For a Taiwanese person Chinese New Year break (a week of vacation from work, school, etc.) is full of meals, mahjong, poker, sightseeing, etc., with extended family. But, for foreigners it’s basically a week to do whatever. Normally Emily and I are gone on a trip somewhere, but this year we are trying to save money so we just stayed here in Taipei. Well the short and skinny is that it rained basically all week…except for like a day and a half. I’ve played so much Grand Theft Auto Vice City during the past week that I am chomping at the bit to get back to work again tomorrow. Oi vei! It has been supremely boring and mind numbing to wake up late, drink coffee, eat food, play video games, read, watch a movie, surf around the web, eat more, play more video games, go to bed, and do it again over and over and over. I don’t understand why people who can afford to travel when they have vacation time don’t and instead hang out at home….maybe that’ll make more sense when I have kids.
Emily and I did do a few notable things. A Taiwanese friend, Jasmine, invited us to her extended family’s Chinese New Year Eve dinner in Keelung and that was a lot of fun. We had some great food, played mahjong and poker, and sang our hearts out on their karaoke machine! And they even gave us each a hong bao. We were so grateful for their hospitality and including us in what is normally a family-only affair.
Another fun thing we did during the week was visit a hot springs we’d never been to before. Emily was stir crazy even before the break began so by Tuesday she had cabin fever bad. Even though it was raining we saddled up our trusty steed, Bessy, and headed out with our friend Nan to find and enjoy Ba Yen hot springs up in Yangmingshan National Park. It took about an hour and a half of driving on our scooters up over the mountain to reach the trail head and then about a twenty minute hike back to the (technically illegal) natural hot springs, which weren’t too crowded and simply fantastic for their beauty, water temperature and general awesomeness. We spent a few hours soaking and enjoying ourselves and chatting with other bathers before getting suited back up for the ride home in the dark and rain…and thankfully hot showers upon arrival. Sitting in the hot springs made me realize that there really is something to all the people who install hot tubs in their backyards. Soaking in hot water outside when the weather is cold is fantastic. I definitely have a preference for the natural hot springs though! Too bad every place can’t be so volcanic huh?
Saturday it didn’t rain…yay!!!….so Emily and I went out to Xizhi City (world headquarters of Acer actually), east of Taipei, to do a little half day hike. We found the hike (number 6) in Taipei Day Trips Volume 1 by Richard Saunders. The hike started at Tian Hsiu temple and took us past Hsiu Feng waterfall before reaching the overlook on the top of “Big Sharp Mountain” (literal translation). The waterfall was pretty romantic and the view from the top of the mountain was beautiful. Great place for taking wide shots of Taipei! All in all the hike was only about 3km and pretty family friendly. Not super strenuous, but you still felt like you had gone on a hike, afterwards.
Once Emily and I get back to Michigan we’ll have to invest in traveler’s guides like Lonely Planet and all that. We want to discover Michigan like we’ve discovered Taiwan.
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