Last Thursday through Sunday our office was closed for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. We decided to play the first two days and use the Sat. & Sun. to get ready for the painters who arrive to paint out apartment on Tuesday.
Thursday we decided to take advantage of the fact that it was the last day of the visit of Duolos. A ship that is currently touring Asia and docked in the nearby port of Keelung. Constructed in 1914, MV Doulos is the world’s oldest active ocean-going passenger ship. Since the ship is a contemporary of the Titanic and is on a unique mission we figured that it would be interesting to check it out. You can read more about it HERE.
There were so many people wanting to see the ship we had to stand in line for about 30 minutes. We had hoped to spend an extra few dollars to take the tour which gave access to parts of the ship that just anyone wasn’t allowed to wander in to. However, the earliest we could get a tour was going to be almost 3 hours later so we decided to see what we could on our own. It was pretty cool. It was quite a bit smaller than I expected.
We bought some books at the bookstore and talked with a few of the crew members (that are mostly younger persons from all over the world).
More pics are HERE
We left Duolos at about lunchtime and I wanted to go back to a park nearby that we had last visited the first month or two after our arrival on the island. When it became obvious that we were hungry and it might take a while to find the park again, I suggested that we go to a nearby park. We could see a temple high on a hill overlooking the port where Duolos was docked. I directed Fran how to drive there. When we arrived it was way too temple-ish creepy. You might have to be there to understand. We were just not comfortable spreading out a picnic at that spot.
More pics are HERE
So we had a snack and decided to go in search of the park we first wanted to visit.
Every time we’ve gone to Keelung we get turned around and have trouble getting on the right highway. This time was no exception. We drove for 15 minutes in one direction before deciding to turn around and start all over. This time I directed us to another park - not the one we wanted but a new adventure, a different park.
We made our way pretty easily and pretty quickly to HePingDao Park. It was a pretty good place and one we were glad we found. After finding a bench overlooking the Pacific Ocean, we unpacked the lunch and breathed in the clean ocean breeze. Very nice! We explored the park a while and made our way back to the car.
More pics are HERE
You never know what you might see. I spotted this convenience store and it took a minute to realize the significance of the name.
We drove back into Taipei, got a shower, went out to our favorite Vietnamese resturant, and then took in the concert I posted about a few days ago. (It was a choir from our hometown, Dallas, performing in Taipei.)
