Monday 18, November 2024
We left our warmshowers host in the rain. Not many photos today because it was a wet and dreary ride.
At about the 14 kms mark we stopped for a second breakfast and then headed to Jiaoxi. This was a short day because I wanted to go to a hot spring while we are in Taiwan. On arrival in Jiaoxi we didn’t get a very good impression of a hot springs town. There were a lot of hotels and restaurants, but not very glamorous. When we got to our hotel it was only 12:00. There was no-one about, so we went to the back of the hotel and Ralf found a hose to rinse of our dirty bikes. While we were there a fella came to the backdoor and let us check-in. How nice was that? Three hours early. We quickly showered and headed out to discover the hot spring park. In the downtown area there is a hot stream that runs through this park area. There are places that are covered, and they are seating areas where you can sit down and put your feet in a hot spring stream.
I was laughing because, it reminded me of my Aunty Nen holding her dress up to paddle at the beach in Lincolnshire. Here I am doing the same thing, probably at the same age, only in a very different place.
There were quite a few people doing it, even on a cool and drizzly day. There were also fishy areas where you can put your feet in a tub with fishes and they nibble at your feet. We did this once before when we were in Cambodia, so we had to do it again.
I did get into trouble in one area. There was a covered area, and we went to investigate. An old man came out and started pointing at the Taiwan lettering and telling me in no uncertain times that I couldn’t be in that area. I had absolutely no idea what he was saying or why he was so upset. Another man came and said only men. No Women, only men. Ralf went to investigate; it was a public bath for men only. oops
At about 4:00 I said to Ralf let’s go back to the hotel, get our swimming gear and find the forest hot spring. He didn’t seem to be too enthusiastic about it but came along for the ride. We found the Forest Hot Spring Park, very easily and walked through a lovely park area. We arrived at a Japanese style building and checked on the price. There was a young girl on duty and an older person supervising. He asked if we were over 65 and when I said yes, he asked for identification. I had my passport and he saw I was born in 1957 and I told him Ralf 1959. We got the senior rate! Bonus. He told us it was segregated, men to the left women to the right. Ralf and I agreed we would be there for one hour.
It was absolutely wonderful. You leave your clothes in a locker, then shower and then you can go into 7 different pools. Everyone was naked, all manner of shape and sizes. The temperatures were from 39 degrees to 44.5 degrees and a cold pool. I headed for the biggest pool first, there was no temperature guide near it. I dipped my toe, oh that was cold. I decided to try the 39 degree pool and gradually move up to 43 degrees, and then into the cold pool and then go around again. The pools are not smelly as there is a low sulphur rate. Hot Springs in the Jiaoxi area are alkaline, it is crystal-clear, odorless, yet contains a considerable amount of minerals like Potassium chloride, Sodium sulphide, Potassium hydrogen carbonate, Technical Granular, as well as rich organisms. It was a wonderful relaxing one hour and only cost 100 NTW which is about $4.33 Cdn each.
After dinner Ralf had a second ice-cream. Some of these ice-creams had peppers in them. While Ralf was eating his spicy ice-cream, ice-cream with chilli peppers in it! A young couple asked Ralf if the spicy ice-cream was really spicy. He told them that this was his second for the day. The Swiss-chocolate was good, and the melon spicy ice-cream was good. They got the Swiss-chocolate and a really spicy one as well. Then they started chatting to us. Where were we from, did we like Taiwan. We told them we were cycling around Taiwan. Their parents were amazed and asked how old I was. Then we were having our photo taken and thumbs up and good wishes for the rest of our trip.
What an excellent end to a wet and dreary day. I spotted the windmill: Jacky 4, Ralf 4.
We came back to our room and had to decide if we were going to continue cycling or head into Taipei.
The weather for the next few days is not good but what the heck. We choose to continue cycling, we will play it by ear. We really want to get to the northernmost tip of Taiwan and then head into Taipei.
