Pictures from Taiwan

Haley and I drank bubble tea, a drink that originated in Taiwan.

I ate at a night market while I was in Taiwan, which and had lots of interesting stalls.

The sulfur hot springs in Taiwan are famous for having healing properties.

There were lots of street markets and vendors in the cities.

In one market, there was a stall offering a variety of tentacles to eat.

Taiwan

Taiwan was a pleasant surprise for me. Because of the tsunami and resulting nuclear problems in Japan we had to change our itinerary at the last minute. There is a long-standing political dispute over Taiwan. China claims it but Taiwan declared independence and currently they run their own country through an independent government. However, relations between China and Taiwan are icy to say the least. This meant that we could not sail directly from China to Taiwan; we had to stop in the Ryukyu island chain of Japan just long enough for the ship to be cleared before we sailed to Taiwan. This also meant that the dozen or so Chinese students on board could not disembark in Taiwan because it is not recognized as a country by the Chinese government. In Taiwan I took an air gondola ride up a mountain to a tea plantation from Tai Pei, the capital city. On the plantation we had a traditional tea service and we met a group of Taiwanese students. They told us about how Taiwanese culture was changing and that while the older generation remained very traditional the youth were forgetting the old ways and replacing them with more western ideas and ways of living. The first night in Taiwan we had dinner in a night market in Tai Pei. It was some of the most amazing food I have ever eaten.  I had fried dumplings, hot buns, glazed strawberries, squid, shrimp, and endless other delicious treats. The next morning we took a train to a region famous for its sulfur hot springs. We went for a hike in a national park before heading to the public baths. They smelled of sulfur and were organized into four separate pools. There were three hot pools ranging from very hot to very very hot to scorching hot. There was also a cold pool, which you could stay in just long enough to be freezing before hopping into one of the hot pools. After two days there, we headed back to Keelung, where the ship was docked. We said goodbye to foreign soil and headed for Hawaii.

Pictures from China

The mountains around the Great Wall were astoundingly beautiful.

Guardhouses were built along the wall to provide shelter for the soldiers who patrolled the wall.

The Wall stretched on for miles over the mountains.

Village School class of 2012, represented on the Great Wall of China.

The Forbidden City is filled with ornate buildings for the emperor.

Chairman Mao is still a highly respected figure in China and his picture can be found on almost anything.

The Forbidden City is decorated beautifully.

China

In China I headed straight for the Great Wall. We spent two days hiking the Wall, which was one of the most incredible experiences I had on my trip. The Wall simply stretched on for miles over the mountains. It was overwhelmingly beautiful! The Great Wall of China was built over centuries by several emperors over several dynasties. It was built to protect China from invaders and remarkably is still standing today. After hiking for two days we travelled to Beijing where we visited the famous Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is where Chairman Mao ended China’s previous government, declared the nation communist and himself the leader. It was also the starting point of the Cultural Revolution, which destroyed a large amount of China’s cultural heritage and turned the country upside down. Mao is still a national hero in China despite the fact that he is responsible for more deaths than Hitler and Stalin combined, approximately 50 million died as a result of Mao’s policies. However, the current Chinese government does now officially recognize the Cultural Revolution as a mistake. A portrait of Mao hangs over the entrance to the Forbidden City, overlooking Tiananmen Square. The square is enormous and usually crowded with people. The Chinese national flag flies in the square and is always guarded by several soldiers. The Forbidden City was the home of the Chinese emperors. Common people were forbidden to enter the enormous complex. The emperor’s bedroom, throne rooms and important meeting halls ran down a central axis while smaller rooms for concubines and royal family members were on the sides. The buildings were ornate and highly decorated and incredibly beautiful. When Mao ended the previous regime and started the Cultural Revolution he went about systematically destroying remnants of the past just like the Forbidden City but someone on the inside of the new communist government protected it. Although it wasn’t destroyed it fell into disrepair and is in the process of being restored. After leaving Beijing I flew to Shanghai, which is a very modern city. The cityscape along the river at night was breathtaking. Despite the modern buildings Shanghai has a lot of history. This included old colonial buildings and parks remain in the city as well as ancient market centers. I visited an antiques market filled with old communist propaganda and ancient Chinese coins for good luck.

Hong Kong Pictures

I visited a bird market in Hong Kong.

The streets were crowded with people, especially near the markets.

Although it was crowded and dirty, Hong Kong was still a beautiful city.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is very interesting because its government is set up a little unusually. While Hong Kong is technically part of China is has its own system of government and its own officials and representatives. Hong Kong and China are one country but under two systems. This means that some of the issues in Chinese politics do not apply to Hong Kong. This includes issues like freedom of press, assembly, and speech, which have all been violated in mainland China. Hong Kong is made up of a main city and a series of other islands that can be accessed by a ferry system and by a series of bridges. While in Hong Kong I had a delicious meal of noodles and dumplings and I visited a flower market filled with hundreds of types of flowers that all smelled amazing. I also walked through a bird market that had tons of fascinating species. Most of the streets were crowded but it was a beautiful city and one night I went over a bridge to one of the islands and took a cable car ride up a mountain so I could see all of Hong Kong at night. It was so beautiful and all the buildings looked so modern compared with what I had seen in places like India and Ghana.