We continued our Circle Pacific Cruise with visits to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong has been inhabited since prehistoric times and was incorporated into China for the first time in 214 BC. It was a British Colony from 1841 – 1997 and is now a “special administrative region” of China, having some autonomy from the central government. It is the 4th most densely populated region in the world, is the 3rd ranked global financial center, and has one of the highest per capital incomes in the world. It has the most skyscrapers in the world, which is no surprise to us after having been there. We were not even on the main island, and traveling through the city by bus involved traversing what seemed like never-ending canyons of skyscrapers.
We took a city bus from the cruise terminal into the city to do some sightseeing and shopping. The tourist information desk in the cruise terminal was very helpful to us in determining what bus to take, particularly because it was Easter Sunday, so some normal options were not available. Thankfully, English is one of the official languages so we could read the marquees on the bus (outside and inside) so we knew what bus to take and when to get off. We could also read street signs and the map they gave us.
We got off the bus near where we thought an area with markets would be. It was pouring rain, so we went into a mall first. We found a pharmacy and managed to buy a few things before exiting once the rain subsided; it was raining all day but not as heavy. We found the market area and looked around but didn’t buy anything.
After looking around the market stalls we spent a lot of time looking for somewhere to eat lunch. In the end, we ended up in a mall where we found the “Paradise Dynasty” restaurant, a dim sum restaurant that also had a la carte items. The restaurant was busy and there were some vegetable items on the menu displayed outside, so it seemed like a good choice. After reading the menu, we were excited to see abalone (specifically abalone fried rice); this is something we have wanted to try but it is hard to find due to over harvesting many places, including in the US. We also had some steamed dumplings and some vegetables. We learned that we generally prefer pan-seared dumplings. We did like the abalone. It was a good meal.
After lunch we found where to catch the bus to return to the cruise terminal.
There was a roof-top garden at the cruise terminal, so we decided to walk around there before returning to the ship. The park was a nice respite from the giant city, a bit larger and more densely populated than we prefer.
Taiwan
Our ship docked in Keelung, Taiwan, the port city of Taipei. Keelung has a population of approximately 260,000. The area has at various times been under the control of Taiwanese indigenous people, Spain, China and Japan. Taiwan is officially the “Republic of China,” separate from the “People’s Republic of China,” what most of us refer to as China. Taiwan was founded by the prior non-communist government of China when they fled after losing to the communists. Taiwan is claimed by China, and as a result there are a lot of complex and controversial aspects to the relationship between Taiwan and other governments and organizations worldwide.
We spent our day walking around the city, including walking around a market.
We did some shopping at a grocery store where we purchased some tea. We finished our day at a restaurant near the cruise terminal. Because it is not their typical tourist season, they had a limited menu (i.e., chicken soup) and did not have any tap beers, but they did have some interesting local beers including one we liked that was brewed with seaweed.
We enjoyed our time in Taiwan and would recommend it. We would have loved to explore more if we had the time.
