A Stunning Place with Various Faces
Nowadays, people are busy working, and live a fast-paced life. In the north of the busiest city in Taiwan, Taipei City, there is a little but demure place, Beitou.
It was five years ago that I went to Beitou. When taking the MRT system, I found the carriages were so colorful, and there were many cartoons on them. As soon as I got off at the Xinbeitou Station, I felt the atmosphere was different.
People walked here at a slow pace, and it was so different from the citizens in Taipei City.
The first spot I would like to introduce is the Beitou Hot Spring Museum.
Before it became a museum, its original name was “Beitou Public Bathhouse”. It was the biggest public bathhouse in East Asia in the period of Taiwan under Japanese Rule.
In this period, Japanese people brought the hot spring culture to Beitou, and it became the most representative industry in Beitou.
The first floor of this bathhouse was made of bricks, and the main feature was stained glass windows.
A few years ago, the first floor mainly provided hot spring services for men.
Besides the bathhouse, there was an audiovisual room on the first floor.
After going to the hot spring, people could watch movies in this room.
Beitou Hot Spring Museum has an antique flavor. Tourists always like to take a lot of pictures here.
Since there has been an abundance of wood in Beitou, people built houses with wood.
I was impressed a lot by the second place which I would like to introduce, the Thermal Valley.
As soon as I arrived, I immediately saw a smoke-filled wonderland.
What a beautiful place!
Looking down to the water, I felt the heat blowing in my face. I couldn’t even imagine the temperature of the water reached between 80°C and 100°C!
The Thermal Valley is the water source of Beitou Hot Spring. It is filled with smoke throughout the year, and it lets people think it is mysterious.
Therefore, it is also called “Hell Valley” or “The Ghost Lake”.
There are lots of “Hokutolite” found in Beitou.
Hokutolite only exist in Taiwan and Japan.
People could cook eggs a few years ago. However, to protect the quality of the hot spring, it is forbidden to bring food to the Thermal Valley now.
The Beitou Library is another place people should visit.
It is so famous because it is a wooden building, and it’s also the first green building in Taiwan. A lot of music videos take this place as the shooting spot.
If you go to Beitou, you can see some stones like this.
Actually, Beitou is the language of the Taiwanese Plains Indigenous Peoples, and the meaning is witch.
In the past, people believed there were witches who lived in Beitou. Legend has it that the smoke in the Thermal Valley was the magic made by witches. Witches were thought to have very beautiful appearances. They could predict the future and know people’s lives. They were said to have magic powers and ask blessings from the gods.
Next time, if you are tired of a busy life, you can go to Beitou and enjoy its picturesque scenery.
Going to a hot spring and taking a rest in a peaceful place is the most relaxing way in the world!
