Keelung, Taiwan

                Taiwan was short and sweet. I still wish we had been able to go to Japan but I guess there was nothing that could have changed that. It just seemed weird to be in such a small port after China. Plus the fact that we had to backtrack to go to Taiwan didn’t seem logical. Anyways, we made the most of it! We got to Taiwan late Sunday night (April 3^rd). We actually went through immigration that night so that we could clear the ship early in the morning.  The entire ship figured out that there was free wifi from the port on Sunday so much of the night was spent connecting to the 21^st century and getting in contact with everyone!

                Monday morning the ship cleared around 9:30 AM. It was pouring outside and really cold. We were expecting sub-tropical weather! Kerry, Brittany and I had a trip that left at 1:30. It was a city orientation of Taipei and then Mongolian barbeque for dinner. There were only five students on the trip and about 15 life long learners. It ended up being a really great trip and we had fun hanging out with the adults. The first stop was the 101 building. This is the tallest building in Asia and the second tallest in the world. The bottom floors are a shopping mall and the rest of the floors are for businesses. The elevator in the building is the fastest one in the world. It takes 37 seconds to go up to the 89^th floor. The elevator is really cool because it shows you what floor you are passing and how fast it’s going. When you get to the top, you can see a really neat view of Taipei. When we were there though, it was super cloudy so we couldn’t see anything. Our next stop was this building that their old president built for himself when he died. There we were able to see the changing of the guards which is very similar to the one at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guards stand so still that they look like statues. Our next stop was the Museum of National History. By that time it was dinner time. We drove to the Mongolian Barbeque restaurant which was AWESOME! It was really cool because it reminded me a lot of stir fry at my school. You got a bowl, vegetables, meat, and then could put on sauces. They cooked it in front of you and then gave it to you. I had two of them and they were so good. We were having a great time talking to the life long learners and staff about SAS. Al who is in charge of discipline was at our table and talking to us about discipline. We also talked about our experiences in Vietnam and how we all (students) didn’t know much about the Vietnam war. The life long learners were telling us all about lotto numbers and draft dodgers. At the end of our dinner as we were getting ready to leave, we saw this rat climb down from the ceiling and scurry across the floor. It was a HUGE rat and not a restaurant you would expect to have rodents running around. I guess it just adds to the experience! After dinner we went to the Taipei night market. This market was known for their snake wine, snake blood, and dishes. They had these huge snakes in tanks that were dead and people would eat them. It was disgusting. We saw some cute little puppies for sale that we all fell in love with and wanted to take home. After that we wanted something sweet to eat so we found a little stand that was selling homemade donuts. They weren’t as sweet as American donuts so I really liked them! We also got some caramelized sugared strawberries on a stick that were the juiciest yummiest strawberries I’ve ever had! SO GOOD. We got back to the ship around 11 that night.

                Tuesday we got up early and took the subway to the National Palace Museum which is supposedly one of the best museums in the world. It had many different exhibits of Chinese calligraphy. It was interesting but probably would have been better if I knew Chinese! There were some outdoor gardens there too which were beautiful. Next we took a taxi to the Museum of Fine Art. Kerry has a family friend who paints and he supposedly had artwork there. We tried to find it but no one could speak English. At one point some random British lady came up to me and asked if I was interested in religion or art. Considering we were at the art museum….I said art. It was a very random occurrence! After, we went back to the 101 building to check out the mall which ended up being way too expensive for any of us. So we checked out the food court which was AMAZING. They had Coldstone, McDonalds, Burger King, Auntie Annes, and sooo many other things. It was delicious.

                Monday, Brittany and I explored Keelung. We found this temple which we thought was going to be very cool but ended up being touristy and really weird. It was like a combination tourist attraction, kiddie-park, and temple all combined. It was fun to explore the city though. We also did some shopping and got a few snacks as well as tried to find a Taiwanese flag for me, with no luck. We ran into this French bakery which had delicious samples of their bread. It was so good. We got back to the ship a little early in time for a nap before dinner. The ship left for Hawaii at 8:30.

                It’s really weird to think that Taiwan was our last international port. It’s weird to look back at the first day I boarded the ship when I didn’t know a single person and now I am literally with my friends all day whether we are on ship or in port. It’s crazy how fast friendships formed on this trip and how awesome they have become.  I know it’s not the end but it feels like it’s coming up so fast. I’ve enjoyed myself so much on this trip and have not only learned about the world but about what I can handle myself as well. It’s really been eye-opening! Arriving in San Diego is definitely going to be bittersweet.