On Mar 23, 2024 we docked at Keelung, Taipei. It is in the Northeast part of Taiwan Island and is next to Taipei County. It is Taiwan’s second largest seaport (after Kaohsiung), and only about 45 minutes by train from Taipei City, the capital of Taiwan.

On the first day of our time in Keelung we took a bus to the town of Chiufen and went on a walking tour of this former gold mining town located on a mountainside. We were able to climb 200 steps and wander through the town and its interesting shops and another temple, before stopping at the Chiufen Tea House. Here we were able to enjoy a pot of tea and a snack, as well as learning the art of preparing and pouring tea. Tea drinking is a ritual in Taiwan, not a hurried experience.

On our next day in Keelung, Mar 24, 2024, we went on an eight-hour excursion to explore the highlights of Taipei. Our first stop was at the Martyrs’ Shrine, a stately monument constructed in 1969 to honor the 330,000 men who sacrificed their lives in key battles. The structure features a bright red main gate guarded by uniformed military officers. We were able to see the changing of the guard which included very precise military drill movements.

Our next stop was the National Palace Museum which contains one of the largest collections of ancient Chinese objects and art in the world. The impressive collections include bronze, paintings, jade, ceramics and precious objects amassed by ancient emperors, and more from the Sung, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

After our stop at the National Palace Museum, we went to the Grand Hotel for lunch. The Grand Hotel was built in 1952 in the decadent style of classical Chinese architecture. Our lunch was a traditional Asian-style buffet lunch that was fabulous.

Our next stop was at the Bao-An Temple, a magnificent place of Taoist worship dedicated to Pashen Tati, the god of medicine. This temple was built in 1830 and restored from 1995-2002 and is adorned with ornate dragon pillars, stone lions, and valuable tablets. Across a courtyard was the Confucius Temple, identified with its lack of any human forms in the temple (last three pictures below). It is a magnificent temple with superb architecture and is the foremost of about 30 Confucian temples in Taiwan.

Our last stop before returning to the ship was the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall, a regal monument paying tribute to the 1st President of Taiwan. The building has a brilliant blue glazed tile roof, gold apex, white marble and natural red cypress ceiling. The shrine is designed to convey sacredness, solemnity, hospitality and peace. It contains many artifacts related to the late president’s life.

On our drive back to the port at Keelung, we saw the Taipei 101, a 101-story skyscraper opened in 2004, which at the time was the tallest building in the world. The building expresses its distinctively Chinese character in its resemblence to a stalk of bamboo or an elongated pagoda.

When we got back to our room onboard, we were greeted with fresh flowers as we started the next segment of our cruise, which will take us from Taipei to Hong Kong, and we began our sailaway from Keelung, Taipei.