Day 59 – March 15 – Keelung, Taiwan

After waking up in the morning to find it raining, we decided to abandon our plans to go into Taipei independently via the train.  Fred went down to the Destination Services and found there were tickets available for the Highlights of Taipei tour.  He chose the 1:15pm departure but Jan sent him back to get the early departure so we didn’t have to worry about getting back late.

It was about a 45-40 minute drive from Keelung into Taipei.  Taipei is a very large city and very modern.  Our first stop was the Chiang Kei-Shek Memorial, a huge complex in the middle of the city.   It had lovely gardens where the azaleas were in bloom.  While it was a little cool, the clouds were not too thick and the weather was great for sightseeing.

The Chiang Kei-Shek Memorial is a large building that houses a very large statue of the General.  They said it was about the size of the Lincoln statue in Washington, D.C.  There are also buildings located in the complex the National Concert Hall and the National Theatre.   There were quite a few tourists from China as well as Taiwan.

The second stop was the Martyr’s Shrine where we got to see the changing of the Guard.  This is Taiwan’s memorial to all those who has lost their lives in War.

Our final stop was the National Museum that is supposed to have the best collection of Chinese art in the world.  It was taken from mainland China when Chiang Kai Shek’s armies had to flee the communists.  Most people say that it is the best of the artifacts and art from pre-war China and that it is a good thing that they were removed from the mainland as they probably would have been destroyed in the Cultural Revolution of the Red Guards.

Unfortunately, the museum was very, very crowded.  There were lots of school children, other tour groups, etc.  We were late in arriving so only had 60 minutes from the time of leaving our bus to being back on the bus, which was a ridiculously short time in this important museum.  The guide gave us all earphone so we could hear him, but he moved so fast that we could not keep up and just decided to see what we could.  We saw a portion of the jade exhibits and they do have some spectacular pieces.  With the crowds and short time, there the only good thing about the visit was the quick trip to the Museum Store where we did purchase a small ceramic piece as a memento of Taiwan.

The drive back to the ship was uneventful and when we arrived in Keelung, it was raining and the staff on the ship said that it had been raining all day.

Tonight was Dinner and Show in Signatures where we had reservations for just the two of us again.  The food was the best we have had in Signatures this cruise, with the exception of a strange desert.  The show was an Australia female vocalist, Karen Beckett.  She is a cabaret type singer and we both enjoyed the show.

Entertainment tonight is a Tribute to the Beatles which we had seen, so we skipped it for an early bedtime.