14. Taipei, Taiwan

Tuesday's port of call was for Keelung in Taiwan and we caught the coach for the half hour drive in to the capital, Taipei. The drop off point was the Taipei 101 tower, but as we had been to the top during our previous visit here, our plan for the day was to explore a different part of the city.

The MRT line that we wanted was right at the Tower and at a cost of only 60p per journey we were soon arriving at our first stop, the Chaing Kai-Shek summer palace and gardens. (Again this was with a nod to my great Uncle Wilf who, family legend has it, took tea with the President when he was stationed out in the Far East with the RAF after the end of WW2.) The palace was large, but simple, the Presidential limousine was on display and the gardens beautifully kept with different sections for different themes. We particularly enjoyed the bug garden where butterflies and dragonflies, both the size of small birds were flitting about. There was a turtle in the pond and a couple of squirrels playing chase in the trees above.

Backtracking a little we then sought out the Taiwan Astronomical Museum. There was not enough time to see everything, especially as the facility boasted no less than four cinemas showing different movies on various space themes. The displays in the main exhibition halls were more photographic and presentational than hardware but nevertheless, were extremely impressive. They were also extremely technical, going into great detail about things such as gravitational waves and the various techniques for spotting exoplanets. 

On the way back from the Museum we made a quick stop at what can only be described as a daytime night market. It was heaving, and if the market didn't have what you wanted, then you probably didn't want it in the first place.

Following a quick sandwich lunch we wanted to find the Confucious Temple. Just as we were walking up the street, a few large drops of rain began to fall and our umbrellas were quickly unfurled. However the few drops quickly became an absolute deluge....in this part of the world, when it rains, it rains!....and the umbrellas were pretty much useless. So we took shelter under some shop fronts and watched and waited. The lightning flashed and the thunder crashed directly overhead. Adding to the noise was the fact that the street was directly under the flight path of one of the city's airports, so the sound of thunder accompanied by a Boeing 777 flying over at less than a thousand feet was mightily impressive.

The rainstorm rather put paid to our temple visit and time was pressing on so we thought it best to return to our pick up point the Taipei 101 tower. Our wet clothes soon dried off and we just had a few Taiwanese dollars left for a rather delicious icecream. And incidentally, from the time we boarded the MRT in the morning until the time we got off it later in the afternoon, we didn't see one other Westerner.

Taiwan was our last port of call on this voyage and we are now heading back to Yokohama. Although there is talk of another typhoon in the area, we believe that we are well ahead of it and the flat seas that we are experiencing as I write this note, will continue.