Taipei (Keelung), Taiwan

On day 148 of this trip of a lifetime, we arrived in Taipei, Taiwan for an overnight stay in this lovely port. In the interest of fitting in as many varied experiences as possible on this trip I choose "Sky Lantern by Night" for my Taiwan excursion. I thought I had a smattering of an idea of what that might include, but wasn't at all sure. Turned out to be a really fun time. Taiwan immigration had not been difficult at all, so there was not a big holdup getting off the ship as there has been in some of the other ports. I like that. Japan, however, was another matter yesterday, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Not exactly sure what the current/correct name is for this port. The sign above the port says Keelung, but the ship's brochures refer to it as Taipei. I have a hunch that the politically correct name is Keelung and that the ship is fully aware that it is loaded with a bunch of old codgers that would have no clue where they were if they only said Keelung and trust me on this if they do nothing else, The Insignia does cater to us in every way possible. At any rate, the name of the port is immaterial as my excursion took me to the Village of Shihfen, a really small commuter community about an hour's drive up into the mountains. Thickly treed mountains spring up out of the South? East? China Sea almost at the waters edge. Taipei is a well kept city of millions of people with an excellent freeway system with lots and lots of spagetti bowls that would rival Dallas or Houston. Our guide this evening was a delightful 50ish year old woman, born in Taipei and considers herself to be Taiwanese. Period! Though by her admission some of her distant ancestors roamed the land just across the China Sea, she is Taiwanese! Furthermore she fervently hopes that Taiwan will remain an independent nation. Yes, their culture has a strong Chinese influence, but it also has a very strong Japanese influence. Not to mention the indigenous people who were on the island before either the Japanese or Chinese and certainly before any of Dutch East India trading ships discovered it. The reality is that the economy is not as strong as it could be, the younger generation is not as politically astute as she would like them to be, and an election is looming in a couple of years which she fears will not go her way. Nor ours. She understands why the current generation may wish to make a change as it is virtually impossible for a couple to purchase a home in this economy, let alone have a family. No easy answer. On the positive side, there seems to be very little crime. The countryside is spectacular. The infrastructure is all that one could ask for. The people are friendly and very welcoming. Seems Covid did the same number on tourism here as it did in the rest of the world but they are a resilient people and are bouncing back slowly.

Our guide knew that we had arrived via cruise ship, so she was curious as to how long we had been traveling. When she learned that many of us had been on for almost five months and others longer, she was incredulous. She kept repeating, "You mean 14 or 15 days don't you." How could one afford such a luxury? Reminds one just how fortunate we are in the US. Here they are trying to figure out how to afford what we take for granted. By this time we have reached the little village where the lantern lifting is to occur in the middle of the train tracks that run through the center of town. No worries, the trains won't be through here for awhile. The streets in Shihfen are far too narrow to accommodate our large buses and of course the train tracks, aka release site, are almost half a mile up hill from where the buses had to park. Suck it up, Ruth. This should be fun and it was.

We were divided up into groups of four because there were four sides to the lantern and we each wrote a message to the spirits with our request. When each side was completed we moved to the rail tracks holding up the lantern while the fire was suspended inside the lantern just like the hot air balloon in UAE except no basket for passengers. When filled with hot air, we released our hold and away it went high into the air! The weather had been sprinkling on us some as we drove up the mountain to this little village, but had stopped by the time our lantern was complete so ours took off high into the night sky meaning our wishes would be answered. Not only do tourist buy into this big time, Taiwanese couples enjoy the practice also. After our lanterns were no longer visible in the night sky, we strolled around the village for awhile enjoying a fireworks display, shopping, coffee or just browsing. When the train arrived I wanted to take a picture of the friendly engineer, but he hid his face when he saw that I wanted to take his picture so I apologized and walked away. Like all good things, this too came to an end and we returned to our buses and port. Part of the tour was to include some time in the shopping mall near the port, but lacking any Yen several of us walked back to the ship.

Another wonderful adventure came to a close. If you find you have some time on your hands, I can heartily recommend a trip to Taiwan and certainly a side trip to Shihfen for a nighttime Lantern Release. The portion of the lantern on which I wrote was pink, meaning Happiness Abounds! That certainly is the case.

Today Is Someday! Release a Lantern in Shihfen!