Visa Run from XiaMen to JinMen (Kinmen)

I'm writing this blog post from my friends' house in Thailand, so it is clear that I didn't get a chance to do a fun visa run I just heard about.

The standard (read: low-cost and/or fast) Visa runs from Beijing are generally thought to be:

Sleeper Bus to Erlian then cross into Zamen Uud, Mongolia

Sleeper Train to Hong Kong

Flight to Seoul, South Korea

Flight to Busan (Pusan), South Korea

and some say ferries or flights to Japan from Tianjin

At this point I've done all of those except for the ferry or flight to Japan. I've even added Thailand to the list a few times because there are very often disturbingly low-priced flights to the delicious nation available on CTrip, Elong, Travelzen, Qunar or even Kayak and Vayama! For me, Thailand is worth a few extra bucks and can easily be done in a weekend.

However, my Chinese teacher recently told me about a trip he took that involved flying to Xiamen and then taking a ferry across to the Taiwan ROC controlled island of JinMen (sometimes written KinMen). As my exit date approached, I was unable to find a cost-effective flight to XiaMen, so I quickly aborted this plan.

If I had more time (read: if plan better in the future) I'll consider taking a train down or booking well in advance. I've heard XiaMen is a great place to go and JinMen sound quite nice too!

Xiamen seems to have a bunch of nice, low-cost hostels and the ferry to and from Jinmen can be done in a day. It is worth noting that JinMen DOES NOT have a Mainland China (PROC) consulate or embassy and this is NOT a suitable run for a new visa. It will only work for those of us that need to exit and re-enter China every time our legal stay expires.

Has anyone done this run?
Any recommendations for places to eat, things to see or do in XiaMen or JinMen / KinMen?
Also, any idea why its name is often written KinMen?