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Published: December 15th 2014
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Is quite hard to find information about the Ferrys in and out of Taiwan, and prices. I travelled there in November 2014 and out in December 2014. I hope that the info can help some fellow traveller
Ferry Fuzhou-Taiwan via Matsu
(1) From Mawei (Fuzhou, China) to Matsu (Taiwan) --> Price 300RMB (more or less 50USD), sailing 6 days on the week, at about 8 in the morning, takes about 2 hours. Luggage free of charge.
(2) From Matsu (Taiwan) to Keelong (Taiwan mainland) --> Price 1000NTD (30USD), sailing everyday, about 8 in the morning, takes about 10 hours. Luggage free of charge
NOTES to (1): First issue is to find where the hell the Ferry Terminal is. The locals have no clue either. It is in the north end of the container terminal, you can follow the main road, pass the highway bridge, you see after a while a gas station to the left, the road bends to the riverside, and you go to the right in the last intersection, you will see some container activity there, and the road is a dead end, in the right hand side there is a
building with big glass windows, this is the terminal. Other way is to go is heading to the container terminal and continue passt it until the road ends, then turn right in this dead end road. Of course no english signs or whatsoever.
( latitude 26.009545466625507 , longitude = 119.48352813720703 )
https://maps.yahoo.com/place/?lat=26.009545466625507&lon=119.48352813720703&q=fuzhougang%20mawei%20passenger%20depot&t=h&bb=26.0169119%2C119.47003126%2C26.00217857%2C119.49702501&addr=fuzhougang%20mawei%20passenger%20depot
Ticketing on site, in RMB, you can carry whaterver luggage you want, free of charge. The boat itself is not a ferry, is actually one of this cute boats to take tourist see the dolphins. If there is rough sea you are very likely to empty your stomach. The boat can be also cancelled due to bad weather, it looks as it happens on regular basis. No beds, just seats.
NOTES to (2): You will arrive from (1) at about midday, so you have to spend at least 1 night in Matsu (Nangan island). There are hostels, costing at least 1000NTD. There is ATMs, but I only found one working with my foreign visa card, it was the Bank of Taiwan ATM in Jieshou, just 1 km away from the harbour. Matsu is very quiet and safe, is a small comunity, they are extremely
nice, specially with foreigners. If you have a tent, just look for some nice spot, nobody is going to complain (I was camping 5 days in a row in a side of the sport facilities in Fuao harbour). If you have no tent, you can sleep on the bench in the ticket office of the boats to Beigan. Again, is OK, nobody is going to annoy you, only some mosquitoes maybe. Taima is going to pick you up in the morning, ticketing at about 8. This is a small ferry, second-hand buy from Japan. A bit rusty, and it also is regularly cancelled if the weather is bad (I was waiting for Taima to come about 4 days). You will know if Taima is coming or not at about 11:00 on the day before. Just ask in the office or someone in the island. If you have only one day in Nangan, lucky you, go see the Beihai tunnel and other stuff. The Taima, in the cheap class, has fine tatami beds (probably the boat came with them from Japan). There is a shop on board with food, drinks and TV. Luggage, again, all you can carry, for free. There
is another boat, called Hu Fei or something like that, I think this is the army boat. Even smaller that Taima and sails on Wednesday in more or less same time, therefore no really an option. **** (Plan B), if the weather remains bad, there are planes from Nangan going for the mainland Taiwan, cost is 2000NTD, luggage is 10kg check in and some hand luggage. The planes are small propeller planes, and it seems that they cannot take a bike or something big in it. Each extra luggage kg will be charged 15NTD.
Ferry Keelong - Xiamen
Timetable is in internet, you look for the Cosco Star Line, all is in chinese but in a quite comprehensible tabular format. There is also a Xiamen-Taizhong connection.
(3) From Keelong to Xiamen --> Price 2700NTD (stardard room) + 270 NTD Keelong Port Tax (all together round 100USD). Sails once in the week (Details on website). It takes over 12 hours. Luggage free of charge. Ticketing and sailing from the West Ferry Terminal, some 200m north of the train station, easy to find. Just look for the quite big white Cosco boat in the small inner harbour!. Sails
at about 19:00, ticketing after 16:00, but check the website anyway.
NOTES to (3): Boat is OK, looks quite good and solid after having travelled in the Taima, a little rusty outside, but clean inside. Looks like it needs to be really bad weather for it to be cancelled. In the shop there is just alcohol and cigarrettes, no food for sale. They serve dinner (for pay) and breakfast (for free). Breakfast is chinese style, no coffee and no choices, if you have some special wish for your breakfast, you have better take it with you from Keelong. The boat has 3 karaoke rooms, a muppet style cafeteria in the upper deck, and free boiler water, it looks like a failed wannabe cruise boat. Standard beds, the cheapest, are hostel-style, in each room there are 4 beds, clean and with courtain, quite OK. Captain and some people there speak good english.
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