I awoke past 6. It was raining heavily and very windy. The ship should pitch. Last night, I brought some nibbles back from the restaurant to my room and drank wine which I brought from Yokohama. That helped me sleeping on the raging ocean. By the way, what do we do in this heavy rain? The Diamond Princess offered us a variety of bus tours, but I wanted to freely walk around Keelung, so I had asked a travel agency to exclusively prepare a tour guide and a driver. We were able to choose places where we would visit and I had some places.
I viewed around from the top of the ship after breakfast. The port of Keelung is the nearest port to Japan and is now known for its second largest trade volume in Taiwan. This port has been developed under the reign of Japan and now its appearance must have changed from those days. However, its mountainous terrain would still retain the general atmosphere of the old days. I recalled zhèng chénggōng. He must have taken a view of these mountains in the 17th century and I imagined the scene of 17th in which Spanish sailors were the first Europeans to see this beautiful island. French soldiers would have seen them in 19th century when they waged war against the Qing Dynasty. Those images always get me turned on. On the opposite side of the pier, several military vessels were moored.
(Vocabulary)
zhèng chénggōng 鄭成功
the Qing Dynasty 清王朝
基隆港
６時過ぎに目が覚めた。ひどい雨だ。風も強そうだ。揺れるはずだ。昨夜はレストランからつまみを部屋へ持込み、横浜で買ったワインを飲んで寝た。お陰で揺れには悩まされずに済んだ。さて、この雨の中、どうする。自由に行動したかったので団体行動は止めて個人的にガイドと運転手を頼んでいる。どこへ行こうか、、、見たいところはいくつかあったのだが、この天気では難しい。
朝食後、デッキに上がって周囲の風景を眺めた。基隆港は日本に一番近い港であり、台湾第二の規模を誇っている。日本統治時代から開発されてきたために雰囲気は変わっているだろうが、１７世紀にやって来たスペイン人や鄭成功、１９世紀に戦争をふっかけたフランス軍もこの山並みを見たかと思うと感慨ひとしお。対岸には海軍の施設があった。
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