Our first port is Taiwan

We are sailing on the Celebrity Millennium.  Celebrity is new to us as we have been sailing Princess cruise line since 2004.  With our package deal from Online Vacation Center, we have a Concierge class stateroom, which is equivalent to a mini-suite on Princess (which we never have had).  We also received pre-paid gratuities and a beverage package.  All in all, those are some pretty good perks so we don't mind not having the free internet minutes and onboard credit that we regularly receive with Princess.

The Concierge class (mini suite) stateroom

After leaving Hong Kong, we had one day at sea before we reached our first port, Taipei.  Taipei is a busy city of more than 2.5 million people situated at the northern tip of Taiwan.  Founded by Chinese traders in the 17th century, the city became the country's capital in 1885 and, like the entire country, has been occupied at various times by the Dutch, the Spanish, and the Japanese.

Penny, who we consider the "leader" of our group of 10 is the one who researched and negotiated all our private tours for our little group.  We will have no ship tours in big buses and no shopping stops unless we request it. Penny has been to many of our ports before and tailored our tours to sites she thought would be most interesting to all of us.

Upon leaving the ship for the day, we promptly met up with our guide, Dien Chung Huah, who kindly let us call him Alan.  He told us a little about the history of Taiwan as we headed toward our first stop, the Martyr's Shrine, where there is a changing of the guard ceremony every hour.

Officially the National Revolutionary Martyr's Shrine, the shrine was built to honor the fallen Kuomintang soldiers after the Chinese Civil War (and subsequent government relocation to Taiwan).

The 330,000 men who sacrificed their lives to the revolution before the establishment of the Republic of China and who fell during the Sino-Japanese war and the Chinese Civil War are worshipped here.

The front gate is guarded by active ROC military personnel.  Like honor guards around the world, they stand motionless until a squad comes along and makes some maneuvers before relieving the 2 gate guards.

It was very overcast and mild, but not raining.  We spent about 40 minutes here watching the ceremony before heading off to our next site.

Our next stop was the National Palace Museum.  Originally founded within the walls of the Beijing Forbidden City in 1925, the present-day National Palace Museum moved to Taipei following the Republic of China government relocation in 1949.  Over 600,000 of the most precious artefacts were moved to Taiwan to prevent their desecration during and after the Chinese Civil War.

Alan expertly led us through the museum to see the highlights.  There are nearly 700,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest of its type in the world.  The collection encompasses over 10,000 years of Chinese history.  Here are just a few pieces that we saw...

The main attraction in the museum is the Jadeite Cabbage.  It is a piece of jade carved into the shape of a Chinese cabbage head, and with a locust camouflaged in the leaves.

What makes the Jadeite Cabbage so amazing is that an anonymous master carver used the weaknesses of the jade—the two colors, the cracks, and the ripples—to make the cabbage all the more lifelike. The opaque white part became the stem of the cabbage, and the cracks and ripples make the leaves come to life. If it weren’t for the “weaknesses” of this jade, it could not have looked so real.

The museum was crowded and the queue to see this work of art long and slow as everyone wanted to take a photo of it (as did we)

After leaving the museum, we walked across the street to a restaurant for lunch.  Here we sat at a round table with a center lazy susan and were served a dim sum lunch.  The dishes included chicken, pork, beef, and of course, fish!  The soup had an unidentifiable meat of some sort..we think fish.  Some of our group loved the dishes; others....not so much (and that would be Terry and I).  But, it was very interesting to experience the local cuisine.

Our next site to visit was the CKS Memorial building.  This huge place is basically a shrine to Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, the former President of the Republic of China and cost millions of dollars.

There are two sets of 89 steps that represent Chiang's age of death and lead up to a main hall housing a large bronze statue of Chiang, protected by military personnel which change hourly.

Below the hall is a museum documenting Chiang's life and career.

Having seen enough of the dictator's memorial, we headed outside to check out the cherry blossoms just beginning to bloom.

When we left the CKS Memorial Hall, it was raining.  Our next stop would be the Taipei 101, an amazing building that is 155 meters high and has 101 floors.  By now the fog was so thick that we couldn't even see the top of the building so we decided not to go in (and up to the top).

There were some interesting tile panels outside the building.  This would have to satisfy our photo op.

Joyce and Mary

As we drove away, we could see the building in the distance; our driver stopped so we could capture a photo of the top of the building as the fog separated a bit.

Here's what it looks like without the rain, fog, and most likely smog....

Internet photo

The Taipei 101 is a landmark super tall skyscraper.  It was officially classified as the world's tallest in 2004, and remained such until the completion of Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2009.  It has the fastest elevator going from the 5th floor to the 87th in 49 to 53 seconds.  It would have been fun to ride the elevator...maybe next time.

Our last stop for the day was to be the Keelung Night Market.  It is one of the most famous and best night markets in the country.  Since it was raining, none of us wanted to stop and browse through the market so we returned to the ship.

In spite of the weather, we enjoyed our day in Taiwan.  One good thing about cruising is that our floating hotel moves on to another port and hopefully away from the wet weather.

To continue reading, scroll up towards the top of this page and click in the right-hand column the entry entitled:  Nagasaki, Japan.

