Despite the title, this weekend was of a more relaxing nature. Saturday saw quite dinner and drinks with friends. Sunday it was time to finally experience my first Taiwan hot spring. There is a multitude of springs here, ranging from the public variety to private resort run ones. There are swimsuit required ones or the gender-separate clothing optional variety as well.
My friend and I headed to Beitou to visit the public spring there. We met up Sunday afternoon, quickly toured the Hot Spring Museum, and then located the public one. Of course, it was about to close in 15 minutes. (They close a few times throughout the day to drain the springs and put fresh water in.) So we went and got ice cream from a street vendor, and waited for 4:30 to come.
When it was time, we paid our 40NT (about $1.30 US) entry fee and headed down the steps to the spring. There are changing rooms with showers in them and lockers when you first get to the bottom. Then there are 4 different pools. There are 3 hot ones ranging from a warm bath to “I think my skin is on fire” and one icy cold one. So you are free to move about from spring to spring as you wish. I started with the hottest so I was still too warm when I went into the bath temperature spring. However, after a quick dip in the freezing cold pool, my skin was ready to enjoy the bath temperature a bit more the second time around. Overall it was a nice weekend, my skin felt amazing afterward from all the minerals!