Taiwan: Keelung

Sunday, June 11, 2023, Keelung, Taiwan

We arrived about noon for an overnight stay at the port of Keelung, Taiwan. The ship was berthed in the center of town. Keelung has a huge port, but the city itself is relatively walkable. We decided last night not to make the hour trek to Taipei even though friends offered a free ship tour. Instead, our plan was to take the local bus to Yenliu Geopark, about 11 miles away, with unusual geological formations found only there. We got a map in the port building and exchanged dollars for “new dollars.”

View from the ship

Outside the port building we had the good fortune to speak to a young Geopark guide who told us Heping Island Park has virtually the same landscape and is much closer than the Geopark. He told us where to find the closest bus stop. Keelung isn’t huge, but big enough with plenty of traffic.

We walked a couple of blocks to the bus stop, a large hub. Bus 101 would get us to Heping Island, and thanks to Google maps we knew it was coming in about 10 minutes. More than 10 minutes passed. Buses arrived and departed. No bus 101. A young couple overheard us discussing concerns about the bus. Were we at the correct place? They spoke English and were also going to Heping Island. They assured us the bus was just running late. Sure enough, after several more minutes, it arrived. We hopped on and rumbled through Keelung. The bus ride was pleasant, not too crowded and slow enough to take in the sites as we passed through the narrow streets. We caught a glimpse of our ship at one point.

There is a short bridge to tiny Heping Island. Once there, the frenetic traffic stops. We got off at the first bus stop and followed our new young friends, walking about 6 minutes to the park. They had senior rates and thankfully took our Visa card. We headed to the Visitor Center and used the rest rooms—Jill had a choice of pit toilet or western style in very tiny stalls. She’s used her share of pit toilets on this trip, but never when given a choice. 

Outside the visitor center was a swimming area. We contemplated wading, but were drawn toward the most unusual rock formations we’ve ever seen. Different layers of rock eroded at different rates and left amazing upright, mushroom-like formations along with flat squares of rock (chessboard rocks). 

Swimming area at Heping Island Park. They even had changing rooms.

These formations looked like mushrooms

Wildflowers, too

There was a hiking path up and along the side of a hill by the water. It was possible to get down on the rock formations (we saw a few people with guides) but that needed to be arranged at least a week in advance. Our seat-of-the-pants travel style didn’t allow for this. 

Hiking path

Along the upwards path there was a small pagoda with seats overlooking the rock formations and sea below. There were caves naturally eroded from cliffs nearby, with one obviously helped by humans with its perfect arched doorway. Charlie found a guide who spoke English and asked about it. It was thought the Dutch East Indies Company sailors used to hide in the caves. There were Chinese-looking characters etched into the stone above the arched doorway, illegible to the guide and remaining a mystery.

Pagoda where we had our picnic lunch.

Pretty rocky terrain for that healthy-looking tree. Must be the humidity!

Telephoto of mystery cave at Heping Island Park

In tide pools and a shallow part of the sea we spotted colorful fish, a crab, and large bugs that vaguely resembled trilobites (though smaller). The weather got a little hot at this point, and we walked back to the bus stop, determining we had about a 15-minute wait. There were others waiting; none spoke English. 

As we progressed toward Keelung, the bus became quite crowded, many people standing. It was about 5 pm when we got off the bus a couple of blocks from the Keelung Night Market. Streets were blocked off and full of street food vendors selling mostly unfamiliar foods. 

Coming back into Keelung on the city bus

Very popular Night Market in Keelung

Some vendors had long lines. We couldn’t help but get close to the action to find out what was so popular. Keelung is noted for it’s creative cuisine. There was deep-fried squid. Giant crab legs. A kind of fried hot-dog-shaped bread stuffed with a white sauce, sliced hard-cooked egg, chicken slices, and a few vegetables. Pork sausage dumplings had a big line. 

Ready for lots of customers

Crab legs

You can watch how the food gets cooked

These vendors are nothing if not super organized

We noticed a large temple gate in the midst of the crammed streets and went through it to investigate. The large multi-storied Fude Temple is a Taoist temple built in 1849. It is colorful and wildly decorated with dragons and samurais. Incense was burning in many receptacles, and we went up the stairs for some great views from this temple buried in the middle of contemporary buildings. 

We couldn’t stop taking pictures of these colorful temples

A view from the top of the Fude Temple

Back to the street food, we bought a slice of a peanut-butter-pancakey thing. The pancake part was cooked on a huge griddle, then covered in runny peanut butter, folded over and cut into thirds. The edges were crispy, the pancake sweet, and the peanut butter gooey. It was heaven. 

Our peanut-butter-pancakey thing being made..

It started raining, although it was still hot. The street food vendors put up umbrellas, and market-goers had their own personal umbrellas. The buildings had awnings. We were umbrella-less but managed to stay relatively dry. We ran into some shipmates from Hong Kong who had a list of 20 “must try foods at the Night Market.” They were on #6 and already full. One may have made it up #8, but he was slowing down.

We decided to find a restaurant, hopefully with air conditioning. While looking we passed a tiny coffee shop that was packed. We were amazed at the small space full of people. A couple of young staffers came out to talk to us. Very nice people and enough English to get by with us. We hated to leave, but needed more solid food and a bit more elbow room.  

Charlie spotted a hole-in-the-wall establishment on a side street. The kitchen part was open to the street outside, with tables in the air-conditioned back. We managed to get the touch-sensitive sliding glass door open and sat down in the glorious air conditioning. The all-local clientele stared at us. 

Much appreciated air conditioning in the dining area.

A young woman with some English who was eating there told us we needed to order out front first. At the same time a woman came from the kitchen and indicated with sign language we needed to order out front. Back out on the busy street, we were handed tongs and a plastic bowl to choose the items we wanted. We selected ramen noodles, bok Choi, half an onion, enoki mushrooms, sliced lotus (the only thing she weighed which had us worried about the cost), zucchini, broccoli, tofu cubes, etc. She made a gesture toward a hot-looking sauce. Definitely! 

After handing our plastic bowl full of ingredients to the cook, we returned to the air-conditioned dining area. Soon, two medium dishes of noodles came out with a small amount of green mixed in along with 2 small empty bowls, outsized soup spoons, and stainless steel chopsticks. She indicated a dispenser on the wall with napkins (actually Kleenex). We were expecting more food, but started eating anyway. Then, a giant platter of veggies arrived, including Jill’s favorite, sliced lotus. Unbelievably, we ate the entire thing, and poured the juice from the veggies into the small bowls and drank that.

It took a village, but we got fed!

We had a few “new dollars” left and Jill bought a sparkly hair clip at a sidewalk kiosk. It was getting darker and raining a steady light rain by now, which cooled things off nicely. We decided to return to the ship in case  things got wetter.  Waiting for a stop light, a local gentleman indicated to Jill that she needed an umbrella (shaking his for emphasis). She nodded and pointed back to the ship. Neither spoke the other’s language but they had a fun conversation none the less. 

Sparkly hair clip and vendor.

Monday, June 12, 2023 Keelung, Taiwan

The rain was more than a drizzle (it was pouring) and the ship was leaving around noon anyway. We slept in but had visions of hitting the post office and seeing a couple of nearby temples before we sailed. The more we talked about it, the less likely it became and in the end we stayed put.