After another enjoyable day at sea we arrived in Keelung, the port near Taipei. This leg of the cruise was 622nm (about 1150kms). As the tours offered by Azamara did not wow me I decided to book my own guide for the day through With Locals, it was definitely the right move.
The Arrival – Keelung
Keelung was not as busy a port as I had expected, had a bit of a Navy presence but no big container docks. The main shipping port for Taiwan is apparently Kaohsiung Harbor.
As you enter the Port of Keelung there is a pair of silos on the starboard (right) side with some interesting artwork on them
Disembarkation was fairly quick so I was able to grab a cab to Taipei to meet my guide for the day.
The Tour
The guide I picked for my was a foodie and photographer so I was expecting to learn a lot about the food and hopefully to pick up some photography tips. I got even luckier than expected as accompanying Judy was David, who I found out was a professional photographer. His company is David Thompson Stills. I was about to get a number of tips on street photography.
I met them at Daqiaotou MRT to start our walking tour of Taipei to start with finishing back in Keelung to check out the market and sites there.
The first stop was a traffic intersection to watch the hordes of scooters and motorbikes as they build up waiting for a green light and then take off on mass. An interesting site.
First Market
After the bikes we continued exploring the district and came across our first market. As it was mid-morning it was fairly quiet.
The quality of the fresh produce leaves Singapore a long way behind.
Wandering the market everyone seemed to have a smile for the camera.
More wandering around Taipei with purpose. Our purpose was to find a Pork Fish Ball Soup place.
Breakfast
The first local food of the day was Pork Fish Ball Soup from Jia Xing Fish Ball. This was extremely good, especially with some chili of course.
This is apparently prepared in the same way as they are in Fuzhou, which is where the restaurant founder is from. The fish balls are filled with pork so you get the flavour of the soup followed by the pork. I would definitely recommend this place. Yanping N. Rd. | No. 21, Ln. 210, Sec. 2, Datong, Taipei, Taiwan.
After breakfast we were headed to a textile market when I came across some ladies preparing what I think were steamed pork buns for the lunch rush
Coffee
Just down the street from the Pork Buns I spied a coffee shop and was able to twist my guides’ arms to try a cup. A pretty modern place which also roasts their own beans. The presentation was pretty good, giving you the option to try either hot or cold versions of the coffee.
Was good cup of coffee… Suggest checking out SanFormosan Café and Roastory if you are in the area and in need of a good coffee. 103, Taiwan, Taipei City, Datong District, Section 1, Dihua St, 73號1樓
More Taipei Wandering
My muse…
Whilst wandering we spotted this lady dressed very nicely in semi-formal local attire. She graciously posed for us…
Textile Market
Next up was a wander through a textile market, definitely what I was expecting to visit, though it was an interesting maze of shops, seamstresses and tailors.
