Taitung (台東) - Zhiben Hot Spring (知本溫泉) [Travel in Taiwan 170707: A Midsummer Night's Dream Part 6]

Eggs, corn and a root crop. If these foods were in front of you, which one would you choose to boil in hot spring water? I've been to the towns of Beitou in Taipei and Jiaoxi in Yilan but it was only here in Zhiben Township in Taitung that I have experienced this kind of activity. At almost 100 °C, an egg can be easily boiled within fifteen minutes. No special equipment is needed, no gas stove, only hot spring water coming from beneath the Earth.

The iconic bridge near Zhiben Hot Springs

For the safety of passersby, a natural hot spring had been marked with a rubber tire.

hot spring hotels in Zhiben

Zhiben had been blessed with this natural resource. As a result, hotels had sprouted. They were constructed as tall as the mountains surrounding the town. In winter, the place is flourishing with tourists. But during summer, Zhiben turns into a ghost town. Thus the so-called blessing is also a curse for the people who live here.

It was sunny to cloudy during our visit in the town.

I must admit that going here during summer was a weird decision. The weather was tricky though in Taitung City. It was raining there that morning so I guessed that the weather in Zhiben must also be the same. 

schedule of Bus 8129

Bus 8129

An expensive-looking hot spring hotel

Bus 8129 was the only public transportation option going to Zhiben. From Taitung Bus Station, my girlfriend and I boarded this bus and after 42 minutes we finally reached this quiet town. Getting off the vehicle from Zhiben Hot Springs stop was even weirder. There were hotels all around and they looked so expensive. We asked ourselves on where to find the famous “Zhiben Hot Springs” but it was nowhere to be found.

Since the town was like a ghost town, we were able to enter an "abandoned" hot spring hotel.  At the grounds of the resort, we found this rectangular hot spring container (or whatever you can call it!).

Visitors will have to place their belongings/clothes on these trays.

A public bath! That's actually what we’re looking for. Imagine an open-air Japanese style onsen with pools of hot spring water in varying temperatures. We would dip our feet there starting from the lowest possible temperature and then transferring to a higher one.

Zhiben Hot Springs

Zhiben Hot Springs. It turns that it was just a series of tiny rooms with its own bathtub. The facility looks clean so we gave it a try. It wasn't different at all with the private hot spring resort hotels. There were two faucets for each bathtub. One is for the hot spring water and the other for cold water. I remember my trip in Wulai in Taiwan Day 519 as I dipped my entire body into the water. According to one of my Travel Buddies who joined that trip, soaking one’s body in hot springs is good for blood circulation.

The hot spring cauldron of a local convenience store near Zhiben Hot Springs 

a tiny bag of quail eggs worth NTD 100

Visitors can also boil other kinds of foold like this rootcrop.

eggs

corn and the quail eggs

Since the small bag of quail eggs was expensive, we bought four ordinary eggs worth NTD 10 each.

We placed our eggs in the cauldron for it to get cooked.

After 20 minutes, the boiled eggs were transferred to a basin containing cold water.

Our snacks!

I felt very lucky to have a girlfriend who can speak Chinese. “Chin chan su ...”. She talked to the lady who owns a local convenient store and we were offered to have a tiny bag of quail eggs boiled in hot spring water for NTD 100. The eggs looked so tasty but a bit expensive so we just bought four ordinary ones which cost NTD 10 each. It took a total time of 20 minutes for it to get cooked. A little amount of salt and the boiled eggs became our snacks before we return to Taipei.

Taitung Station

inside the Puyuma express train

Visiting Taitung was the highlight of this east coast trip. But wait there's more! New Taipei City's Gongliao District had been waiting for our arrival since the start of the sand sculpture festival at Fulong Beach. The festival is on its 10th year and I have high expectations for this year's event. (To be continued...)

PLACES TO VISIT IN TAITUNG (台東) - EAST RIFT VALLEY (花東縱谷)

Sakura Series - Taiwan

2026 Forecast

Taipei 101 first flowers

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Taipei Flower Test Center

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Broadwood Park

Sunshine Sports Park kawazu sakura

Wuling Farm (武陵農場)

