Summary
Jinmen is the second largest island among Taiwan’s outlying islands, mainly including Jinmen and Lieyu, as well as neighboring islands. When it comes to Jinmen, the first impressions that come to mind are probably Jinmen Kaoliang liquor, Jinmen Wind Lion God, Jinmen Gong Tang… These are the key attractions in Jinmen’s tourism development today. Or perhaps the strong military background, such as the 823 Artillery Battle, Zhaishan Tunnel… These are the impressions people have of Jinmen. After planning for half a year, the trip finally took place in the hot month of June. Although it wasn’t my first time visiting Jinmen, to be honest, my impression of Jinmen is still quite vague; I only remember that there were landmines on the roadside and no lights on the road at night… But that was all twenty years ago… (revealing my age XD)
When it comes to Jinmen, people’s impression of it is probably its past military significance, such as the “823 Artillery Battle” or the “Guningtou Battle” that appear in history textbooks, which actually took place on this land; however, with the arrival of the post-war era, Jinmen began to focus on its war-torn history, combined with its local characteristics and culture, and started to develop its tourism industry.
In recent years, due to the “mini three links” policy, many tourists from mainland China also come to Jinmen for sightseeing (although there were fewer this time); in addition, some old houses have been converted into homestays, making Jinmen more historical in flavor, and making it a choice for domestic travel arrangements.
This trip was planned for three days and two nights, with a total cost of about 8,000 yuan; in terms of domestic travel, it is considered expensive, but after all, the cost of the flight alone accounts for one-third of the price. Just like the previous article, the purpose of this article is to record the itinerary, and the remaining parts will be added later XD
Day 1
Taipei Songshan Airport -> Take Hwa Xin Airlines AE1261 (E190) at 7:40 -> Jinmen Shangyi Airport -> Rent a car from Jipin -> Ma Mountain Observatory -> Shishan Battery -> Shanhou Homestay Cultural Village -> Wang Grandma’s Snack Shop for lunch -> Chen Qingji Western-style Building -> 823 War History Museum -> Taiwu Mountain (Don’t Forget in Jushi) -> Tantian Building for dinner -> Jinmen Sheng Heng Chang -> Shuitou Yijiaqin Homestay
Day 2
Homestay breakfast -> Shuitou Pier -> Jiugong Pier (Little Jinmen) -> Badalouzi -> Heroine Temple -> Lake Jingtou War History Museum -> Huangcuo Three-story Homestay for lunch -> Jiugong Tunnel -> Guningtou War History Museum
-> Cihu Sunset Sea-viewing Platform for sunset -> General’s Office -> Longhe Guangdong Porridge for dinner -> Homestay
Day 3
Yongchun Guangdong Porridge for breakfast -> Gugang Building -> Wentai Pagoda -> Jinmen Distillery -> Chen Jinglan Western-style Building -> Qiu Lianggong Mother’s Filial Piety Archway -> Jicheng Restaurant for snacks -> Zhaishan Tunnel -> Jinmen Shangyi Airport -> Take Hwa Xin Airlines AE1272 (E190) at 17:30 -> Taipei Songshan Airport
As for equipment selection, this time I only brought the Nikon D750, along with the Nikon Nikkor 16-35mm F4G and Nikkor 24-120mm F4G lenses, so it should be considered light (?) compared to before XD
▼ This time I chose to take the “Little Steel Cannon” E190 Hwa Xin Airlines to Jinmen, but we didn’t use the aerobridge XD
▼ Domestic flights are now allowed to use cameras, so I was able to capture the beauty of Taiwan, and the islands below should be one of the outlying islands of Penghu.
▼ Ma Mountain Observatory is a former observation station in Jinsha, the closest place on Jinmen Island to China.
▼ Due to military needs, the observation station can only be accessed through tunnels.
▼ From Ma Mountain Observatory, you can see the other side with the naked eye.
▼ Jinmen Shanhou Homestay Cultural Village, preserving many traditional Minnan-style houses.
▼ Wang Grandma’s Snack Shop, the food is good, but there are quite a lot of flies in the dining area XD
▼ The front of the building is a Western Baroque-style Ruiyou School.
▼ Chen Qingji Western-style Building, a filming location for the movie “Paradise in Service”, it seems to have been tidied up, but it doesn’t seem to have been developed into a tourist attraction.
▼ The Wind Lion God in Jinsha Town.
▼ The unique public telephone booth design in Jinmen.
▼ 823 War History Museum, with many stories about the past 823 incident.
▼ It took over an hour to climb to the “Don’t Forget in Jushi” stone on Taiwu Mountain.
