Week 24: Kinmen and Back Again

This week, I went back Kinmen for a little respite. Looking back, I think I definitely needed it to get ready for upcoming birthday festivities and international travel.

I woke up on Monday and flew back from Taipei to Kinmen, then spent the rest of the day relaxing. I mostly hid in my room with my space heater since I'd forgotten how cold Kinmen was.

On Tuesday, my partner and his parents came to visit Kinmen. We spent the majority of the day on Little K, where we checked out Bada Tower, Xi Kou Elementary (the school where my partner teaches), and Shuangkou Beach. The weather was lovely, and we could easily see Xiamen from the beach.

We also briefly went to Hujingtou Battle Museum, then came back to the apartment to relax a little. Although we never got to see the honey shop on Little K, I'm glad I could see some parts of the island I'd never seen before. Also, I liked going to Night Owl for dinner in Jincheng—it was a nice day!

The next morning, my partner left early with his parents. I spent the day writing blog posts, watching TV, and packing for my upcoming trip to Vietnam and Indonesia. I also watched a movie and called my partner for a bit.

I also spent the next day packing, watching TV, and vibing. Admittedly, it was a pretty nice to just relax and do very little. I feel like I never really get to do that, especially not here in Kinmen.

On Friday, I spent half the day also doing basically nothing. In the afternoon, I flew to Kaohsiung, then spent the evening wandering the city. I checked out a night market, then headed to a used bookstore and a stationery store. Pretty chill evening.

Early on Saturday morning, I took a train to Taipei. It was my first time taking the HSR (High Speed Rail), but it reminded me of taking the train in Europe. Once I got to Taipei, I reunited with my boyfriend, then got lunch with him and his parents.

Once we'd finished lunch, we decided to go to Beitou, which is a northern part of Taipei known for its hot springs and their regenerative properties. While we were there, we decided to visit Thermal Valley, which was one of the closest hot springs. Along the way, we washed our hands in a basin full of the spring water and bought hardboiled eggs cooked in the spring water. The water was a beautiful clear turquoise color, and it tasted a little salty, as I discovered from licking my hand afterwards out of curiosity.

The water at Thermal Valley was beautiful! Although the spring smelled like sulfur, it was pleasant to be around just for the warmth it provided. I liked watching the clouds of steam billow off of the spring and disappear into the January air. I think they were particularly stunning as golden hour struck the valley.

Back in the heart of Taipei, my partner and I reunited with some of the other Kinmen ETAs to get a room key. It had only been a bit over a week, but I missed everyone! I liked hearing their stories from traveling in Hualien and Taitung.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to my boyfriend's parents, who were leaving the next morning, then headed to sleep.

Sunday was the first day of our cohort's birthday bender, which was being held for two of our cohort members' birthdays (spanning January 29th to February 1st). I met up with some other ETAs for some scallion pancakes in Ximending, then we went fruit shopping. Unfortunately, I think being in Taipei made my Mandarin worse, and I got so nervous that the vendor couldn't understand me. Yikes.

For lunch, a group of us ETAs wandered around, then everyone else got McDonald's and sat in the park to eat. It kinda felt like a commercial with the green grass, sunny day, and diverse group of young people having a good time eating McDonald's.

Next, we headed to Treasure Hill, which is an artist's village in Taipei, and wandered the mazelike alleyways checking out art. Among other things, we found a little art shop (which sold a particularly endearing sticker of a bespectacled weasel), a recycled electronics studio, and a pair of giant fortune cookie statues. It was also a nice spot to watch the sun set from.

We wandered by a park under an overpass and chatted as we headed to dinner, stopping at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall along the way. In addition to us Kinmen ETAs, one ETA's boyfriend from home had come to visit, so getting to know him was nice.

Dinner itself was served family style at a seafood restaurant. Besides a whole fish, we also had sashimi, eggplant, fried shrimp, and Thai chicken, among other dishes. Then, we hung out at a nearby bar for a bit.

Even if I spent four-ish days doing very little in Kinmen, I'm glad I got to do very little. I liked having some alone time to process things and mentally prepare for the rest of winter break, I just missed everyone while they were visiting the east coast of Taiwan.

Writer's Note: This blog post was originally written on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023.