Day #112: Little Kinmen by scooter

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Little Kinmen is a very small island just off Kinmen Island, only about 15 minutes away by ferry. I happened to meet a family on holiday from Taipei who very kindly offered to take me around the island on the back of one of their daughter's scooters, so I got to see much more of the island than I would have under my own steam.

Little Kinmen suffered even more heavily than Kinmen during the Chinese Civil War and its aftermath, and most of its attractions are military-related. These ranged from an eerie underground sea tunnel used for bringing in supplies by ship, a museum devoted to landmines (both on Little Kinmen, where they only finished clearing the residual landmines in 2012, and internationally, describing the impact and campaigns against landmines globally), various displays of military equipment, abandoned battlements and all kinds of memorials. Little Kinmen's other claim to fame is a particular type of sweet popular in Taiwan made from peanuts, and the family I was travelling with bought bags of the stuff to take back with them.

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Photos

Protector
Little Kinmen was heavily deforested during the war, and the local crops failed due to the environmental changes, particularly the effects of winds. Locals believe this spirit will stop the wind.

Roundabout memorial
in the shape of a shell