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Kinmen: A Tale Of Two Beaches

The beaches of Kinmen are full of contradictions.

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I did a shift of work between five and eight am and decided that I could take a few hours off to join my family to the beach.

Kinmen is a set of two (technically three) subtropical islands — beaches surround the place. They are mostly completely undeveloped. For decades they were the land mine-riddled front lines of a civil war, and entire generations of Kinmenese wisely avoided them — a habit which the culture has still kind of maintained to this day.

What’s incredible about these beaches is that they are virtually completely undeveloped. The last wave of development to have gone through here was for the building of half-submerged military bases, bunkers, tunnels, and nearly endless stretches of apparatuses to prevent enemy boats from landing — sharpened stakes, spikes, barbed wire . . . which by now have mostly all been abandoned and have descended into ruins.

Kinmen could easily market itself as the next big beach destination, except for one little problem:

Filed under: Beaches, Kinmen, Taiwan, Vlog

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3694 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: New York City

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