Oct 10, 2018 Taipei Keelung, Taiwan

Woke up docked in Taiwan. The port is in an area called Keelung and the adjoining city is Taipei. It looks like we’re right downtown. Lots of traffic going by; cars, buses, lots of motor cycles and people galore. It’s not a hot day, it’s sort of greyish with a heavy cloud cover. It may have rained overnight and some things still look wet.
I went to the buffet for breakfast and there were only a handful of passengers there so it was like my own private ship with enough food to feed an army. It’s funny how one adapts or changes in a different environment. Every day i see chefs preparing fabulous omelettes to order and there’s huge bins of well done bacon, hash browns, fried potato, mashed, meats, cheeses, cold cuts, all sorts of fresh breads with huge toasters to use, tons of grapefruit, cantaloupe, watermelon and honeydew along with dried fruits, dates, prunes, apricots, coconut,nuts and seeds. There’s even pickled herring which i do like because of my moms Swedish heritage but i’m not used to eating it in the morning. There’s waffles and French toast and sauces galore to add to them. Then there’s muesli, cream of wheat, oatmeal and grits as well as those little boxes of dry cereals to help yourself to. Pastries, cakes, pies, yogurts in many flavours, you name it you can find it in the Garden Cafe Buffet. There's tea and coffee, lemonade, cranberry, oj and iced tea available. I miss my Nescafé instant espresso that i drink every day at home. If i want it here on the ship i ’d have to pay about $5. and i don’t think it would be quite the same so not going to try it. I’m sure i missed a lot of food items, there’s just tons of good free eating included with your cruise. Anyway the gist of what i was thinking is that with all this bounty i eat possibly the lowliest item which is muesli along with some fruits when i could eat like a queen. Wait; no, that’s not right. The Queen probably doesn’t indulge in 3000 calorie breakfasts, lol!
So, the buffet breakfast is from 6:30 to 10a.m. If you’re a little late you can go through the buffet and eat at the Great Outdoors in the aft until 11:30 a.m. Then there’s O'Sheehans who i understand make awesome breakfasts too from 6-11a.m.also the Tzars restaurant from 7-9a.m.and the Topsiders grill from 5:30 to 9:30a.m.Lots of breakfasts can be found on this ship but some of them are really too early for me to attempt.

And then it’s lunchtime! You wouldn’t believe it. I can’t list it all. And then it’s tea time! Then dinner time! And later it’s snack time!
And next should be gym time but uh uh, nope not for me.

After breakfast i debarked and only walked a few steps in Taiwan when something went awry in my ankle. I heard it before i felt it and my first thought was omg i’ve broken my ankle. It was like i actually heard something change, like something popped or cracked or fell out of place or something. It hurt just a little so i sat under one of the small tents that NCL sets up alongside ship for passengers to rest in. After a while i stood up and couldn’t walk without limping. I saw a couple coming back from a walk in the city so i asked them if there was any good shopping nearby. Their answer was no, we are in a real bad part of town. So that cinched it, i got back onboard and limped to my bed.

Now i’ve rested and it’s time to go to the origami class so i’m going a little early in case the ankle gives me any trouble. It’s obvious that something has happened but i hadn’t fallen or stumbled or anything and even though i’m limping a bit not going to worry or place any importance on it.

I was one of two who showed up for the origami lesson. It was to make the star box which i had already attended weeks ago. Notice i didn’t say i made it. It was really difficult and everyone there had to get the teacher to fix it and i’d say i had made 25% of it then got lost and the teacher finished it for me. That was the day i went for tea in the buffet with a Swiss lady and accidently left my beautiful paper star box there on the table. It would have gotten wrecked in the suitcase anyhow. So i didn’t stick around for the class knowing i’d have to get the teacher to fix it and finish it for me.

So i went for lunch and kinda pigged out today. I was also looking around for the lady from India to ask her how things were going. Well the buffet seems like a mile long and i spotted her still lugging that enormous heavy purse walking towards the far exit so i got up and limped as fast as i could to catch up to her. By the time i got out the door by the elevators she was gone so i took a chance guess that her cabin might be on deck 9 so down i went. I looked up and down the hallways on both sides and she wasn’t there.
Maybe she’s a creature of habit and i’ll find her if i go to the buffet a little earlier tomorrow.

It’s now 5:30p.m. And it’s pitch dark out in Taiwan already. No wonder people get up early or they wouldn’t have a very long day to enjoy.
So i walked limpedly to my room and rested awhile. I don’t care if limpedly isn’t a word, you understood what i meant so in other words i limpingly forged onwards.

In between i went to trivia of the world and i was my own team thank goodness because i do not do well in these games and then my teammates are probably choked that i couldn’t get any answers. But i do enjoy trying. It was 20 pics of famous landmarks around the world. I thought I’d had 10 correct but it turned out i was way off and only got 5.

So i limped on down to the buffet for dinner and ate fairly lightly tonight and didn’t even have a dessert and then hurried back to the stage show which tonight was a magician/juggler/comic. The guy was so funny i laughed through the entire thing. He had a very simple way of making me laugh at stupid little things that some might have thought were really corny jokes. Maybe it was because he was so hyper active and had a come back for every little thing. The ocean was quite rough and he was still able to juggle and spin colourful hoops in the dark and i’d watch his show again any time.

Later i went to the casino and right off the bat i got a win from my first $20 so i cashed out my ticket and put another twenty in and it got wasted. I thought i should leave but that same machine was calling to me so i stuck in $20 and played it up to $70, cashed out and hit another machine that was tighter than a drum and ended up with my original amount. Then one more game and 30 came out of that 20 so  ended up with $10 more than i went with and that was good enough for me tonight.

The ocean is roaring tonight and it’s a very pleasant sound. We are going real fast and we can see the waves from our porthole window. The ship is creaking and groaning and that too is a good sound. I don’t mind the waves and the rocking and rolling when i’m sitting or in bed. It’s just extremely difficult for me to walk in hallways and staircases because i bounce off of both of the walls. I need a hallway all to myself. Then tonight i stupidly took a shortcut which took me outside where you pass the pools. There was a lot of water all over the deck and the pool water was dancing and jumping out over the deck like crazy. It was a little scary because i rarely take that route and why i did tonight was stupid with my ankle injury making me limp but i went far enough that it was too far to turn back.

Suddenly out of nowhere a crew member was beside me; he didn’t offer help but he stuck right by me until i got inside just in case i fell. I shouldn’t have gone that way as it does make the crew worry. And yes, they’re trained to watch for invalids and limpers like me. Or is that the same thing? In any case i imagine passengers have fallen and sued so they keep an eye out so it doesn’t happen again.