▼ Sun Yat-sen’s statues can still be seen everywhere in Jinmen.
▼ The dumplings at Tantian Building, since I couldn’t eat beef, I had to eat dumplings, and they tasted pretty good.
▼ The famous “Gaoming 660cc Beverage Shop” in Jinhu Town, the taste of the drinks is quite unique, and it seems to have added banana water.
▼ Jinhu Town’s Sheng Heng Chang, there is also a Guobin Cinema! But the number of customers… (probably because it’s not a holiday).
▼ The “Shuitou Yijiaqin” homestay where we stayed for two nights, the service was good, but the environment could be improved.
▼ The starry sky in Jinmen taken outside the homestay at night, but unfortunately there is still some light pollution.
▼ The exterior of the “Shuitou Yijiaqin” homestay, it is a very traditional Minnan-style building.
▼ Badalouzi in Lieyu Township (Little Jinmen), a landmark that must be visited in Little Jinmen.
▼ Lake Jingtou War History Museum, also a place very close to Xiamen, the mobile signal easily becomes the signal from the other side…
▼ Shiyu Island, where only the national army is present, there are actually soldiers stationed there!!
▼ The yellow cows can be seen everywhere on the roadside in Jinmen XD
▼ The observation platform in Little Jinmen allows for a closer view of the high-rise buildings in Xiamen.
▼ The taro roll from Huangcuo Three-story Homestay Snack Shop in Lieyu Township, refreshing texture, a must-try here!
▼ It’s so blissful to be able to eat a bowl of delicious taro ice in June!
▼ Jiugong Tunnel located next to Jiugong Pier, more serene compared to Zhaishan Tunnel.
▼ Guningtou War History Museum, another place full of stories & where I accidentally sprayed my newly bought sunglasses XD
▼ The exterior of Beishan Gu Western-style Building, full of bullet marks.
▼ Anping Wind Lion God in Jinning Township, the tallest Wind Lion God in Jinmen.
▼ The sunset on the Cihu Sunset Sea-viewing Platform, you can see the heavy clouds above Xiamen in the distance…
▼ Night shot of Jinmen’s General’s Office, actually quite crowded at night.
▼ The General’s Office is well-preserved.
▼ Longhe Guangdong Porridge in Jincheng, the fried noodles because it was too late, so only fried noodles were left! The boss and the boss’s wife are very enthusiastic, and it’s a solid fried noodles!
▼ Jincheng Sheng Li Ice Cream Shop, originally a bookstore, you can see shelves full of books inside.
▼ A small bowl of shaved ice with 4 toppings for only 30 yuan! It’s probably hard to find this kind of thing in Taipei.
▼ The Juguang Building at night, it’s a building that used to be seen frequently on stamps, it’s better to come during the day if you want to take pictures.
▼ The only group photo taken with a tripod before leaving the homestay, let’s meet again in Jinmen in 30 years XD
▼ Yongchun Guangdong Porridge, the porridge is cooked until it blends into the soup, very delicious! The youtiao tastes a bit like twins.
▼ Gugang Building, also one of the must-visit spots in Jinmen’s sightseeing itinerary, the weather wasn’t very good on the third day, so the photos turned out a bit dull.
▼ Wentai Pagoda, the road to get in is a bit narrow, easy to miss, the only intact tower among the three ancient towers from the Ming Dynasty.
▼ Chen Jinglan Western-style Building, you can tell from the exterior architecture and scale that it belonged to a wealthy family.
▼ Qiu Lianggong Mother’s Filial Piety Archway, another must-visit spot in Jinmen’s downtown area.
▼ The restaurant “Jicheng” where we had snacks, another must-try snack shop in Jinmen’s downtown area.
▼ The pan-fried dumplings, which look like boiled dumplings directly fried, have a crispy outer layer.
▼ Jinmen Model Street, with many small shops, but due to lack of time, I only bought Chunxin Handmade Egg Rolls.
▼ Due to a concert in the morning that wasn’t open to the public, we were forced to visit Zhaishan Tunnel in the afternoon, which probably had the most visitors among all the spots on this trip.
▼ Since the tunnel is quite dark inside, it wasn’t as easy to photograph as I had imagined.
▼ On the return journey, we took Hwa Xin Airlines again, and once again, no aerobridge XD
▼ After taking off for about ten minutes, we could already see the Penghu Islands, see you next time, Jinmen.
▼ Since we arrived in Taipei quite early, I was lucky to capture the sunset glow of that day, a perfect ending to the journey!
