Ruminations from the Silver Muse.

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Impressive new Terminal












Busses ready.

 

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And off the ship a nice welcome.

 

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Now I was meant to be on an excursion to Shou-Shan mountain which had been recommended. However a tourist bus crash the day before made that trip impossible so basically it became a city exploration. The extra stops made to replace the mountain quite frankly were pathetic.

So off we go to drive to what the guide called the lotus pond. First past Kaohsiung tallest building which for a while was Taiwan's tallest until the 101 tower in Taipei was built.

 

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We arrived at the Parking lot for the Lotus Pond.




Shades of Angkor Wat.




And then the Pond turned into a Lake.

 

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Sensory overload.


A bicycle tour goes past.




As suggested we are going to enter the pagoda being renovated by the dragon's mouth and out the tiger's mouth. Inside some artwork.








Now we cross the road to the temple.

 

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The last of our time at the lake.












4 fighters flew overhead then 4 helicopters took off. This was the 4th.






Now the lake is also for waterskiing.

 

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Personally I would rather have walked these trails instead of the rubbish that was to come.








We now drove the "Love" river to the famous harbour bridge.
Well we just drove beside the Love river twice but in the same direction. The second was to see the "night" lights. Just a row of lamps. So only people on the right of the bus saw it. Those of us on the left missed out. I doubt we missed anything important.

What I did notice was the proliferation of CCTV cameras. A couple of examples.




Now we were at the Famous bridge.


Views to the Muse.

 

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A light rail line goes past. It also stops at the cruise terminal.


Views from the bridge.

 

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And the only picture I took of the "Great" bridge.


The area around the great bridge is an Arts area.










They grow my weeds as flowers here.

 

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A convenience store with tables inside and out.




And a walk around the neighbourhood until it was time to get back on the bus.








Now driving to Central Park.

 

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And a glimpse of the Love river.

And the shuttle stop opposite Central Park.


A bit surprising. A place full of fun parlour kids machines frequented by adults.


Then across the road to Central Park.




But we weren't taken here to view the park but to look at an underground metro station. Went down the long escalator. Nothing any different so straight back up in the elevator.






Having been given the time to be back at the bus I took off by myself to explore the park. the sun had just set.

 

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[Quickstatus]

@drron did you try the sugarcane juice at post #430?

 

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Lots of men at several tables engrossed in what we called Chinese Checkers.








Now back on the bus to head back to the ship.





A seafood restaurant with 30 dishes for 100 NTD each, $A85, $US 3

 

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Dinner once more in Atlantide. the menu.






The wines.




Rojaan had the centre cut of Baltic salmon and then the duo of halibut and scallops.



Whilst I had the carpaccio with the small bits of meat barely visible.


I then had the tomato soup and the halibut dish as well.finished with the Baba al rhum.

 

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@drron did you try the sugarcane juice at post #430?

No. I had way too much in my younger days when it was everywhere in Asia.
Then I mistakenly used sugar cane mulch on my gardens when we first moved to the Sunshine Coast so was able to have home grown sugar cane juice when it all sprouted.