Kinmen

This is the visual half of the story of my trip to Kinmen. For the verbal part go to:
http://outintheworld.blogspot.com/2005/04/kinmen.html

As for this page, there will be no more photos. I am turning the archives off and it will remain as is. After debating if I should place photos by theme, I decided instead to put them as closely as I could to the order in which they were taken. I wish that I could be more accurate with the names of villages some of the photos were taken in, but many of them, I never knew the name, and others I was too lazy to stop to write it down.
I hope you enjoy looking at the photos as much as I enjoyed being out there and taking them.

DAY ONE: A bit of irony, I suppose, that the last picture I post on this page is one of the very first ones that I took. On my first day in Kinmen, after dropping my bags off at my hotel in Shanwai, I walked east and north. I went up the highest mountain, Taiwu, and then down through the countryside until I reached Shamei tired and hungry. From there I took a bus up to the northeast corner of the island. Near sunset I returned to Shamei and took a bus back to Shanwai. 

As I mention a few times on this page, symmetry is a big deal in Chinese architecture, at least as far as I could tell when walking past the traditional homes I encountered in Kinmen. 

I started taking pictures of windows shortly after I started taking pictures of doors. 

A look at what happens when temples are forgotten. 

Another picture from inside the abandoned temple. 

Despite the fact that I rarely saw people in any of the villages, it was not at all uncommon to see clothes hanging out to dry. One of the only ways to know that people still lived in some of the houses. 

This is one of the few pictures on this page that I also posted on Out in the World. As I mention there, this was one of my favorite shots from the trip, though I could not give an exact reason why. 

This was behind the cemetery and at the base of Taiwu mountain. The white of the ground was bright enough to make my eyes hurt, despite the fact that the sun was hidden behind a wall of haze and cloud. 

This was in the temple you see in the previous picture. 

A cemetery honoring those killed during the shell attacks by the PLA in 1958 and other deceased service members. 

This is a close-up of the flowers you can see leaning against the gravestone in the foreground of the previous picture. 

A picture from near the top of Taiwu Mountain, the highest point on Kinmen at about 253M. It is really more of a glorified hill of granite. 

Looking down from about halfway down the backside of Taiwu.

A picture of the path leading down Taiwu Mountain. 

This is a closer look at the grass fields you can see from above in the previous picture. 

This is out in the country side after coming down the backside of Taiwu. The mountain is in the background.

A fine example of the symmetry I often noticed in terms of the way houses were designed and decorated. 

This was in one of the villages between Taiwu mountain and Shamei. 

I noticed these as I entered Shamei. I was very thirsty and had not eaten since breakfast (it was almost two by this time), but I had to stop and take a picture of these flowers. I have never seen them before, and they look like a type of Chinese decoration one often sees around shops and houses. Perhaps the inspiration? 

This is looking down Shamei's tidy main street. Not many people about. 

This is inside the dark market that I mention in my post about Kinmen (the story of my trip on Out in the World). It was here that I saw cats and heard rodents and contemplated empty meathooks and the pervasive smell of dead fish and dead animals. 

My love affair with Kinmen's doors and walls began on Saturday. I especially enjoyed Shamei, a town about 10KM north of where I was staying in Shanwai. 

What striking colors, I think. 

Strollers can be used for many things. 

This was one of the last pictures I took in Shamei, a very pleasant stopover after a long afternoon of walking. In Shamei I chatted with a few people, had an iced mango drink, and read for a while. I can think of much worse ways to spend time. 

I think this old mansion was in or near Shamei as well.