Keelung, Taiwan

Tuesday, March 12, 2019          Keelung, Taiwan

What a great day! Sunshine greeted us on the back deck of the ship at 6:30am.

      We were pumped for a scenic arrival into the Port of Keelung! The coastline was magnificent! 

                           Numerous cargo ships passed by us while we watched many getting loaded.

The further we came into the port, the more industrial it got….but it was full of surprises. Like…

                              The collassal oriental structure tucked into the mountainside….

                                                  The Buddah on the hillside….

                                                  Colorful grain bins with paintings on the side....

The colorful temples sticking out of the tree line…

This US Ship was built in 1969. Sold to Taiwan Government in 1996. Our captain told us that an Arab Oil Tanker hit it  two days ago causing 2 million dollars worth of damage. He commented that that particular country (which he didn't reveal) had plenty of money to pay for the damages.

                                     The Taiwan Navy appeared to be in full strength in this harbor!

                      Like Hollywood, California....Keelung has its name on the hillside.        

We had a very quick breakfast and headed out through a warehouse….no fancy immigration here… Barebones concrete building; officials checking for fruits and vegetables…No one even asked for our passport. What a switch from what we had been through the last three weeks!

                               This beautiful rock mosaic was outside the warehouses.

We headed for the bus station. Somehow we were going to find the East and West Bus to tour the coast line. The city was a mass of busses and motorbikes with long lines of  people snaking up and down the sidewalks waiting for their bus to arrive.  The streets were also lined with the most motorbikes that we have ever seen on this whole adventure.

The lady selling the bus tickets spoke no English. Oh My! With an English map we did a lot of pointing and she still didn’t know what we wanted! Oh how we love these kind of moments! Another Taiwanese in line with us said, I speak English….and found out she barely knew a few words.

 In the end she pointed to the information center where we found the bus waiting right in the front for us! WHEEEEEE! We live for these little moments that happen when we are traveling in a foreign country. It is so much fun to try to communicate with a non-English speaking native.

The bus weaved through the city heading to the west coast. We passed many, many temples in each section of the town. First stop was Lover’s Lake.  We rolled on passing an industrial area,

                                                                      fishing village and.....

   then the absolutely gorgeous scenic coast. This is the Taiwan that remember from two years ago. 

                                                               We came to the Geo Park….

that had about 50 buses parked outside of it. Larry and I made a quick decision to not get off here. It took us about an hour to get here and the driver was taking a break so we got off for ten quick minutes and looked around.

We captured a couple of minutes of the Geo Park's unusual rock formations.

Did I mention that Larry and I shared the bus with one other couple from Australia?

                                                   

                                                       Beachside hotels for vacationers.

Then the bus headed back to the city where we caught the East Coast Bus going to…..

                                                         Passing  a half dozen temples…

                                          Back in Keelung, it was bustling with motorbikes.

The bus stopped at the Buddhist Temple. We had spotted the Buddha from the ship early this morning.

                                          We passed an old Fort area....now a public park.

  

           

A marina where the boats had huge lights hanging above them…to draw the fish in at night….that sounds like cheating at fishing.

At the  end of the line, we hiked back through the little town to catch the bus back to Keelung!

                     What a great day! We were satisfied just motoring along and taking in the sights.

At the end of the day we had two Taiwanese ice teas and enjoyed Starbucks!

The best part of the day….the sunshine! We were in need of sunlight therapy and we enjoyed every minute of it today!

Hualien, Taiwan

Monday, March 11, 2019               Hualien, Taiwan

                                                      A foggy, smoggy, rainy day in the neighborhood! 

                             These local Taiwanese braved the rain to greet us as we left the ship today!

Larry and I boarded the shuttle bus and headed into the town of Hualien, a fifteen minute ride. 

We headed for the covered shopping area….because it was raining….nothing like a little retail therapy to make the rainy day more exciting. 

We changed countries again today so the money changed as well. $1USD was equal to 31 TWD (Taiwan Dollars) 

Everything from fish, to kitchen wears,  packaged food, clothing, shoes, fresh fruit and vegetables, and handbags were out for perusing.

     Motor bikes and scooter flashed by the pedestrians in this market. It was sort of dangerous.

 We had to be on the lookout constantly for them as they whizzed by. Our big splurge…a couple of goodies for the girls.  Larry so enjoyed haggling for them. 

The streets signs were colorful and unusual  down a side street.

We found an interesting sushi restaurant that had  a conveyer belt with traveling dishes on a conveyer belt….one of Larry’s favorite treats…sushi. The revolving  path displayed all kinds of temptations that would pass by us as we sat at the bar like counter….the items snaked around the bar….all you had to do was pick it off  as it passed you. 

Sushi chefs worked in the center and kept replenishing the dishes with new items. The place was packed. 

It was a very popular spot for lunch! It was quite entertaining to watch it all fall into place for the chefs and the patrons.

We really had planned to go to the Taroko National Park, one of nine national parks in Taiwan. We read about its wonderful gorge that was carved by the rushing water of the Liwu River. It has many waterfalls, a suspension foot bridge, and a shrine.

Photos from a travel book outside the city.....

Since this was really an outdoor kind of activity and today’s weather was not suited for being outdoors, we were just satisfied to walk a few covered streets of the city. Keeping a positive attitude… we thought perhaps we’ll have the opportunity to come back some day soon.