Taiwan's Hot Springs

The NY Times ran an article a couple weeks ago about Taipei's hot springs. 

 
click for full article

Yanmingshan is a great place to visit. I highly recommend it to anyone travelling to Taipei. It's easily accessible by the MRT, and has public, semiprivate, and private hotspring baths for any kind of stay, short or long.

The atmosphere is festive, with plump teenagers doing sit-ups on the raised stone sitting areas while the elderly, immersed up to their earlobes, gossip over plastic canisters of cool tea. Rule No. 9 on the wall — “It is inadvisable to spend more than 15 minutes in the hot spring” — seems to be universally ignored. “The Japanese gave us this,” said one well-wrinkled matron, referring to the highly social culture of public bathing. “They also built railroads, and schools and roads.

This is one of the more interesting aspects of the Beitou area that I learned about during my visits there. During World War II, the Japanese stationed kamikaze pilots in Beitou, giving them a steady diet of food, wine, and women while they soaked in the hot springs awaiting their ultimate mission. 

Spring Scream

I want down to Kenting for Spring Scream again this year. You can see the photos here:

Spring Scream: Kenting April 2009

Phone Photos 2

It's still rainy and cold here, and I've got no life, so I'll post more photos from my phone.


This is a new model from Taiwanese auto manufacturers. The idea behind the design is that thieves will be too embarassed to ever steal your car. It gets great milage too, since it can be fueled by a mixture of petroleum and aphids.


Happy birthday! Here's your tapeworm cake!


This caption practically writes itself, so I won't bother.

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Good Weather, Good Mood.

It's been nice here for the last week or so, and I've been trying to get outdoors more. Nick and I bought a little barbecue grill on Saturday and grilled some brats. No photos other than this one, since I was having too much fun, but I'm sure we'll do it again.



It's supposed to be nice for the rest of the week and into the weekend, a few showers aside. Good weather has the amazing power to affect people's moods, and bring them out of their homes and into the streets and parks. It's nice to go out walking and come across kids playing or old people smiling at you from a bench.

Next up on my list of things to do outdoors is to get up into the mountains for a hike.

Take that, Hawaii.

Kenting in January

My Chinese New Year break is rapidly winding down. I had a good time, but didn't do too much. One thing I did do was take a trip down to Kenting, on the South coast of Taiwan. Ariel, Luke, Mark and I took a bus down, and although the traffic kept us on the bus for hours, it was ultimately worth the trip.




We got off the bus across the street from our hotel. It was an older, well lived in place that none of us were impressed with, but we just dropped off our bags and went out. We walked down Kenting street in search of something to eat. Vendors line the busy street selling everything from seafood to ice cream to grilled corn and vegetables. We got a variety of stuff and some beers and went looking for the beach. We got there just before sunset, and I changed into my swim trunks and went swimming.

It was nice to be in the water, feeling the sand and surf and the last rays of sunlight. It's easy to forget sometimes how beautiful Taiwan is when I spend all my time in the city, so when I get to experience natural wonders like the ocean, it's refreshing to both body and mind.



We got another hour or so to spend on the beach the next day. As we rode home, we agreed that the trip's only flaw was that it was too short. We will definitely rturn soon.

I took many photos, which you can see here:

Kenting in January (1/2)

Kenting in January (2/2)

Here's an amazing Taiwan photo I found. Click it for a link to the source.

Members of the Tao tribe hoist a new fishing boat into the air during a traditional launching ceremony on Orchid Island, Taiwan

More dogs.

My friend Iwen is looking for a home for two more dogs. One is a husky and the other a beagle. If you know anyone who would be interested in adopting one or both of these dogs should contact me, and I'll provide you with details and contact info.

The last dog of hers that I posted about on this blog (Elsa, yellow lab) was sucessfully flown to some friends in Estonia.