As my previous post suggests, last weekend I had to go on a visa run, a common inconvenience for people trapped in visa limbo, or for people who just really want to stay on vacation for ages.
The process is simple. Leave the country you're in, be it 2 minutes or 2 days, and come back with a new stamp on your passport. As explained previously, I found a cheaper, more adventurous option than the usual Hong Kong trip that everybody does in these parts: Kinmen Island.
Being a remote Taiwanese island that nobody had ever heard of, it required an extra step. First, I had to fly to the southern tip of China, the (mostly) Island city of Xiamen. Then, get a ferry over to the island, turn around and come back, then fly back to Shanghai. This could conceivably be accomplished all in the same day, but I wanted to spend some time exploring.
Not so much a fan of tourist spots, I made sure to explore untouched areas when I could, and I certainly don't regret it!
Day 1 - Xiamen
I arrived without fault with every intention to make the most of the day by getting the visa part of the trip over and done with before sundown. Unfortunately, as if tormented by God, the second I set foot in my hotel room, thunder, lightning and torrential rain annihilated the landscape. Great.
Knowing the tropics, I was aware of the likelihood that this was the early afternoon showers routine in the wet season, and it would subside in half an hour or so. I was wonderfully correct, but it was too late to do the island run by this point, so instead, I checked out two touristy spots: The Pedestrian Street and Zhongshan Park.
The street was nice, well maintained and lots of shops and even more food to try out. I tried almost none of it. I bought a weird mango drink designed for couples with two straws and two spoons in two separate compartments and gobbled it all down myself. The second thing I tried, some banana wrap thing, I gave the majority away to some homeless woman who managed to learn 'I'm very hungry' in English.
At this point I had done close to 15,000 steps and been up a good 12 hours, having not eaten anything since the day before. So I was a bit frustrated by this but at least she had some nice food. It was so nice.
I explored the docks a little and went home around 9pm, something like 24,000 steps later. Exhausted, I wanted to try out the bathtub, a luxury I only ever get to enjoy once every epoch, but there was no plug stopper thing. Too tired to go ask, I did whatever work had to be done and passed out.
Day 2 - Kinmen Island
After an awesome sleep, the hotel provided no free breakfast so I went without. Other than a few bites of a meaty snack and that mango drink, my body was running pretty darn low on fuel so my first task was to go out and find nourishment.
Needless to say, I got in a taxi and immediately went to the ferry port instead and made my way to the Taiwanese island.
I saw a cool looking food court on this island right across from the port so I figured I could go there in 20 minutes or so. It seemed a shame not to explore the island at least a little, so I wandered over to the water's edge and checked out the ships parked up there.
I looked up and saw a weird kind of lighthouse atop a hill and some rustic looking stairs. Alright, just a quick check, I thought. The stairs - carved out of the cliff edge - lead to an empty road with a yellow police office nearby, and walking down it I saw a split, seemingly abandoned road go parallel to the police office, down and round. I wonder.
A few metres down, I noticed all the parked cars had been totally overgrown by Ivy, rusted and generally abandoned. Even the stairs had been completely taken over by Ivy, and even the frame stuck onto the wall originally for the ivy to grow on had been pulled down by their weight, and then grown over by a new layer.
At the end, I realised I was at sea level in some kind of ultra-long-duration car park. It was a wonder if any of them had been touched in years. At the very end, a little more downhill, I saw an ancient cave full of seawater, presumably where boats were to be launched into the sea.
By the side of the cave was a very overgrown stairwell no wider than my own feet, which I naturally had to clamber up. Just a quick look. After clambering up and around, seeing some strange military buildings hidden behind the shrubbery, I ended up back on the main road, closer to the lighthouse.
I walked a little further and saw a lame mini temple, and to the right, another mysterious stairway down to the sea. Hmmmmmmm
Down I go, past an old military bunker and emergency spots from times long gone, through a bunch of shrubs and plants that had grown to block the way, and before long I was right by the water - a rocky beach, rock pools! Cacti! Crabs!
This was great. A secret location clearly nobody had touched in many, many years. I had a good look around, clambered some rocks, waved at some ferries, and my belly started to really rumble by this point. Time to head back I guess.
I was excited to try out this Taiwanese restaurant so I jumped at the opportunity and landed in vast disappointment. It was no different to truck stop food or something, with non-seafood-food being doused in seaweed for good measure. Bloody island diets.
I had about 5 bites of the only clean rice I could find and left just as hungry as I was before. I got on the boat and headed back, some hours later, around 4 pm. With nothing else to do
food was the one thing on the agenda.
So, I got in a taxi and headed straight to Nanputuo Temple to see the sights. I should point out that, since I wasn't sure I would be able to even return to China, I didn't book a second night in the hotel, and had been carrying all my stuff - Laptop, clothes and all - on my back this entire time, and after the previous day's exhausting day out, I was aching.
Exploring the temple was a lot more fun than I expected. It was a legit temple, but I really hadn't explored any proper ones since I lived in Korea where they hold temples to great pride, especially ones up mountains. So this was a refreshing moment to reminisce. There was a pool full of turtles, a lake of lotus, and of course, Buddhist monks walking around everywhere.
After having my picture taken with various people due to being the only caucasian skin in the entire city, I split off down some unused pathway and found these strangely abandoned ceramic Buddha's and other characters. Thousands of them in a cave, hidden down an overgrown path with strangely placed London-esque street lamps, also overgrown.
