My Taiwan Adventure

Today I took a trip to Yangmingshan, a national park just north of Taipei city. Actually, the park is on the veritable edge of town. There are about 20 different mountain peaks in the area and late February/early March is flower season. I was excited to know that I was in town at the right time to see the fabulous pink flowered trees (cherry I think?).

http://202.39.225.132/jsp/Eng/html/attractions/scenic_spots.jsp?id=R139

The day was overcast and a bit rainy (as I'm coming to expect) but I was anxious to get up to Yangmingshan and see the flowers and partake in the natural hot-springs in the area. My shoulder is still stiff and sore so I was hoping the natural elements in the water would help.
I wandered around the paths a bit by the tourist stop. The flowers were beautiful and I got a couple of photos though I was hampered by the rain. What overwhelmed me was the sweet luxurious smell that came from the blooms. There were yellow birds which I think are a variety of finch in the pink flowering trees and it was very idyllic. I'd say about half the trees were in bloom, which makes me think because the last month has been so rainy here that the growing season is a little behind. Then again, I'm just trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about.

An afternoon fog settled around the mountain shortly after I arrived. The visibility was very bad and I could only see maybe 25-50 feet at times. That curtailed the sight-seeing a bit! I got a little turned around while wandering about and met a very nice Taiwanese lady from Taipei on the side of the road. She helped me get to the bus which goes to the hot springs area I was looking for. She volunteers at the Visitor Center. I was just lucky to catch her!

Link to the hotsprings I visited:
http://www.ymsnp.gov.tw/html/engnew/toursit%20spots/lengshuikeng/lengshuikeng.htm

The hotsprings I visited are the "cold springs." But they were plenty hot for me. The pain dissolved under the assault of the hot water. I had to learn the rules of hotsprings here. Wear a showercap seems to be a high ranking rule. *ewwww, yuck!* And rinse yourself first, which seems reasonable. Get naked is the final rule that I could puzzle out. The hotsprings I went to have seperate mens and womens pools indoors so it wasn't a big deal. Just different then the western way of doing things.

I thoroughly enjoyed my soak in the iron rich waters and was a little light-headed when I hit the cool humid mountain air as I left. Unfortunately the good done by the waters was off-set by the bumpy, winding twisting road down the mountain in the mini-bus. That bus was followed by a bigger bus and then the MRT to finally rest at the hotel. I've been trying to take it easy, I didn't even go trekking around the mountain as I would have because I know my body is trying to heal.

I'm looking forward to further treks up the mountain in the future to further enjoy the many sights that are available there. Hopefully there will be better weather in the future in which to enjoy the sites!

Many hugs and good thoughts to all of you.
T. Destiny

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