Mulloskeys Adventures Abroad

We woke early to catch the first train back north. Our plan was to stop in a famous hot spring town, Jiaoshi, for our first taste of the naturally hot and mineral rich water bubbling under Taiwan. This topographical map gives you an idea of just how drastic the mountains are here. (More importantly, note the sign on the floor).

The volcanic activity below the surface makes for an abundance of hot springs, suiting this author just fine. The train ride was about an hour, more than enough time to enjoy the 7-eleven coffee and pastry from Huailen station. We took our first steps off the train and into Jiaoshi. This was definitely a hot springs town – even the station had a public foot bath, though not currently open for some reason (left of the photo).

We had been hoping to find something rustic, like pools on the side of rivers, deep in the mountains and all the rest. They exist but most were too far from Taipei for us to reach on a 4 day trip. Jiaoshi wasn’t what we expected, it was full of hotels. It would seem that the spring water has been harnessed and pumped into the spas and buildings in town, who share the resource. Our only hope at a truly organic experience was a river park described in the Lonely Planet guide book. We stopped by the tourist information centre where they didn’t speak English (amazing), so were of little help. However, we were able to get some free internet access and check the hockey pool so it wasn’t a complete loss.

We found the park in the middle of town. It was modest but had a natural spring running through it and built a mini-boardwalk for people to sit and soak their feet. You could smell the minerals from the water throughout the park. (These pics aren’t ours… ‘borrowed’ to show you the scene…)

Up the riverbed, Erin led us to a semi indoor, public hot spring house, that was perfect. We had to get naked, and obviously separate to men’s and women’s sections, but this place was right on top of the hot spring. Best of all, the tub was a huge wood basin with the huge wood beams and walls had a really Japanese aesthetic. One could sit along the side, marvel at the architecture, while having cool raindrops drizzle atop one’s head. All the while having your skin enriched by healthy minerals and talking to Jordan about the hockey pool without boring the girls. Toss me a morning beer and that would be about as close to heaven I’m ever going to find. Unfortunately (or fortunately),  I couldn’t take photos inside the bath area so I scanned these from the brochure to give you an idea. Also here are some from the spring under and beside the bath house.

These next ones aren’t ours either but they give you the idea…

We got out feeling extremely relaxed, and dazed. It was merely 10am at this point and we could have slept for days. We headed back to the train station to book tickets to Taipei and potentially grab some food while we waited. I went to pay and realized every traveler’s worst possible fear. My money belt was gone. In it cards, money and most importantly our passports. There was only one place it could be – in an open locker back at the bath house – a cozy 4 kms away. I ran like the mother effin’ wind, let me tell you. I found it thank god! Thank you everyone for not freaking out.

In the meantime Jordan, Katie and Erin had realized there would be no time to eat so they grabbed an assortment of snack foods from one of the eight hundred 7-11 stores nearby (are you picking up a theme here?). In the confusion (slash not really confusion so much as him not trying very hard to help us), the ticket agent wasn’t able to get us seat sitting on the same train car. Erin insisted we just get on one together and move if and when people boarded and claimed the seats. I will admit that (surprising for many I’m sure), I am a bit of a prude at times, but only when it comes to my own pleasure. I wanted to relax (especially after my lost passport heart attack and 4 km run), have a nap and not worry at every 5 minute stop that I would have to switch seats. Jordan agreed with me, but only because minutes earlier he had come up with the idea of doing a “snack food draft” for the items in the bag. We drafted Doritos, roasted cashews and some jerky, for the record, and hurried off to Erin and I’s train car. I looked forward to proving my point to her, and it being a full train, that I had saved us from having to switch, and so on. Below is a picture of our train car. It stayed that way the whole way to Taipei. I ate my words, along with some zesty nacho chips.

