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.
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| The iconic bridge near Zhiben Hot Springs |
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| For the safety of passersby, a natural hot spring had been marked with a rubber tire. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| schedule of Bus 8129 |
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| Bus 8129 |
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| 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.
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| 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!). |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The hot spring cauldron of a local convenience store near Zhiben Hot Springs |
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| a tiny bag of quail eggs worth NTD 100 |
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| Visitors can also boil other kinds of foold like this rootcrop. |
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| eggs |
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| corn and the quail eggs |
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| Since the small bag of quail eggs was expensive, we bought four ordinary eggs worth NTD 10 each. |
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| We placed our eggs in the cauldron for it to get cooked. |
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| After 20 minutes, the boiled eggs were transferred to a basin containing cold water. |
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| 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.
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| Taitung Station |
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| inside the Puyuma express train |
PLACES TO VISIT IN TAITUNG (台東) - EAST RIFT VALLEY (花東縱谷)
Sakura Series - Taiwan
2024 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 Sansei Trail
Sakura Series - Taiwan
Nei Cuo Stream
Orange Garden Cafe
Sansei 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
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| 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
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
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