Day Trip to Xin (new) Beitou
February 10, 2011 § 1 Comment
Sunday was probably the most productive day we had all of last week, even though we only left the apartment after 12. We took the MRT to Xin (new) Beitou. It is only 20 minutes out of the Taipei Main Station, but it feels so detached from the city, because of the mountains, greenery and general peaceful environment.
We visited the Ketalagan Cultural Centre, which is dedicated to the Aboriginal culture that once flourished in the Beitou area. Although there is some English commentary, a lot of the information provided is only in Chinese. This is understandable, given that most tourists to Taipei are from mainland China anyway. Check out the outfits, all coloured with natural dyes. A made an interesting observation – the dyes they used were made of the same foods we try to never get on our clothes, viz. turmeric, pomegranate juice and others.
We then headed to the Beitou Hot Springs museum. On the way, I noticed these children. Shame, they were in a bit of a problem with their ball in the water. I photographed them instead of going to help 
The information in the Hot Springs museum which was in English was really interesting. It is so interesting to see how the hot springs are formed. Look at the cute slippers we were given to wear in the museum – red for her and blue for him 
Finally, off to Geothermal Valley we went. This is where one can actually view the natural hot spring. It was amazing to see the actual source of the hot spring. We knew we were close when we smelt the rotten eggs. Because the hot springs contain natural sulphur, they smell like eggs or fireworks. It’s actually really funny, I was laughing all the time as we got closer. The natural hot spring is so beautiful – look!
Can you see the holes in the sand? That is where the water comes up from.
There is also the Puji Temple to see in Beitou. It is one of the very few well-preserved Japanese temples in Taiwan. We strolled in the area twice, but just couldn’t find it. I don’t think the labelling is very good. We gave up after the second time and went to do what we do best – EAT!
Bye Bye Beitou Buddha…
The Beitou buddha is cute !