Someone, I believe Katie, came up with the brilliant idea of eating at the Taipei train station food court. Don’t let the ‘food court’ word association fool you. This place was high class, high quality with incredible variety. In fact we’ve visited a few cities in Asia where the food courts in upscale malls are the place to find all the good nosh. It was drool city as we turned each corner of the vast, edible expanse. Inevitably, we all had to split up. Jorkat got some shawarma, Erin some noodle soup dish and I, by great luck, or intuition, found the noodle dish to end all noodle dishes. It was exactly what I had been craving for the last, say 3 months. One bite made Jordan put down his shawarma and go order some.  In fact, we came back once a day for the rest of the trip so Jordan could order it. If we were very hungry, he simply ordered 2. He’s a machine.

Back to the hotel and some showering up. Did we mention there was a TYPHOON coming? Everywhere we turned, screens, papers and people were talking about the typhoon heading our way. It was currently ravaging the Philipines and now seemed intent on making life difficult for us. Now I’m all about being part of a big storm, but the idea of being stranded and not being able to fly out was something we all wanted to avoid. I didn’t know what to cheer for. Here is what we were seeing (Taiwan is the big island at top of the circles):

Due to the impending danger, and poor visibility a typhoon would bring. We opted to visit the Taipei 101 building while there was still time and go to the top this time. On the way there we took some more pictures. This thing was high.

It wasn’t a clear day, but it certainly wasn’t getting any better, so we went up anyways. The base of the tower was a sprawling boutique mall, with high-end clothing stores galore (kinda like the Petronas Towers for all you Malaysia travelers). At the last minute Katie and Erin said they would rather have Hagen Daas ice cream than to come to the top with us (the trip up was a little pricey… $13). So it was just Jordan and I. Awkward. The first part of the experience was the elevator – the word’s fastest. 1,010m in under a minute. There is a Guinness plaque to prove it:

Up above the visibility was poor, as expected. But I still enjoyed a good freak out from the height. It took a while to have the guts to stand right up to the window and look down (shiver).

Around the top two floors was some cool art and other interesting displays. It was, however, refreshingly educational – especially to a Discovery Channel junkie like me. For one, the design on the building, which I never would have figured out, is in the likeness of bamboo. Check it out:

Next, they have a brilliant counter balance system. Being prone to earthquakes and typhoons, a bulding of this size requires some pretty ingenious countermeasures. One such measure, is the counter balance taking up 5 of the top floors. Essentially it is a huge weight that is suspended by hydraulics. When the building leans one way, the huge heavy ball pulls it back the other way. Check out the video of the video and some pics.

After the 101 building we headed over to the university district for dinner. There was much about the alleys, markets and odd cafes that seemed familiar to how they do things in the coolest areas of Seoul. If I were Asian, university life here would seem pretty sweet – though I have no idea what an actual classroom is like. Our first stop was this super cool bistro-like place. Artsy, funky and with a sick menu. We just ordered some appetizers and cocktails. The setting was so cool and we reminisced about the awesome trip so far. We had such a great time there we only to took this one pic.

Next we wandered the market area. What’s the first thing we notice? Another 7-11. I would have complained if not for the wonderful selection of cheap walking beer they had available.

By this point we had seen our share of markets and thought nothing of cruising the streets in a non-committal manner.

The highlight of our night came when we discovered this quirky pizzeria. It wasn’t the delicious food or $3 Coronas that made it memorable, it was the menu itself. Whoever made the menu took liberties with the descriptions to target us as a customer base. We were in stitches:

After dinner and some more Coronas we hopped a cab back to our hotel. The great thing about taking cabs is you can discover places you didn’t even know about and make plans to go there later in the trip. We passed 2 such places, one a huge open square, wonderfully lit with giant palace like buildings. The other, as the driver pointed out, was the Taiwanese “White House”… more on those the next day.

Back at the hotel there was only one thing on 3 of our minds: massage! I decided to sit this one out and chat with the locals outside while the rest of us soaked it up – literally.

We resisted to lure of a triple cheeseburger and headed to bed knowing the next morning would hold the answer to the question on all our minds all day: will the typhoon hit us? We would know in only a few hours. Sweet dreams on the 26th floor.