Jiaoxi Hot Spring
Michella Jade Weng, Presenter:
Hi, I��m Michella and this is my friend...
Gunter
Whittome, German Expat:
Gunter, hi. That was just a sentence in German saying
hello to everybody. Today we��ve come to Jiaoxi,
one of Taiwan��s well-known hot spring areas.
Gunter
Whittome, German Expat:
There��s a wide selection here of cheap public baths
in natural settings up to high end luxury spa hotels
and if you have a bath in one of the hot springs
outside, if you��re lucky you��ll have butterflies
and dragonflies flying around you. So it��s a great
place to spend a day here.
When
traveling in Taiwan it��s great to have a relaxing
hot spring bath every now and then and as the local
people call it, ��paotang�� which literally means
having a soak in the soup. In Taiwan it��s usual
practice that people go to have a hot spring bath
in their bathing suit. I think in Taiwan, the hot
spring culture started about 100 years ago. But
of course the Taiwanese aborigines found the hot
springs in the mountains a lot time ago. And then
during the Japanese period, the hot spring culture
really developed because you have a similar hot
spring culture in Japan.
In Germany,
they might have a nice cold beer or two after a
soak in the hot springs, but in Taiwan, a nice meal
usually follows.
Gunter
Whittome, German Expat:
After a hot spring bath, you get tired, so what
people like to do is having a good meal after their
bath. Either have a snack with one of the so-called
��wenquan dan,�� or hot spring eggs which are boiled
in hot spring water, or you can have a real big
meal in one of the many restaurants here.
The people
here have really put a lot of effort in increasing
and developing the facilities. Even though the weather
wasn��t perfect today, it was sort of rainy, but
it may be exactly the perfect weather for having
a hot bath. Because Jiaoxi is easily accessible
from Taipei, it��s only maybe an hour��s journey either
by car on the freeway or by bus or by train, so
it��s the perfect destination for a day��s trip or
for a weekend trip from Taipei.
