The traditional houses at Kinmen’s Ancient-Style Homestay are brightly colored and charming—classic and cozy.

Photos & Text /MIKA’s Foodie Adventure Log

When you come to Kinmen, you really should try staying in a traditional Min-style ancient house—it’s the only way to truly immerse yourself in the local culture. This trip, I switched between three homestays and stayed in two ancient houses, fully experiencing the traditional Kinmen way of life. Their Min-style ancient houses are somewhat similar to our traditional three-sided courtyard homes, yet subtly different, and theirs are honestly much more vividly and beautifully colored. This one, Pinmingju, was formerly the town office of Panshan Village. The homestay owner gave the slightly old building a slight renovation and completely revamped it. Though Pinmingju retains the look of an old house, it now looks fresh and bright—and is the most eye-catching among the nearby houses. You can really tell the owner put a lot of heart into it.

Aside from being repainted, all the carvings and overall structure at Pinmingju have been preserved as they were. You can see the wisdom and artistic craftsmanship of the past in these intricate carvings and paintings.

These paintings are really vibrant and unique—I’m sure renovating this place wasn’t easy. Preserving the original look while repainting everything required a lot of care and attention.

A Min-style ancient house opens into a courtyard first, with stone chairs and tables—there used to be an old well too, probably. Walk through the yard and you’ll see the central ancestral hall, which serves as the living room. The bedrooms are on either side of the living room. I was truly amazed by the carvings and paintings in the Min-style ancient house—they’re stunning, with rich, colorful details. So beautiful.

The guest rooms on either side of the courtyard are doubles, while those on either side of the ancestral hall are quadruples.

The stone tables and chairs are so charming. Though sitting on them in the heat might give off the aroma of grilled stone XD.

It’s all just classic and quaint.

The living room has a simple ancestral hall, with very pretty wooden tables and chairs on either side. It would be great to have tea here.

This is the dining area where breakfast is served.

Got the keys—time to check into our room~~~

In these kinds of ancient houses, the rooms aren’t very big, and the soundproofing isn’t great, but they’re warm in winter and cool in summer. The overall style is simple and classic, and these rooms usually have a natural wood fragrance.

The rooms are really simple—aside from a table and chairs, there’s just a double bed. And the bed is just the right firmness, super comfortable to sleep on.

I love these rather Zen-like painted murals—they add just the right touch, giving the whole room a lot of character.

Gotta bring my laptop everywhere—that’s the hard part of being a blogger. Even when traveling, you still have to meet deadlines, aaaaargh...

The toiletries are all placed on the bookshelf. I especially like putting the tea bags into mineral water to make cold brew tea.

Each room comes with the owner’s homemade candied nuts—the ones at Jinmingzu are super tasty. Especially the cashew-flavored candied nuts, they’re amazing.

This is a quadruple room, and it’s a duplex. Climb the stairs and there’s a spacious little loft that sleeps two.

You can roll around in your sleep here.

The bathroom amenities are from IBILOn, and it’s a wet and dry separate layout. No issues with old pipes, weak water pressure, or fluctuating temperatures—you get strong water flow.

The price for the quadruple room isn’t expensive—1880 NTD on weekdays, 2080 NTD on holidays. That’s just over 500 NTD per person. The double room is also cheap—1480 NTD on weekdays, 1680 NTD on holidays. That’s just over 1000 NTD per person. Such a good deal.

The homestay owner is super helpful, providing info on local Kinmen activities and thoughtfully recommending must-visit spots, along with the best times and routes.

We happened to be there during Kinmen’s Clam Season—you can go to the beach and dig for clams. June 28 to July 28: 2014 Summer Kinmen Ocean Style Golden Lake Beach Clam Festival.

The homestay owner said there’s an event at Houhu Beach—you can dig for clams and check out the military sand sculpture exhibition. They even lent us tools.

Let’s just say digging for clams isn’t easy—we were sore after just a short while, and all we found were tiny clams. Had to let them go.

The next morning’s breakfast was the local Kinmen favorite: Cantonese congee with youtiao (fried dough sticks)—the real local way to eat.

Kinmen-style Cantonese congee is made by simmering the rice until it almost disappears, then adding meatballs, fishballs, and egg-drop. The broth is rich and sweet, and it’s absolutely delicious with youtiao. Pinmingju gets their congee from Yongchun, which I found out is a local favorite. Two out of the three homestays we stayed at bought theirs from Yongchun.

I love staying at Pinmingju Homestay not only for its well-preserved Min-style traditional architecture and decor, but also for its complete amenities and comfort. Some homestays overly emphasize the old house aesthetic without much renovation, resulting in rooms that are genuinely outdated and not very comfortable to stay in. Pinmingju maintains the exterior charm of the old building while improving the uncomfortable aspects. The rooms meet my basic needs — they even have more power outlets than typical old houses, plus free Wi-Fi... which is really important to me. Compared to just preserving an old house, I value comfort more, and Pinmingju has thoughtfully addressed this by renovating most of the interior rooms. It doesn’t feel old at all inside~ Most importantly, the hosts are absolutely wonderful (cheers), young, enthusiastic, humble, and sincere. I highly recommend Pinmingju in Jinmen’s Dingbao area — it’s a top-quality traditional homestay!

[Pinmingju Homestay in Jinmen]
Website:http://teapot-house.com.tw/index.html
Phone: 0910-976798
Address: No. 71, Dingbao, Panshan Village, Jinning Township, Kinmen County
Pinmingju offers airport transfer services, provides breakfast, toiletries, and can help book motorcycles or cars.

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