Day Trip to Beitou/XinBeitou Hotsprings 新北投溫泉 & Tamsui (Danshui) 淡水

Day 8 : Thursday 21 Nov 2013

We woke up early this morning. Could it be that we were well rested? Maybe, will see! We went down, looking for breakfast but most of the places were still closed (it was 8.10 a.m.) I guess, people start late in Zhongxiao East road. Thank God for the convenience store, we went to Family Mart to have our brekkie.

Kay having her hotdog bun.

Still early, we were the only one there.

 After breakfast, we took the MRT to Beitou 北投  and then transfer to Xinbeitou 新北投.

Direction : Take the Red line subway to Beitou station and change train at Beitou station to Xin Beitou. Xin Beitou is on the Pink line and it is one stop away from Beitou. ( The journey from Taipei Main Station took us about 30 minutes).

The train to Beitou is very unique, colourful!

The decor in Xin Beitou MRT station.

Xin Beitou township is just outside the MRT station. How convenient!

Beitou Hot Spring Museum 北投溫泉博物館

The museum ground.

We were requested to take off our shoes and they provided slippers for us.

We met a group of West Malaysians outside the museum, it was the only time we spoke malay in Beitou.

The plum garden.

The smell of sulphur was very strong.

We walk slowly towards the Thermal Valley. It was a nice morning walk.

There we are, we made it!

A lot of Japanese tourists that day.

No, no one can soak in there!

We went to one of the establishments in Xin Beitou that provided an indoor private hot & cold springs. No it was not free!

They were enjoying themselves.

Beautiful centrepiece.

The hotel's lobby.

The MRT station is just 3 minutes walk from the hotel. A strategic place.

SweetMe Hotspring Resort.

When I emailed the Resort to enquire about their hotsprings facility, they told me that their rate was NT$840 (hotspring only) and NT$1050 (for a hotspring and a coldspring) - this is their weekdays rate i.e. Monday to Friday. For weekend, the rate is slightly higher - NT$1080(hotspring)/NT$1350(hotspring & coldspring). They do not accept reservation for hotspring. You have to go to the reception counter to make the arrangement. Get more information from the resort's website here.

We were hungry after the soak, and we walk listlessly looking for the ramen shop but we could not stomach another walk up the hill so we decided to go to Tamsui and have lunch there.

We headed back to the MRT station and took the train back to Beitou and change train to Tamsui at Beitou MRT station.

Waiting for the train.

At Tamsui MRT Station, the town is just nearby.

Our lunch, we had to be careful with our food, the kids had developed rashes and silly me, I forgot to pack the anti-histamine for them.

We walk along the old street after our lunch. Everywhere is selling Tamsui's special delicacies.

The lemon juice was delicious.

He was very funny. People around were laughing at his antics. But Kay was not amused!

We sat on the bench enjoying the ice cream and the beautiful view.

Licking her ice cream.

Beautiful.

The ferry ticketing counter.

Fisherman's Wharf.

It was cloudy that day.

We decided to make a move as the dark clouds set in. We did not want to be stuck in the rain.

There's the ferry, waiting for passengers.

A pensive looking Joe.

Calm sea?

Not so calm after all....the policemen were busy doing their work, they discovered a floating corpse at the waterfront. If you can see the white linen shroud covering the corpse. It was a female. Wonder what happened to her!

The kids were tired. Did not have enough sleep? Maybe the soak in the hotspring did not do any good?

View from the train.

We made a move at around 3.00 p.m. and reached the hotel about quarter to four. It was a free and easy day, we did not push ourselves, just some nice stroll to the park, lunch and sightseeing and a little shopping. We enjoyed the free sample food along the old street. Tomorrow is our last day for sightseeing, our flight back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia would be on Saturday 23 Nov 2013. Next post will be about Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and our visit to Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum林柳新紀念偶戲博物館.