Taiwan

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Place: KeeLung

April 4th---

So this is it…my last country (not counting Hawaii as our next port). I can’t believe it, it went by so fast! After Taiwan I only have about 2 and half weeks left. Everyone who has read my blog probably already knows that I would have been pulling into Kobe this morning but since the destruction and radiation escalated, my ship decided to dock in KeeLung, Taiwan instead. I have never been here before so I was pretty excited to go exploring.

So before I get into my plans for this country, I just wanted to clarify for some people what happened to Gabby, the girl on my ship that fell on the Great Wall. First off, she is okay and is going to live. She woke up from a coma-like state and even said hi to her mom. She is in Hong Kong now and recovering. We all heard the story in the Union two nights ago and WOW! I didn’t know how crazy the story was. In short, this girl tripped on a flight of 15 stone steps, fell to the bottom on her face, was not breathing, foaming at the mouth, blood everywhere and some of her teeth had fallen out. They had no way of getting her to the hospital, so they all decided to pull a door off of the Great Wall and use it carry her body on. All of the kids helped by either carrying her or guiding with flashlights. I can’t believe everyone was able to do all this! In China, they will only give you immediate care (such as MRIs and oxygen) if you pay upfront. So one of the kids had to call her parents and break the news in order to ask for money. Once they took her to get a brain scan, they realized that she was bleeding in her brain. That was the last that any of those kids heard about her until this meeting in the Union. In short, this was a very emotional situation for the kids on that particular trip and for everyone in the shipboard community. I just hope she is okay and that she fully recovers. I wasn’t best friends with her, but I did know her and had a class with her. She is a really nice girl and it was a stupid accident that shouldn’t have happened to her. It’s really sad that so many kids have had to leave the voyage since the beginning of the trip because of stupid accidents!

Okay, now to get away from all this depressing stuff…back to Taiwan. So we pulled in last night which was a first for our ship. I was getting used to the routine of pulling into a new port at 8 am each time. Anyways we had to go through immigration last night in the Union. This has become a process we know all too well. You go in, stand in the line that matches your id number and then you go and get your passport stamped and fill out your immigration paperwork. While I was there, my friend from China was with me. She was upset because they won’t let the Chinese students off the ship. I feel really bad, but I guess there is nothing that they can do.

Today I meet up with a guy named Ben that works with my dad’s company. He met my friends and I at the port exit gate and took us to Taipei for the day. He took us to a Buddhist temple and a memorial site. Both were really interesting to see and I was glad I got to see some cultural sites. After that we went to a museum that holds all of the lost or stolen objects from the Forbidden City in China. Around dinner time we went to this famous night market in Taipei which has a huge food area. I’m surprised my stomach didn’t explode after all the food I ate. Ben showed us everything to eat and OMG it was a lot of food. He told us we had to try one of Taiwan’s famous foods…the oyster omelet. I actually thought I might like this, but it was soooo slimy and I didn’t like it at all. Some of the other things I tried was fried sweet potato balls, fish paste tempura, beef stir fry (made on a grill that you eat off of in the middle of an alleyway), and the best, shaved ice with fruit. Even though it is called shaved ice, it is more of frozen milk that is put through this machine that shaves a lot on this plate, and then they add fruit, flavored syrup and condensed milk on top. It was absolutely amazing! I have to say I didn’t feel sick once! I think the tables would have been turned if this were the beginning of the trip. I can honestly say that I think our stomachs can handle anything now. My pepto days are over!

After eating the entire market (I felt like Andrew Zimmerman hahah), we headed out to just walk around the shopping area of the market. Sadly, the shopping wasn’t that great and they didn’t really have anything I wanted. In Taiwan there are two types of shops, you either go to an expensive boutique, or a street store that sells mostly cheap not so great items. Most of the marketplace was like a carnival. There were small rides, arcade games and prizes everywhere.

After the market, we said goodbye to Ben and thanked him a lot and then we got back on a bus to KeeLung. We all attempted to go out the first night, but got split up and also had trouble finding our way around. About an hour later, I realized how sleep deprived I was and I decided to head back to the ship and get some rest.


APRIL 5th---

Woke up super early to catch a bus to Taipei. Taipei is about 30 minutes away from KeeLung. The bus is only $40 Taiwanese. I did take taxis a few times while I was in Taiwan, but I mostly got around my bus or subway (you can get a 2 day pass). After to getting to Taipei, we went to a street market to just walk around and explore.

I ended up eating sushi for lunch! I actually sat down for lunch this time, but they have these things all over Taiwan called Sushi expresses, where each piece of sushi is individually sold….it’s amazing! Also, there are 7 Elevens everywhere here. At least 3 on every block. Ben told me they are used for everything here. You can get food, use the ATM, do you banking and shipping there as well. Also, they love pastry and coffee shops. There was one every other store! There was also a Starbucks every other block as well.

Okay staying on topic, so we ending up just exploring the city for most of the day and getting lost. I tried some more weird food too. I officially can say that I LOVE street food! The best thing I had today was candy apple style strawberries on a stick!

Later that day, we checked into the hotel and got changed for dinner. We all went to this Thai restaurant and then went to PartyWorld/KTV. These buildings are places where you rent out a room and do karaoke for a couple of hours. It was really fun!

APRIL 6th---

I woke up early to go explore the city yet again. First we checked out the city’s famous landmark, the Taipei 101 building. I believe it is the tallest building in the world. I’m not so sure that is true (after seeing it), but it was pretty tall. We only went in the lobby (which is actually a food court we later found out) because you have to pay a lot to go to the top.

I ended up getting a bus back to KeeLung early and walking around for a while. I decided to go get one last massage because they are sooo cheap in Asia. I got a shoulder and foot massage. It was amazing!

Got back on the ship around 3 and literally feel right to sleep. That’s what I get for not sleeping the night before.

So in all, Taiwan ended up being really fun. I think it was just hard because we all just kept thinking of Japan the whole time. Also, coming straight from China, doesn’t make Taiwan seem very exciting because it is the same in a lot of ways (food, culture, city layout and people). I ended up having more fun than I thought I would though. I will miss Asia and I can’t wait to come back one day!

Here is the deal for the rest of the voyage….we have 12 days until we arrive in Hilo. Until then, we gain an hour every night ugh! We’re even going to cross the date line on the 12th and we will have the same day twice…crazy! I’m just hoping the rocking isn’t that bad until then. I have one final before Hawaii and 2 research papers ugh! Luckily because we missed days that would have been spent traveling in Japan, we were given reading days to catch up on our homework and studying. Hawaii is going to be a nice port, because we can finally all use our cell phones to communicate. For once, we can all find each other! Not to mention, I can finally call home!

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