As of now I am listening to the radio that now is able to have reception and I am enjoying Taiwanese music and commentary.

We berthed at fourteen hundred hours and disembarked at eighteen hundred hours. Graham, Scott, and I got on a shuttle that took us to the main gate of the harbor where we jumped in a taxi, all with much to do about nothing. I told Scott that I feel very inadequate when not able to communicate with others in their country.

I have put it in my mind to learn four languages, which are: French, Spanish, Greek, and Indonesian. Of course, all this is subject to change especially number four.

By the time the taxi got us to our supposed destination, it was not a very upscale part of town, to coin the phrase used by Graham for a description of the area. That was just fine for me, having left the western civilization for a reason and it was ok with Scott as well. Needless to say, Graham caught the same cab right back to the ship and Scott and I just started walking. We meet two young Taiwanese women, one twenty and the other twenty-one. Scott asked me to take his picture with them and then I used their camera to do the same. We talked for a bit and they asked our age. I told them my age and they said I was young. Strange being eight years older than them, maybe I looked older. Scott told them his age and they said how handsome he was. One of the girls was pretty and the other caught my eye. Not being able to communicate very well we parted and Scott and I headed down the street.

Four hours on foot in Taiwan will bring you across many things, lovers sitting next to the water, packs of motor scooters, markets for cloths and food, shops of all kinds, and two Buddhist monks hopping on a moped taking off down the street. I feel it better to walk than to rush “to and fro”, taking you out of the atmosphere and locality.

Scott and I got a great deal of looks considering I only saw a family of two to three westerners. They were in an Italian café as we passed by. I must say that I do think I like it better to be in the minority and not to be just another face in the crowd of one hundred fifty-three million. A few of the younger crowd noticed the face difference and gave a friendly hello with a smile. It is the little things that makes all the worthwhile.

After hours of walking around Kaohsiung, we came upon a produce market and found some boxes and loaded them up with fruit, more than we could carry. So, we hailed a cab and returned to the ship. In the mess hall, we split the produce, got as many drinks from the vending machine as we could with all the change we had left over, turned in our passports, talked with Arnell, the second mate, and went to our cabins.

I took a shower brushed my teeth and crawled into bed. Unable to sleep, here I am. I must also say that Asian women are beautiful, especially the ones that do not try to be westernized but the ones who try to dress to their own. As for Kaohsiung, it is a nice town but it too has the semblance of an American town, fancy hotels, expensive shops, Mc Donald’s, Pizza Hut, etc. But on the side streets and back court yards, Taiwan is foreign Taiwan.