Welcome to Taiwan and Taipei City

Taiwan used to be called Formosa….Portuguese for "beautiful." It is a relatively small country, but it is packed with people (twenty-three million of them!). That makes it the most densely populated country behind Bangladesh. Taipei City is the capital. Three million people live in the city, and three million more live in the suburbs of Taipei.

Chiang Kai-shek was their first president, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is an incredible monument to him. He died in 1975. Construction started in 1976, and it was finished in 1980. There are 89 steps to climb (one for each year of his life) to get to the main hall and the giant statue of him.

And then there’s the Martyr’s Shrine. This was built in 1969. It honors the fallen heroes of China’s wars. They change the guards every hour and that ceremony is really something to see. When it’s done, the guards stand like statues, rain or shine. We had lovely weather when we visited.




The Confucius Temple is also quite a sight. We all know of Confucius (the “see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil” guy)...

He’s considered to be the greatest teacher in the history of China. The original temple was built in 1875, but the Japanese tore it down when they occupied Taiwan after they defeated the Qing Dynasty in 1895. This one was built in 1927.

All in all it was a lovely day. Taipei is a busy city filled with nice people and lots of great restaurants. We had a nice lunch at one of them in the middle of a day filled with the sights and sounds of Taiwan. We left with the lights of the city off the harbour and set sail for Japan, our next stop on our marvelous journey on board the Silver Shadow.