Mar 1 – Keelung, Taiwan. A Geopark, a fish market and a temple

It’s a rainy day in Keelung, Taiwan, for our first ever visit to Taiwan.  The tour today gave us a variety of sights to visit. 

A few photos from the drive during the tour.

First stop was the Yehliu Geopark.  Yehliu Geopark is on a cape at the end of Datun Mountain that stretches into the sea.  

It is filled with many hoodoo rock formations.  Hoodoos are tall thin spire of rock formed by erosion, generally with a harder, less easily eroded stone on the top (thank you Google).  Bryce National Park in the US is known for its hoodoos.  The park has these hoodoos as well as caves and fossils embedded in the stone. 

The most famous of the formations are the Queen’s Head (note the "necklace" of rocks around the formation to keep people away)…

and the “Princess Head”.  A replica intended to discourage tourists from touching the fragile Queen’s Head…they can touch the princess instead.

Some mushroom formations...

including a reproduction (sort of looks like a morel mushroom). 

A sea urchin fossil.

And this formation looks like the tail of a whale (although they all it a heart-shaped rock).

And this nearby piece of driftwood also looks like a whale. (Note that they added a metal tail to finish the whale.) 

Some other odd features. 

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More Yehliu Geopark
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There were good views of the grey, rainy coastline.

Next stop was a fish market where one could find all manner of seafood.

The harbor at the fish market.

These colorful structures are exhaust vents over the fish market. 

Then it was off to the Zhongzheng Park where we visited the big Buddha temple.

There was a lot to see here including a huge bell, lion dogs, pillars and lots of statues. 

The park has a 82 foot tall statue of the goddess Guanyin.  It is the biggest goddess statue in Southeast Asia.  Guanyin is the goddess of mercy and compassion from Chinese mythology. 

The park is high on a hill with good views of the city with the Symphony in the background.