island. Female green turtles scamper up beaches like this at night to lay their eggs. (Jonathan Adams/GlobalPost)

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WANG AN TOWNSHIP, Taiwan — At his breakfast joint on this sleepy island, the mellow Mr. Hsu absent-mindedly fashioned a shrimp from a drinking straw.

"Only in a place this boring would you learn how to do this," said Hsu, plopping his finished plastic crustacean on the table.

Later, at a nearby village, two elderly women sat on a doorstep, waiting for death or dinner — whichever came first. Their faces were wrapped up in a sort of Taiwanese burka to block out the sun. "The village ends here," they said, directing me back from whence I came.

Welcome to Wang An, a windswept, 5 1/2-square-mile island in the Taiwan Strait, population 4,500. Part of the Taiwan-controlled Penghu archipelago, it's a world away from the crowded, bustling urban sprawl of Taiwan proper.

The island doesn't see too many visitors. It seems to like it that way. In the summer, speedboat-borne Taiwanese tourists pour into the pier and onto scooters for a two-hour whirlwind tour.

Unloading cars at Wang An ferry pier. (Jonathan Adams/GlobalPost)

By the fall, Wang An reverts to its quiet hermitude. In the morning, the southbound boat arrives; in the afternoon comes the northbound. The ferries bulge with a cargo of humans, cows and pigs, a few scooters, the occasional car — and a plentiful supply of Taiwan Beer and other necessities. Aside from watching the boats load and unload, there's not much action here.

For Taiwanese, the island's claim to fame is that it's a nesting ground for the endangered green sea turtle. Signs posted along the pristine sand beaches warn of an NT$1 million ($30,000) fine and up to five years jail time for anyone who dares interfere with a female green turtle in egg-laying mode.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/091106/want-get-away