The start of our Asian Adventure--Hong Kong

Just about 2 years ago, I received an email from a cruising friend inviting us to join her and a few friends on a cruise to the Far East.  She referred us to the package deal from Online Vacation Center that included a 14-day cruise plus 2 nights pre-trip in Hong Kong and 2 nights post-trip in Shanghai, airfare, etc.

This area of the world would be all new to us and on our "Bucket List" so we ran it by our cruising neighbor, Bob, who agreed it would be a great trip so we booked it....and so did Bob and his girlfriend Paulette.  What a great way to get a taste of Asia.

Months of planning went into the trip and soon it was time to embark on our Asian adventure.

We flew Delta from Denver to Seattle, and then Seattle to Hong Kong for a total of 18 hours flying time.

So come along with us as I write about what we experienced...after this post, there are a total of 10 more posts for this trip.

In Seattle ready to fly to Hong Kong

By the time we reached the hotel in Hong Kong, we had been awake about 24 hours.  It was night there so we crashed.  We would meet our group of travelers at breakfast in the morning.

Our group of 10 included 3 we have previously cruised with and 4 more were to become new friends for us.  We are from California, Colorado, Tennesee, and Texas.

Online Vacation Center offered a full-day tour of Hong Kong for everyone booking through them.  We filled 2 buses.  Our first stop was the top of Victoria Peak, which overlooks the Hong Kong skyline and Victoria Harbor.  It was really foggy and overcast, thereby making the usual sweeping views invisible.

On a sunny day, without smog, this would be the view....

Internet photo

This is the spot of many postcard image photographs of Hong Kong.  There are nearly 5,000 years of Chinese history and traditions there, overlaid with 150 years of British colonial influence.  Ceded back to China by the British in 1997, the city remains a "free-market zone" within the communist Chinese system. A visa is not needed for Hong Kong, but it is required for mainland China.

The city is also one of the most vibrant commercial centers in the world.  Hong Kong is the most important deep-water harbor in Asia, with hundreds of cargo vessels carrying manufactured goods to the rest of the world.  

Next on our tour was a visit to Aberdeen Bay, where we split into groups of 10 for a Sampan ride around the quaint Aberdeen Fishing Village.  It is right in the heart of Hong Kong but seems like light-years away from it all.

Aerial view of Aberdeen Fishing Village--photo from internet

Here you see rows and rows of the old-fashioned junks and sampans, and some house boats where the fishermen and their families still live.

Our Sampan boat for the harbor tour

Junks and a yacht

A house boat on which fishing families live

Old-fashioned junks 

Our lifejackets on the sampan!  Lucky we didn't need them!

The high-rise buildings framing the harbor and the modern yachts moored not far away show the contrast between old traditions and modern life.

Aberdeen Harbor has the honor of being the first place where the British set foot when arriving in Hong Kong.  Back then, Aberdeen was the center of the incense trade; this is how Hong Kong got its name--it literally means "Fragrant Harbor".  

Now it smells of fish!  Aberdeen is a very busy fishing port, accounting for one-third of the total catch in Hong Kong.

Our sampan ride ended at the Jumbo, the largest floating restaurant in the world.  They can seat 3,000 people and are very good at handling large groups.

Here we had the first of many Dim Sum lunches.  Dim Sum is a style of Chinese cuisine served small plate style and accompanied by tea.  It was traditionally served to travelers along the Silk road and gave rise to the tea houses that were built along that famous trade route.  We usually had about 7 different dishes to taste.  

Mosaic inside the restaurant depicting Hong Kong life of long ago.

Close up of the mosaic tile

Outside the Jumbo restaurant

One thing about large bus tours...a shopping stop seems to be the rule and this tour was no exception.  We stopped at a jewelry center where we were shown craftsmen working on pieces of jewelry.

And we were shown a large piece of jade, which if touched brings good luck or riches, or something.....

It actually brought us into the store of the jewelry center, where a salesperson immediately attached herself to each of us and put on the heavy sell until we could find the exit!

The last stop of the tour was to the famous Stanley Market.  There are little shops selling silk garments, sportswear, art, Chinese costume jewelry and souvenirs.  It is a typical street market and one is expected to bargain with the shop owners.

We then returned to the hotel.  Traffic is a total nightmare in Hong Kong so it was slow going.  But we did enjoy a closeup view of the magnificent high rise buildings.  Hong Kong's population is about 7.4 million, meaning there are about 7,000 people per square kilometer!

The varied architecture of the buildings is fascinating.

That evening we had the option of going on a harbor cruise for dinner to see the famous laser light show.  Six of our group bought the tickets for it; Bob, Paulette, and  Terry and I thought we would just walk the few blocks down to the harbor from the hotel and view it from there.

The Hong Kong Symphony of Lights is billed as:  "Colored lights, laser beams and searchlights perform an incredible spectacle synchronized to music and narration that celebrates the energy, spirit and diversity of Hong Kong.

Well, there wasn't much of a show.  The buildings were lit but most of the laser beams, etc. were cancelled due to poor visibility.

So that ends our visit to Hong Kong.  The weather wasn't the greatest but we did see a few of the sites of Hong Kong.  Tomorrow we board the ship and start our cruise.

To continue reading, scroll up towards the top of this page and click in the right-hand column the entry entitled:  Our first port is Taiwan.