Kinba Guesthouse

Each brick, each tile endowed with skillful design

Kinba is an amalgamation of historical buildings number 85 and 80. Inside the compact structure of number 85, the cute household pooch, Little Pug, passionately rushes forward in greeting and guides you down the hallway laid with red tiles. At the patio, the old-style water well, ingeniously surrounded with cylindrical bamboo tubes, creates a quaint scene. Green bonsai plants line stone shelves in mimicry of a Japanese courtyard, granting a pleasant vitality to the heavy dignity of this historical home. You spend a leisurely afternoon sitting on the threshold with Little Pug, soaking up the sunshine, chatting, leafing through a book. This is the simple life.

Drawing open the doors of the main hall, you find the place where the travelers who come to Kinba rest. The hostess, Maruko, has decorated the space in her favorite Japanese style, with simple wooden furnishings that bring warmth to the reserved atmosphere of the house. The spacious double room is ideal for a couple to spend some sweet time together. If you come with friends, the Japanese-style rooms in the wings adjacent the main structure are your best choice. Whether sitting and chatting freely on the living room tatami mats or lying down for a heart-to-heart chat on the soft-cushion couches, Kinba brings you an idyllic lifestyle.

When light industry meets historical home

Following Little Pug’s playful down the path, you turn progress a corner to find Kinba Guest House no.80. Emitting the fragrance of Chinese fir, this structure is still magnificent despite the long years it has endured. With his own skillful hands, Little Kang has harmoniously infused number 80 with the style of light industry. When you enter the main hall, the rich colors of the decor mingle with the terracotta of the brick, and the bright-yellow sofa and handsome chandelier display youthful vitality. The old leather case and sewing table personally refurbished by Little Kang revive the past in in this place, where old and new perfectly intersect.

With the sun setting in the west, a cool and gentle breeze blows through the open courtyard, and a characteristic Kinmen night prepares to unfold. You gather with your friends as the crystal-clear Koaliang, signature of Kinmen, is poured generously into small glass cups. You mix a special Kinmen cocktail of Koaliang and beer, and it’s bottoms up! Allow the cool, carefree flavor to wash away your worries. Deep in the night, you reluctantly climb the ladder into the loft where what was once a storage space has been transformed into cozy sleeping quarters. You drift into a deep sleep, where the fine evening continues on in your dizzy dreams.

A taste of local affection

Maruko, with her charming short hair and relaxed attire, was born on Kinmen. Little Kang, with his shoulder length hair, was born here as well. They both exude a rich islander quality. It’s hard to imagine that one of the simple people who now stand in front of you once worked in public relations for some fancy Japanese brand while the other was an engineer in the semiconductor industry! Weary of urban life, they decided to shatter all expectations and travel to Australia together for a holiday in search of better things. That journey not only inspired their love of slow, simple life, but also confirmed for Maruko that Little Kang would be her life partner. When their holiday ended and they returned to Kinmen, and they learned that the government was taking bids on some historical homes, Maruko and Little Kang unhesitatingly cancelled all plans to return to work in Taipei. They chose to stay in Kinmen, where the pace of life is more akin to Australia and to strive to create their ideal life together.

“Seeing as everyone is so much alike, we just want to be different!” They painted every corner of Kinba and chose every item of furniture themselves in order to make things just right. They used their experience in the big city to liberate themselves from the burden of history, infuse their space with trendy modernity and bring youthful vitality to Kinmen.

Walking into the main hall in the early morning, you discover that Maruko has already prepared breakfast. Crispy, deep-fried breadsticks dipped in delicate, tasty congee, together with mouthwatering sweet or savory sesame seed cakes, give you the energy to tackle the day. The rich history permeating Kinba guesthouse, infused with the youthful vigor of the hosts, revitalizes the impression of Kinmen, allowing the island’s rich nostalgia to live on.