Blogs from Kinmen Island , Taiwan, Asia

After a month and a half of school, it was nice to finally get a break. The Moon Festival gave us a long week-end, so we booked a trip to Kinmen Island through Vivien at the school. She booked our flights, 60 hours of scooter time and a homestay in a typical Fujian B&B. We left for the airport Saturday around 7:30AM and landed in Kinmen at 10AM. We made our way to the Visitor Information Desk in the airport were called by the scooter rental agency. The English speaking Visitor Information lady explained the 4 half day tourist tours. The scooter people came and got us from the airport, filled out the paper work, then took us to a 125 Sym scooter. He gave us maps and a couple of helmets. Using our iPhone maps, ... read more

Monday, 13th January 2014 Shishan / Folk Culture Village Route C From Kincheng, we travelled across the island by public bus # 3 to Shanwai Town where we were right on time to catch the 9am shuttle to Mashan Observation Station. Located along the north eastern corner of Kinmen Island, the strong icy winds that greeted us when we first got down from the bus was overwhelming. A long tunnel greeted us as we ran for cover from the winds. At the far end of the tunnel lies Mashan Station, a surveillance and broadcasting station used by the Kuomintang troops to monitor the Communist Army's movement during the confrontation years. Separated by a narrow channel of water from China, the city of Xiamen where we would be visiting in 2 days' time was clearly evident from ... read more

Sunday, 12th January 2014 We woke up to a wintry Sunday morning today. It was helpful in that Cantonese Porridge was served during breakfast which provided some respite from the icy air. After receiving some helpful advice from Ann, we were off to the bus station by 9am in the morning. With three full days in Kinmen, our plan was to purchase a 2-Day Pass that gave us unlimited rides on the Tourist Shuttle Routes across the island. On our final day, we would be spending our time on Little Kinmen, the other island within the archipelago that is opened for tourism. 40 years of confrontation with mainland China made Kinmen a war veteran. The island was littered with war relics - deep underground tunnels, observatories and war museums. Anti-landing barricades which lined the northern coast ... read more

Today I sailed by ferry from Xiamen to the Taiwanese Island of Kinmen. I only have a single-entry Chinese visa, so from here I will fly to the Taiwanese "mainland". I was the only Westerner travelling on the ferry, but I met a Taiwanese woman who had lived in New Zealand, who explained that most people travelling that way were Taiwanese who had come to Xiamen overnight (Taiwanese do not need a visa for China provided they stay less than 24 hours, so many come to Xiamen for the day). The rest of the travellers were Chinese going to Taiwan, mostly for holidays, although this involves quite a lot of bureaucracy (the Chinese government requires Chinese people to jump through quite a few bureaucratic hoops before they are allowed to leave the country, never mind the ... read more