SYS kawazu sakura

Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

CKS Memorial Hall

Shibafen Yoshino Sakura

Hope River

Dongfang Temple

Tianyuan Palace

Neicou Stream Trail

Orange Garden Cafe

Yangming Park Visitor Information Center

Yangming Park Service Center Bus Stop

Huashan Road

Qianshan Park

Zhongshan Hall Entrance

Tenglong Sakura Farm

Flower Test Center Shōwa Sakura

Neihu Creek Trail

Shulin Land Office

Xióng Kōng Cherry Blossom Forest

Lung Yen Sakura Forest

Yangming Park cherry stream

Yangming Park fountain

CKS Memorial Hall Tairyō sakura

Wugu District Tianyi Road

CKS Memorial Hall yaesakura

Loving Farm

Yong Long Farm

Zhongbaling Sakura Road

Sun Link Sea

Tai'an Police Station

Cherry Hill Slope

Hsinchu Park

Taipei 101

Kāng Gào Kēng Creek

New Garden City

Broadwood Park

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Alishan Ranger Station

Alishan House

Alishan Police Station

Alishan Forest Railway

Alishan Station

Alishan Entrance

Alishan Gou Hotel

Alishan Magnolia Garden

Wulai tour

Wun Chang Elementary School

Bishanyan

Sanzhi Sansheng Trail

Sakura Series - Taiwan

Nei Cuo Stream

Orange Garden Cafe

Sansheng Trail

Tenglong Sakura Farm

Yangming Park Cherry Stream

Yangming Park Fountain

Flower Test Center

Broadwood Park

New Garden City

Yinghua Park

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Yangmingshan Visitor Center

Taipei 101

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Sakura Series - Japan

Kamonyama Park

Near the Nippon Maru Memorial Park

Shinko Park

Minato-mirai 21 area

Tokyo Tech Suzukakedai Campus

Onda River

Tenryuji

Byodoin

Kiyomizudera

Himuro shrine and Yakushi-ji Temple

Hōryū-ji Temple

Nara Park attractions

Tokyo Tech Ookayama Campus

Sumida River

Tsuruma Park

Gion

Maple Series

Taipei Aowanda

Shimen Dam

Alishan

Aowanda

Shanlinxi

Taoyuan Valley Garden

Fushoushan Farm

Yehliu to Jiufen? Yehliu to Shifen? Cheaper than yellow taxis

The "Taipei kong mahal" (My beloved Taipei)

Always in my heart

MRT birdman

Valentine's Day

Tulips Festival

2018 Taipei Lantern Festival

City of Azaleas

Linji Huguo Temple

Nanjichang Night Market

Gudetama Chef restaurant

Dalongdong Bao'an Temple

Shilin hollyhocks

Ningxia Night Market

Ximending graffiti

Discovery Center of Taipei

Chunghwa Postal Museum

Double-Decker Bus

Shilin Cold Balls

Jingimoo

GomanMango

mud volcanic ice

Fire and Ice Dumpling

Opium Fen-Yuan

Ichiran Ramen

Liu Shandong Beef Noodles

hydrangea flowers

National Palace Museum

Other attractions in Taipei

Taipei on a budget

Japanese buildings

Dāoxiāomiàn beef noodles

Presidential Office Building

Yongkang St. and Elephant Mountain

CKS and SYS Hall

City tour

Beitou ramen

MRT Monopoly Game

Winter city tour

Zhicheng Park

Shilin Plum Blossom

Art museums

Shopping in Taipei

Summer desserts

Qingtiangang

Qixingshan hiking

2015 Calla lily

2016 Calla lily

Beitou tour

Beitou-Zhuzihu tour

NTU

Confucius Temple

2015 Dadaocheng Festival

Puppet Museum

Fantasy Ice World

2016 Bread Show

Strawberry picking

2015 Rose Garden

Modern Toilet

Shilin Night Market

NASA Exhibit

Raohe Night Market

Longshan Temple

2013 Taipei Zoo

Maokong Gondola

Lupin flowers

Taipei 101 day visit

Taipei 101 night visit

Tiger Mountain

Din Tai Fung

Taipei Story House

2014 Flower Show

Chrysanthemum Show

Miramar Ferris wheel

Miniatures Museum

Archery

1600 Pandas

Wulaoguo hot pot

Upside Down House

2016 101 Fireworks

New Taipei

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival

Elephant Rock SUP/kayaking

Meteor Garden school

Tamsui Pumpkin Tunnel

Shifen Waterfall

2017 Sand Sculpture

Dragon Caves

New Taipei tour

2016 Kite Festival

Pingxi Crags

Bitou Cape

2016 Sand Sculpture

2015 Christmasland

Juming - Jinshan

Houtong - Pingxi

Sandiaoling Waterfall

Jiufen foodtrip

Guanyinshan hike

Yehliu Ocean World

2014 Kite Festival

Pingxi Rail tour

Jinguashi tour

Vigor Kobo Pineapple

British Consulate

Yehliu Geopark

2014 Sand Sculpture

Paragliding

2014 Christmasland

2014 Pingxi Lantern

firefly watching

Yingge Ceramics Street

Jiufen tour