Waterfalls and Hot Springs

Once again, a trip out of Taipei was necessary. After consulting with the ever-hellpful Lonely Planet Guide, we decided that the hotsprings of Jiaoxi were calling our names.

After work, Sue met me at the train station and we ate some yummy Japanese BBQ. The little shop is located on the side of the road, so we got to grill our own food while breathing scooter fumes. Typical Taiwanese stuff. Good food, though.

The train was one of those awful world war one deals that stops at every little dinky town between here and Hualian. This is OK, considering that Jioaxi is one of those dinky towns. We arrived there late at night with grins on our faces.

A private hot spring bath hotel room awaited with an ajoining amusement park of different tubs of spring water -- they had cold, hot, super hot, warm, hot with massage jets, waterfalls, and giant squirt guns and basket ball hoops. Fun stuff.

After playing in the tubs, we hiked up the side of a mountain and saw three waterfalls. Pagodas dotting the mountain were filled with Taiwanese adventurers waiting for a car to pick them up -- Taipei lungs don't how to handle all of the oxygen.

I'll post more soon if and when something happens here. Everyone is violently afraid of the SARS situation except for the westerners. They check your temperature to enter stores and movie theaters, you have to buy a mask to ride the train or subway, and will get quarantined if you leave the country. We have to wash our hands outside before entering work and most of the staff wears the masks. There haven't been any cases in the town I live in, but I hear stories every day from Taipei. I am being careful and having fun. Rock on!

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