Day-24: Brief Visit To Taiwan

Day-24: Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Beginning Location: Taiwan Strait
Interim Location: Keelung, Taiwan
Final Location: East China Sea En-route to Naha, Okinawa

Today our schedule has us spending the day in Keelung, Taiwan.

The morning was partly cloudy as we made landfall but as the sun rose we were soon able to see the island of Taiwan. The sea detail into Keelung is relatively short and by 0800 we were moored to the ocean terminal pier and ready to begin our day's tours. 

On entry into Keelung we passed by a Navy frigate which upon closer inspection turned out to be the exUSS Brewton FF-1086 renamed as ROCN Fong Yang FFG-933. Hard to believe that the FF-1052 class ships are still operating.

Our tour for the day was entitled "Highlights of Taipei". We departed the port city of Keelung and drove by bus to Taipei in about 20 minutes. Both cities are located at the north end of the island. We entered Taipei and found it to be like so many major southeast Asia cities, busy, busy, busy with new and old buildings intermingled. Taipei's highest building, at one time the world's tallest is Taipei-101 and it stands out as there are no other buildings anywhere near as high.

Our first stop was at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial commemorating the life of the leader of Nationalist China and founder of modern day Taiwan, the Republic of China. The memorial grounds are landscaped and manicured and in addition to the memorial, houses opera, theater and music venues, all built on a grand scale. We elevatored and/or climbed the steps into the memorial where we witnessed the changing of the guard at the statue of Chiang Kai-Shek.




Our guide Tina, briefly took us though the history of Taiwan and its relationship with the "big" China to the west.

Sheila With Our Travel Agent

Our final stop was at the National Palace Museum, home to the art treasures that Chiang Kai-Shek "saved from Japan". Others view the collection as a grand theft from China, hoarded by the Taiwanese government and a thorn in the side of relations between the two countries. As the story goes, Chiang Kai-Shek also took millions of dollars in gold bullion from China, again protecting it from the Japanese aggressors.









The museum houses collections from various Chinese dynasties; articles of bronze, jade, porcelain, ivory, and just about any other material imaginable. The center pieces of the collection are a 3000 year old bronze pot and a small but impressive carving in jadeite, formed to look like a cabbage or stalk of bok choy.

The tough part is competing with so many people. To see the two centerpieces we had to stand in lines for 10-15 minutes for each piece. Other rooms of the museum house some great carvings; whether done in wood, ivory or rhino tusk the carving were impressive. Of course all of this was done long before anyone ever thought of embargoes and bans of ivory and rhino horns.

We arrived back at the ship and had a quick lunch.






The ship was underway for Okinawa by 1500.

ExUSS Brewton FF-1086

Green On The Other Side

Red Right Returning

William Adams

Soon after the departure we attended another in the enrichment lecture series entitled "William Adams - The English Samurai", the story of the first Englishman to secure a position and actually live and work in Japan. He had started life as a simple seaman but in his travels and work experience elevated himself to a position of notoriety in both Japan and England, his home.






We joined a Trivia team for this leg of the journey. Our teammates are from California, Alabama and Ireland, well actually living in Canada but originally from Ireland (County Cork of course). Here are some of the questions:

• In a deck of playing cards, which “King” has no mustache?
• In golf what does the term “Albatross” mean?
• In radio communication what is the last alphabetical letter as well as the name of an African tribe?
• What did astronomer Edmond Halley invent in 1691?
• When did Mexico become independent of Spain: 1821, 1831 or 1841?
• Which of the world’s ocean is the saltiest?
• What did the Cunard cruise ship Aquitania have that had never before been on an ocean liner?

In the end we had enough correct answers to place third amongst about six teams.

We had dinner in the Polo Grill with one of the other two USNA couples. These folks are from Oklahoma.

After dinner we called it a night. Tomorrow we would be arriving in Okinawa for a short visit.