Beitou
Taiwan has a lot of wonderful wellness options which is another thing I wish I had taken advantage of more when living here the first time. I’m trying to get better this trip about not beating up the old version of myself though, and to stop writing “I wish” sentences here. I heard something the other day, and unfortunately I didn’t catch the source, but it was about how the past no longer exists, and to lament and beat up the old version of you, is to punish someone who is no longer here. Which it’s true, so much of my life I’ve held myself back based on old beliefs and a version of me that disappeared years ago.
Anyways the point of all this is wellness and self care, something I’ve slowly been getting better at thanks to the encouragement of friends.
Throughout the week we were in Taipei, we went a few times to get massages, there were about 35 late night reflexology places within a two block radius of our hotel, so we had plenty of options between feet only or full body. The average cost depending on what we chose was 300-1200 NTD (about $9-$37.) Years of stress and tightness have slowly been leaving my body, but we’ve got a long way to go.
Wednesday we took advantage of another big thing in Taiwan, hot springs. There’s a wide variety in Taiwan, public pools, semi private hotel pools, hot springs where you just hang out in the river, and the more private option we went with this time, a hotel.
I bought us a package on Klook, at a hotel in Beitou, which was about $26 a person and included 3 hours in a private room, with a tub, and an afternoon tea afterwards in their cafe. Beitou is known for its high concentration of sulfur hot springs and it’s only a 20 minute subway ride from Taipei. If you visit, check out the hot spring museum, which goes into local history.
We spent the afternoon soaking in the tub, napping hard in the bed, and then enjoying our cake and some ice cream before heading back to Taipei. That nap was the hardest sleep I’ve taken in a long time, so I will be repeating this experience the next time I’m back.
Maokong
On Thursday, we met my old coworker from when I taught English at the Maokong Gondola. We took it up to the top of the mountain for a meal full of San Bei (three cup) squid, pork buns, shrimp, and many more dishes. San Bei dishes are one of my favorites, they’re cooked using one cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil, and cooking wine. They usually include basil and ginger as well.
After lunch, we walked around the area for a bit and then got shaved ice, which had brown sugar and your choice of toppings. You could get unlimited ice if you needed a top up as you ate.
We had planned to do more that day, but the heat was pretty bad so the three of us took the gondola back down and called it a day.
Wrapping up the trip
Our trip got altered a little, as we were supposed to fly to Singapore on Saturday, but a typhoon cancelled our flight and extended our time in Taiwan by a few days. Some of it was spent just staying dry in our hotel as the typhoon rained down, but towards the end we got out and walked around Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
The time here went way too fast overall, but I hope to be back again soon. In some ways this trip was really positive, I felt so proud of how far I’ve come since living here. But in other ways I miss the naive hope the old me had. The past year, it’s felt like every time I’ve started to feel hopeful about anything and have my old excitement come back, things changed abruptly and it was all gone in a flash. I’m trying to not let all the loss and hurt that came from this year shape me, but some days I worry I’m descending into a cynicism from which I won’t return. This trip has been pulling me out of that in a lot of ways though, reminding me of the beauty in the world. I’ve also spoken to so many people on this trip, who have brought timely insight to my life and shaped what I’ll be focusing more on this coming fall when I’m home.
I’m so glad I made it back here in the midst of a very reflective year.
The Wandering Wisconsinite 
Leave a comment