24th February 2011 – Taiwan

24th February 2011 – Taiwan

A fascinating day. I will try and describe everything I can remember in chronological order but if I remember things I'll just pop them in.

First, some statistics. The island of Taiwan is about 250 miles north to south and is as a whole 13,982 square miles; at July 2008 the population was 22,920,946. The population of Taipei City and New Tapei City is 6 million. She is 100 miles off the east coast of the Chinese mainland and is also known as the Republic of China as opposed to the People's Republic of China.

Following a lot of 'chatter' on the net among people cruising on the Diamond Princess about the cost of shore excursions (see earlier comments) someone popped up to say they had found a local Taiwan firm who would provide an English speaking guide and offer us a city tour at about half the cost. We jumped in and so about 50 of us boarded 2 coaches and set off on an absolutely super trip. The trip from the port to Taipei City was interesting and certainly the city appears to be very prosperous – but then just about everything we buy these days is “Made in Taiwan” .

Our first stop was to the Martyrs' Shrine which is dedicated to the many men who sacrificed their lives and heroes of the country from the Ching Dynasty through World War II and up to today. The highlight of the visit is the Changing of the Guards which is nothing like you would see in London; think displays at the Edinburgh Tattoo and you would be closer to the mark. From there we went to the National Palace Museum which holds fantastic treasures, including jade, porcelain, ivory, bronzes, etc,etc. Our favourite was the ivory which was quite simply breathtaking. The only downside with this visit was that the Palace was absolutely heaving so getting around proved difficult. We then went to a Handicrafts Centre, ostensibly to pay for the trip (most of us had only paid a deposit on-line) in the hope we would part with some of our cash. There were 4 different teas for us to try – yuk and a brilliant idea in the sweet shop where on the top of each display there was a jar of sweets for us to try; Mr Sainsbury and Mr. Tesco could do this. Stephan kept telling me to eat so we wouldn't need lunch but our next stop was at the world's 2nd largest skyscraper, Taipei 101. 101 floors high and 5 floors underground, there is an observatory at the top but as it had started to rain we decided it was not worth the extra cost to stare at clouds. Walking round the Food Court we saw people eating I don't know what but they had individual woks and what every was in it, the wok was boiling away, looking very much like a witch's cauldron. I am sure 'Elf and Safety' in the UK would have a fit if they saw this. The shops in the Mall are certainly at the high end of the market, ie De Beers, Tiffany's, Chanel, etc.

After lunch we went to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall which was quite simply unbelievable. Difficult to describe, the main hall had paintings on the wall, Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling and the ceiling itself was covered in beautiful tiles. He is considered the founder of the Republic of China and the Hall consists of 6 chambers, displaying his clothing, medals, bullet-proof Cadillac vehicles, etc. One room is a representation of his office inside the Presidential Building transferred in 1994 with a seated wax figure of Chiang Kai-Shek as the centre piece. One of the artefacts is a clock which has been stopped at the time of 11.50 pm (5th April 1975), the moment he passed away. Our last stop was to the Baoan Temple and the Confucius Temple which was across the road. The first mentioned temple is more than 230 years old which makes it one of the oldest temples in Taiwan. It is very colourful and one of its more remarkable feature is its columns which are decorated with dragons as are the ceilings which also have carvings of lions, flowers and other figures from Chinese mythology. We were lucky to observe people praying. The last temple, Confucius Temple, was erected in 1854 and destroyed in 1895 during the Japanese invasion. It was rebuilt in 1925. The buildings and walkways round the main temple are excellent examples of traditional Chinese architecture. There are no statues or lanterns which provide a contrast between traditional Buddhist and Taoist temples.

It was a little surprising that we didn't know any of our travelling companions, although to be fair they were only 50 out of 2,600. It just goes to show that 2 weeks into our cruise we are still meeting new people.

We returned to the ship about 5 pm and after a little rest we went up on deck to watch the ship sail out of the harbour. We met the others for pre-dinner drinks but afterwards we all went our separate ways and I suspect in common with most people we went to bed a little earlier than usual and we also put the clock forward 1 hour. Tomorrow is a day at sea and then we will be in Nagasaki.