I kept working my way up until I joined some people again and realized just how much I was dripping sweat. It was like there was a miniature storm cloud hanging over my forehead and dripping down my arms. To be fair, it was the height of summer on a tropical island, mid-afternoon and with my heavy backpack coming along the entire journey. It was approaching 40C.
To make matters worse, by the time I had joined people I realized I was a large way up a mountain and had inadvertently joined a hiking trail. This was good news since I know from experience that if I just went a little higher, there would be a rest stop with cold fizzy drinks and water. Mmmm.
I was wrong. There was one, but it was closed. I found an opening with seats a little higher still and took in the average view. Turning around to head back, I realized I was only a small way up, and the real observation deck was way, way higher up the mountain.
Way further than it looks
Not today, 
As I got to the exit after getting somewhat lost in the Monk's private laundry area, I noticed the entrance to the University was adjacent to me, so naturally, I waltzed in to have just a quick look. The sun was going down by this point so I shouldn't be there too long. The grounds were beautiful, a veritable botanical garden with modern buildings of knowledge scattered between. They even had their own black swans!
After looking around a good while, trying my best to ignore the agony congealing in my shoulders and spine, I noticed I had hit15,000 steps or so again and was really low on fuel. It didn't help that I was exceedingly lost at this point, but I figured if I just walked in one direction long enough, I could find a taxi and go back to my hotel where I knew there was at the very least a MacDonald's.
The first street I found gloriously had a supermarket, in which I found nothing I wanted but sugary drinks that would sustain me for the journey back to the hotel.
I jumped into the first taxi I found and headed back. Finally.
Exhausted, the most immediate need was to actually book a room again, which came at a slightly lesser discount price, but an even better room. I dumped all my stuff there and collapsed onto the bed for a while to rest every single joint in my body.
It took so long to conjure enough strength to move again that it was close to 10 pm by the time I managed to leave the room again to FIND BLOODY FOOD.
You'll be relieved to know that I found the buffet to be closed. But, the regular restaurant was 24 hours and really quite posh, so I had some curry and a Crème brûlée, which I learned that day was just some kind of jelly dessert that looks nothing like the google image results.
I asked the only English speaking staff I found - the manager 'Snow' about my bathtub problem since the second room lacked a plug thingy too. It turns out I was being dumb and had to twist some noggle instead of using a plug thingy. Snow came to my room personally to show me, even though she couldn't do it herself.
I had a bath. I had a full stomach, I had a rest. I completed my one objective for the entire trip. This. Was. Amazing.
But my flight wasn't until tomorrow afternoon!
Day 3 - Xiamen
I woke up to very rusty joints and pain, headed down to enjoy the free breakfast provided this time and stuffed myself with eggs, bread and yoghurt, knowing what I had in store for the day. No rest for the wicked!
The agenda wasn't completely fulfilled, I only had a few hours until I had to head for the airport, and I was also, once again, carrying all my stuff on my back the entire day.
My main goal was to get to the monstrously huge botanical garden, but when I arrived, despite it being super sunny hot weather, the queue was just as monstrous and not moving at all. Instead, I went down a side alley and followed a fake railroad track embedded into a path, something the tourism board decided to call a 'culture park'. It's a path.
I followed this boring path for 30 minutes, with a secret agenda in mind: the secret Botanical Garden Entrance.
I first noticed this on Google maps after realizing it wasn't the same location as the one written on trip advisor. For scale, this entrance was a 45-minute walk away. After turning off the railroad track, I turned right and started on an uphill ascent. Again.
Already in the middle of absolute nowhere, the roads got steeper, the stores started disappearing, and apartment buildings faded away, and I was once again in some kind of forest pathway, winding up the hill. Lizards with strikingly blue tails whipped into hiding as I passed them, and eventually, close to death, I made it to the ticket office, devoid of queue except for a single family of 3 and my own corpse.
Spot the Lizard!
More like it
I got a ticket for $6. Kind of steep given that I knew I could only spend about an hour there, but at least I got a cool map out of it. The map was... huge. This garden had days of exploring in it, and nobody probably even went to this corner off it all.
as if to spite me, God made the father of the family come up to me and say hi. Drat, a Chinese person who speaks a vague amount of English and wants to practice it on me.
He asked me some inane questions and I learned how he was some mathematician and software engineer, and his daughter was doing piano lessons but she sucked. I was eventually able to break off from this polite conversation as they went deeper into the void of the gardens, and I stated that I had to go very soon to catch a flight, so I was simply going to relax in the first flower garden we came across. This was no lie, I had only 45 minutes by this point.
I chilled out by some pond, watching my sweat escape me by the litre, and a pondskater practiced its ballet on the resulting pool. Walking around I knew this place was going to be awesome for a nature lover like me, but I seriously had run out of time. The Shanghai Botanical garden - Also huge but not to this extent - would have to do.
A taste of what you might expect to see if you had given yourself time to explore
I once again cut my losses and headed back downhill.
Before long I was in a taxi heading to the airport, 50,000 steps later and several spinal joints shorter. Hell of an adventure considering I literally spent 3 days ambling around aimlessly.
Hope you enjoyed that. I certainly did. There's something special about going solo to places with no plans whatsoever. Brings a bit more adventure. Try it sometime =)