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Fire on board!So we hear an announcement whilst relaxing in our cabin and I thought it said 'FIRST AIDER TO DECK FIVE' David thought it said ' FIRST NATION TO DECK FIVE'. Well, about ten minutes later the Captain came over the tannoy to explain that there had been a small fire in the plaza on deck five. A deep fat fryer fire....oops! What the first announcement had actually said was ' FIRST RESPONDER TO DECK FIVE' . The fire was put out very quickly and it was all very well dealt with. So...on to Taiwan!
Firstly, nothing could have prepared us for the heat we experienced in Taiwan. It was relentlessly hot with humidity that made your clothes cling to you the moment you stepped off the ship. Just incredible. We heard that it was around 89 degrees but it felt warmer than that! Thankfully, the sun was behind clouds most of the day but still, it was hard to motivate ourselves to move anywhere lol.
Taipei was awesome, we thoroughly enjoyed our day and were both really glad that we decided to book a tour rather than do things on our own. We ported in Keelong which is a large town just an hour outside of Taipei. Our tour coach drove us that hour to the city and we stopped at several landmarks on our way to a cool handicraft market.
The first thing we saw was the second highest inhabitable building/skyscraper in the world. Taipei's 101 building. The design is supposed to resemble that of a bamboo, each section appearing like the joints on a bamboo stick. It was quite impressive but then a lot of Taipei looked quite impressive.
We went to a very large Buddhist temple and our guide explained to us that worshippers leave produce like fruit or biscuits to be prayed over, they wash them with smoke from these giant urn things and then take them away again when purified. People can also drink from the water which gathers at the feet of some of the statues of Gods scattered about the temple grounds.
The place was packed but, unlike Busan, it was orderly and calm. The smell of burning incense filled the air and everywhere you looked worshippers were praying or lighting candles. You could not move far simply due to the sheer numbers inside the temple but it didn't feel as though you were closed in because no one was rushing and there was no shouting or screaming.
Taipei's streets were very very busy but again, unlike Busan, rules were followed and order maintained. Mopeds were the main mode of transport and this seems to be a theme throughout the places we have visited so far. In Taipei, when the green man shows it IS safe to cross. Even the motorbikes stops which was quite a novel experience for us.
After visiting the temple, we were taken to the memorial hall in Taipei. In here we watched the changing of the guard and managed to find a Taiwanese flag too. I really liked Taipei and found the city cosmopolitan but not lacking the charm that all of these Far Eastern places have had so far. Amongst the sky scrapers and office blocks you can find, dotted around, beautifully decorated temples and houses built in the traditional Chinese way.
Speaking of Chinese, Mandarin is the language most spoken in Taiwan. With regards to their written language, whilst China now favour the simplified text, Taiwan still use the more complex written version. This means that it is easy for Taiwanese people to recognise simplified Chinese writing but very hard for the Chinese to read the more complex Taiwanese script. I thought that was quite interesting!
My favourite Chinese word is thank you which is written for us as Xie Xie but pronounced (shay shay). We always try to learn a few words to help us get by and Xie Xie is one that we often end up using.
After visiting the memorial we were taken to a cool handicraft market. Cool in more ways than one. It was indoors and air conditioned! Phewwww. By this time we were just soaked with sweat and the thought of walking around outdoors was not appealing at all. We picked up some Ooling tea and also an interesting looking tea laqeur. We will wait until we get home to taste it I think!
The coach dropped us back off in the town of Keelong where the ship was and we ventured into the town for about an hour until the heat became too much. Returning to the ship at about 2:30pm our time, the first port of call was the swimming pool to cool down. Bliss!
Our evening was spent in Crooners bar as barfly's trying some more of the awesome cocktails and Martinis they have on offer. Inna, our bartender and friend from other cruises demanded that Little Little come down to Crooners the next night because she wants to try and get her drunk!! We told her that Little little has converted to Buddhism and is in a state of complete Zen right now.Tomorrow is a day at sea!!
Time to recover.(Today is a sea day because I didn't post yesterday's adventure yesterday and am doing it now....I will post again tonight and speak about today at sea!)
- comments
Gary We have read both blogs together so this comment covers both. Bit of a scare seeing 'fire on board' in the title. I hope the lifts are reliable in 101 building, else it would be a good for keeping fit. It's very interesting that Taiwan uses complex writing. It would appear that they still want to keep the mainland at arms length. Good news about the quizzing, well done.