KINMEN

 And finally, I save the best for last…..KINMEN! Now when I first researched Kinmen, (I do research sometimes) no one was really saying anything good about it. “Oh, its ok, you can see it all in 3 days.” I don’t know what they were smoking, but Kinmen, in my opinion, is amazing, and by far the best place in Taiwan, hands down! There really isn’t that much information on it. Kinmen, to me, was like being a real-life explorer. Yes, there was information about locations but nothing solid. I was looking for a tank. It said, “oh, it's by the bathroom, beyond the sand dunes, but not past the Wind Lion God.” I’m almost giving up because I can’t find it, then my hard work paid off, in the desolate dunes emerged a rusty old tank. It was like a real adventure for me. 

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 最後，我把最愛留在最後...金門! 當我第一次研究金門時(有時我會研究)，沒有人覺得金門很好。喔，還可以，停留三天就夠了。我不知道他們在說甚麼，但金門，對我來說就是很驚豔。目前為止台灣最棒的地方，絕對是! 我並沒有太多資訊，對我來說就是真正的生活探險家。沒錯，很多資訊告訴你位置，但遠遠不夠。像我在找坦克車，我所知道的就是，喔在廁所旁邊，沙丘後面，還沒過風獅爺。我幾乎都快放棄了因為我找不到。但是努力總算有回報，在荒涼的沙丘裡，一輛生鏽的坦克車出現了。對我來說這才是真的冒險。

 

      Kinmen consists of Kinmen and Little Kinmen. I went during winter break. It was Frisco weather: cloudy, windy, and cold. I was not prepared. Some of the villages looked like they were from times past. Just the whole place boggled my mind in a good way. This was before going to Matsu, so the terrain and landforms, everything was different from the rest of Taiwan. I didn’t know this, but the tides are very important in Kinmen. Everything changes when the tides are low and high. Magical things happen, buried artifacts of times past and magical pathways appear depending on the tides. You have to figure it out yourself. That's the fun part, or Google.

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 金門包含大金門跟小金門。我是在寒假時去的，天氣就像舊金山，陰天，風大，且寒冷。我沒有準備。有一些村落看起來是從古代來的。整個地方都讓我很驚奇。這是我去馬祖之前，整個地形地景，每樣東西都不同於台灣。我不知道潮汐對金門是很重要的。每個東西都不一樣，在漲潮跟退潮時。魔幻的事情發生，過去掩埋的人造物會出現，路徑也會依潮汐的不同而顯現。你必須自己弄清楚。這也是有趣的地方。或是你google.

 

      Kinmen is also popular for bird watching and photography. It has easy hikes and trails and lots of sandy beaches. There were tons of dilapidated abandoned buildings to explore! I know I mentioned the people in Taiwan aren’t that friendly. I didn’t have that problem in Kinmen. People were friendly. I was invited to have dinner with a family. I told them my gluten problem and we ate crab and seafood. I even drank their famous wine with them, and I don’t drink. They were so welcoming. This was the only time in the 4 years I’ve been here that I actually felt welcome. It felt authentic. I loved it and I will never forget the hospitality I received in Kinmen! 

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 金門也是賞鳥跟拍照的熱門地點。有很容易走的步道，很多沙灘。有一大推廢棄建築可以冒險。我知道我說過台灣人很不友善。在金門我並沒有這樣的問題。大家都很親切。我被邀請跟一家人共進晚餐。我告訴他們我的飲食限制，我們吃螃蟹跟海鮮。 我甚至喝了他們有名的酒，而我是不喝酒的。他們很歡迎我。這也是四年來第一次我在台灣，覺得我是受歡迎的。很真實。我很愛這裡，也絕不會忘記我在金門受到的招待。

 

      Kinmen is also heavy with military history past and present, due to its proximity to China. I was so close I could see people walking around in China, with binoculars. But the biggest thing about Kinmen to me are the Wind Lion Gods. They actually are not Gods, but spirits who protect things. Some protect large areas of Kinmen or houses or a community. There are 104, I believe in Kinmen and Little Kinmen. This is like real life Pokemon Go. Yes, there's a map, but it's not detailed. Some Wind Lion Gods are in people's houses. You have to knock on their doors and ask for permission, others are just super hard to find because they are small and in some random locations, while some are huge and easy to see. 

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 金門同樣也是軍事重地，過去跟現在都是。因為他與中國相當接近。用望遠鏡我覺得我可以看到中國人在對岸走路的樣子。但是，對我來說，在金門最最重要的東西，就是風獅爺，它們其實不是神，而是保護東西的靈。保護大片區域，家屋，或是社區。我相信在大小金門共有104尊。真的就像寶可夢尋寶，沒錯，有地圖，但並不詳細。有些風獅爺在別人家裡。你必須敲門然後獲得允許，有些超級難找，因為它們很小，然後在不起眼的地方。而有些很大且容易看到。

 

      Kinmen is larger than the other islands. I did not explore everything Kinmen had to offer but I did go to both islands. I will treat Kinmen like the other islands. Get a scooter and drive around and explore. I will not share every location here. It's so much more fun to adventure and interact with NPCs, who could end up joining your party and play vital roles in your adventure. UPDATE- JULY 2022. I returned to Kinmen again, after Penghu and explored the shit out of it. I ended up finding over 130 Wind Lion Gods and Kinmen is a lot more modern than I once thought. Now the airport shows 99 Wind Lion Gods. Locals have told me there are 103 or 113. An app shows 99. Finally, a website in Chinese shows 123 or so. I really don’t know how many of them there are. I surpassed all of them and I know I did not find them all. I will not share any locations for the Wind Lion Gods, but I will help you if you message me. They are in the process of having a mall. So those who like AC and shopping can do that soon.

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 金門比其他島嶼都大。我並沒有探索每樣東西，但我去了兩個島嶼。金門也像其他島，租輛摩托車，到處晃晃，我不會把每個點都分享出來。去冒險跟NPC互動才是更有趣的，它們最終會加入你的遊戲，在你的冒險中扮演重要角色。2022,七月更新，我又回到金門了，在澎湖行之後。我最終發現了130尊的風獅爺，而且金門比我想的還要現代化。機場的資訊是99尊風獅爺。當地人告訴我大概有103到113尊。有一個app說有99尊。最後，有一個中文的網站說有123尊。我真的不知道到底有多少。我找的超過這些數字，但我知道這並不是全部。它們正在蓋購物中心。所以喜歡冷氣跟購物的可以做了。