June 10, 2023

When our ATW itinerary was changed a few months before we departed, they removed China and Hong Kong due to post covid restrictions, so they were able to add Taiwan to our itinerary – you can’t go to China and Taiwan on the same itinerary. Today was our first day in Taiwan and it is a port we have been to twice before. So you can check out the previous posts for lots of information. Today we booked a private tour with Erin and two other couples. Here are some pictures of our sail in to the city.

Our guide was Tom. We had a van with just enough seats for the 8 of us and it took a while for the vehicle to cool down. We have had hot and humid weather for weeks now.

Our guide today was Tom. He toook us on a long drive into the countryside and to the town where he lives. I mentioned in previous blogs how many 7-Eleven shops there are here. This town was no exception. Our arrival into port was at 10:30 and we met him at 11. So, when we got to the town, he thought we could have lunch aat 7 -Eleven. They have everything in these stores here, including so many selections of food that they cook for you. But we really wanted to sit in a restaurant. Tom knew the town well so he took us across the street to what turned out to be a duck restaurant. There were only local people in the place and there was no English menu so it was a good thing he was with us. I had a rice noodle soup with just vegetables and lemon grass and others had soups with meat or rice with pork or duck.

What a surprise when our bill for all eight of us, including our food and bottles of water, came to $20 US!

We had changed some money at the port because we thought we would have some entrance fees but it turned out t hat since all of us were over 65, we didn’t have to pay anything. So we can use our Taiwan money tomorrow in Taipei.

On our drive, I got to visit with Ron who we have met before but didn’t know much about him and his wife. They now live in Connecticut but lived near Somerville NJ (where I was born) for many years. When I told him we lived in Chambersburg for 25 years – another co-incidence! They have spent many weekends there going to the Totem Pole Playhouse, Kenny’s and the Igloo. It is still surprising how small the world is.

We visited a 17th century church which Tom says is the main Catholic church in the whole area and that on feast days 500,000 people come to the town. This area of Taiwan is mostly aboriginal people whose ancestors have been here for over 10,000 years.

Tom was both our driver and our guide and he answered questions but really didn’t give us too much information in between. He took us to an Indigenous Peoples Cultural Park where we had to take a shuttle up into the hills where we went to a cultural show in a theater. It was interesting and rhythmic with beautiful singing but we really didn’t understand anything about it and he didn’t provide any explanation either.

It turned out that we hadn’t done anything that was on the original tour desccription that Erin booked, Tom just took us where HE wanted to go. We decided that we wanted to return to the ship as we were a good distance away and we needed to be back by 6:30. But then I guess he felt compelled to take us to two other places that were on the original itinerary. And Sonia asked to stop at a temple. Before we reached those places, suddenly everyone in the car had a loud noise coming from our phones and the following message. Tom says they have 300 earthquakes a day here and most are not even able to be felt. But this one was a 4.3 and although we didn’t feel it, we heard later that others did.

Here are some pictures of the railroad bridge and of the temple and the tile factory.

When we got back to the ship, we had just enough time to take a shower and dress for our dinner with Marilyn and Charlie (on their 34th anniversary) as well as with Laura and Keenan from our entertainment team, Laura’s parents and brother. It was a fun evening. Tomorrow we are in Taipei for 2 days.