Taiwan, June 2026
No change to my normal routine, so I was early to breakfast and then took a short walk to get coffee. It was raining and not to hot and beautiful walk through a lovely park. I also stopped off at 7/11 to get a few snacks for my room on the ship (not that they would really be needed as there is always so much food). Now my official trip has started, I can switch my brain off and just follow instructions (I am very good at that lol).
We started the day with a bus tour out of the city. I struggled to understand a lot of what our local guide was saying but I enjoyed the views as we left the city behind and drove in to the lush green bush covered hills and after passing through a small town with narrow streets lined with seafood restaurants with fish, crabs and other sea creatures in tanks, we arrived at our first stop – Yehliu Geopark on the northern coast of Taiwan. World famous for its eroded rock formations caused by the sea erosion and weathering of the sandstone and limestone in the area.
I decided to ditch the group, with the guide I could not hear and wandered around by myself. The most famous of the features is the Queen’s Head. She is so famous in fact, people queue to have their photo taken with her. Of course, I did not, but I did get a sneaky photo from afar without too many other people in it. You definitely need some imagination to see some of the figures but it was still very cool to see.
At the end of the park we were funneled through the souvenir stalls (with lots of dried seafood ) before we could get back on the bus for the 45 minute drive to our next stop at the historic mining town of Jiufen. The town boomed and busted based on gold mining, but was reintroduced to the world in the 1980’s when a movie was filmed here (“A City of Sadness”).
The narrow Juifen Old Street winds up a step staircase and down narrow side streets, lined red lanterns and with small shops selling souvenirs and traditional snacks and food. This was also our lunch break but rather than sit and wait for food, I went off exploring (I am definitely “that” person again)!
I tried some locally famous taro balls, they could be cold or hot but I opted for cold, as the sellers said it was their favourite (turns out it was just the hot ones covered with ice lol). It seemed like they were mixed with beans hich was a littl odd but the Taro balls themselves were tasty.
I also tried some delicious local fruit wine, lychee and apple, and an amazing mango cream cheese mochi. Sadly my purchasing was limited as most places only took cash and I was almost out! It was probably not a bad thing.
I wound my way through the narrow streeets lined with shops and ended up getting a little lost, but I just kept going down the hill (as the bus park was below the town). I have to admit I was not massively happy with some of my choices as I found myself walking down the narrow street with no footpath and big buses coming passed…. But I got there in the end and enjoyed the beautiful view out to the coast now that the cloud had cleared a little.
Back on the bus and we carried on through the windy, narrow mountain roads to our final stop for the say, Shifen Old Street. Another historic old town, this one with an active train line running through it. The draw here is for people to release sky lanterns.
You write your wishes on the laterns which are about 80cm tall and then release them from the rail tracks (with everyone having to scramble off each time a train came through – which happened twice in the short time we were there).
Apparently people get paid TWD10 (about NZD0.55) per lantern if they collect them where they fall and return them but we did see main littering the mountain side and in the river so I decided not to do one. There were certainly enough going up without me needing to be involved and I was happy taking photos.
Again most of the shops only take cash so not shopping for me. Thankfully I did have enough to try the local peanut roll ice cream. I opted to have it without the cilantro (which seemed an odd combination to me) and it was pretty tasty.
Back on the bus for the last time today, and we were off to the port of Keelung where we boarded the Heritage Adventurer, my home for the next 18 days. It is my second time on the ship and I was excited to see a couple of expedition crew members who I remember from my last trip, including my favourite naturalist.
I had booked the cheapest cabin (still not cheap) which was a lower level, triple share room – and luck was with me and I have it all to myself! What a great start to the trip. It was great to be able to unpack and get settled in before being interrupted by ship formalities – a life boat drill, welcome drinks and then a first briefing which included an introduction to the expedition crew and a briefing for tomorrow as we set sail out of the harbour and out on our adventure.
Cockneykiwi takes flight 