Taiwan: The Republic of China

             Going to Taiwan was an interesting contrast from visiting China the week before. Ever since the Cultural Revolution, there is huge political tension between Taiwan and China, as one is Nationalist and closely allied with the United States, and the other is Communist, and…not so much. When you ask someone in China if Taiwan is its own separate country, for the majority, they reply that it is a province of China, and therefore part of the Country. When arriving in Taiwan you immediately notice that they consider themselves completely separate from China, and in fact, the Chinese citizens on board Semester at Sea were not allowed to get off in Taiwan. That’s a different story, but given that we couldn’t go to Japan, most passport holders could entry the country, so off to Taiwan we went.

            When we arrived in Taiwan we immediately headed to Taipei, the capital city, because there was not much to do around the port where we were docked. Taipei is an interesting city, and I was surprised by how westernized it was. Along with Singapore, and Hong Kong, Taiwan is a newly industrialized country. They even built the world second tallest building standing over 500 meters (second to one in Dubai, at over 800m) not too long ago. To get up to the top you take one of the world’s fastest elevators (Guinness World Record, 2004).

            For most people on board ,Taiwan was the last International Stop. For the rest of us Canadians and other nationalities, we still have Hawaii and San Diego to go. The trip is winding down, and we decided to take Taipei as an opportunity to just hang out, go out for dinners, have a few drinks, and visit some sites. Some of the sites we visited, as mentioned, were Taipei 101 (2^nd tallest building in the world), the National Palace Museum (houses most of the forbidden city collection, but they will not give it back to China), the Chang Kai Shek Memorial (Nationalist leader, Mau’s Opposition- built himself a huge memorial even though he fled to Taiwan when he realized China was going “red.”) and a few markets. One of the most interesting markets we visited was one called Snake Alley. Unfortunately, the name is representative of the fact that there are snakes everywhere. In every restaurant they had several snakes on display to showcase the fact that they sell “snake wine.” The Taiwanese like snake wine because they believe it is a natural aphrodisiac. Needless to say, I didn’t try the it.

Chang Kai Shek Memorial, Taipei 

            As we left another International Port, we realized we would be spending a lot of time at sea. So here I am, crossing the Pacific for day number 4, and 6 more till Hawaii. Wish me luck!

On another note- Happy Birthday Grampe!

China: The People's Republic

             At first, I was both nervous and excited for China. A country, which holds 1/3 of the world’s population, is no small place. We first arrived in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an interesting place. It was leased by Britain for 99 years and not returned to China 1999. It is considerably more developed than the rest of China, and many locals say that it has best preserved Chinese cultural because it did not undergo the cultural revolution that the rest of China underwent.

            From Hong Kong, I flew to Beijing to visit the Country’s capital. Beijing is an interesting place, filled with tons of history. You can also see the impact of communism in both the architecture, and layout of the city. The first day I went to visit the Forbidden City. The Forbidden city lies at the center of the capital. Since China sees itself as the center of the world, the throne where the Emperor used to sit is seen as the center of the city, center of the country, and center of the world; politically and geographically. In Imperial China, the Forbidden city was the most important space in the Country.

            The next day I visited the great wall. It’s a place I have always imagined going, but never thought I would get to see so soon. In person, it is the most massive and elongated structure I have ever seen. It stretches as far as the eye can see. It is definitely one of the wonders of the world, and the fact that it took hundreds of years to construct amazes me. Visiting and climbing a part of the great wall, has hands down, been one of the coolest things I have done on this trip, an in my life.

On the GREAT WALL!

            After leaving Beijing, I headed to Shanghai. We arrived at night, and as we drove towards the harbor I could see the MV Explorer light up, with the background of Shanghai illuminated like nothing I had ever seen. I thought Hong Kong lit up the sky, but the lights of Shanghai at night are unbelievable. For the remainder of my time in China, and Shanghai, we visited markets. The amount of shopping, vendors, and merchandise still astonishes me.

Shanghai at Night

           My visit to China was one of the best visits I have had out of many of the ports. I never thought I would be saying this- but I hope to go back one day!