Zhiben Hot Springs: Day 6, 7, 8

In my last update I was sitting in a friendly cafe in Taitung, now I am at the end of my stay at the hot springs resort Hotel Royal Chihpen and I am very sad to be leaving this afternoon. I will be taking a bus from the hotel to Taitung station, and then a train back to Taipei for my last few days in Taiwan.

Surprisingly delicious

My last morning in Taitung I went back to Dante's for breakfast, hoping to try the waffles. They didn't have any waffles though, so my next plan was to just order the weirdest thing I could find on the menu. This ended up being a lychee flavoured latte and a ham and egg sandwich, with peanut butter. The latte was OK, but please Melbourne, it doesn't need to be a thing! The sandwich, much to my surprise, was delicious! Not exactly a combination I would have thought to put together, but, it actually really hit the spot!

I had a fair bit of time before I would be able to check in at the resort, so I left my suitcase at the hotel and went in search of the nearby bus station. Which was completely empty. Confused, I went back to my hotel to see if they knew anything. The receptionist only spoke a little bit of English, but with the help of Google Translate we were able to sort things out! Turns out the bus station near the hotel wasn't operating and I needed to go to the old train station. This was also only a short walk away, so I headed over to figure out tickets and wander around. It was incredibly hot and I was very happy to find a refreshing apple iced tea drink.

The bus dropped me down there

Taking the bus seemed like it would be easy. It was only $65 (less than $3 AUD) to get from Taitung to the Zhiben hot springs. For some reason I thought all the hotels would be near each other and the bus would just drop me off in a big parking lot and I'd have a short walk to my hotel. Not quite. The first problem was the bus driver had no idea where I was going, and I had no idea he had no idea (I realise how dumb that sounds). So I'd gotten on the bus and caused quite a bit of confusion. During the trip some young girls came up to me with their tablet and again Google Translate sorted us out!

The bus climbed up the mountain road, gradually letting everyone else off. Then, suddenly, the driver pulled over in what seemed like the middle of nowhere and told me I had to walk the rest of the way up some narrow side street that seemed to have no end. With my suitcase in tow. I feel like there's a very classic movie scene where some white lady is dropped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with her bags and has to sort it out and that was me. It ended up not being that big of a walk, but, I didn't know that when I started! It was up a very steep hill, with my suitcase, in the afternoon heat, with my dodgy hip... I was a sweating, dying mess by the time I reached the hotel!!

My room <3 td="">

When I got to my room though, it was totally worth it! It's absolutely beautiful here and I do not want to leave. I'm told it's normally much more beautiful here but many of the trees on the mountainside were knocked over during the typhoon. I'd thought about staying for 3 nights, but, that would have meant a shorter overall trip to Taiwan and I'm glad that I've had the time here to explore. I would definitely come back, to Taiwan and to this hotel. There's so much to see!

So after I had collapsed onto the bed in a heap and recovered from my trek up the mountain I got settled into my room and had a much needed shower. The reason I chose this hotel over the others in this area is because it has private hot springs baths in the rooms. The shower water is also from the hot springs, and as soon as I got in the shower I knew I needed to get in that bath!

Worth the money!

There are quite a few hot springs facilities at this hotel, but being able to just relax into my own private bath in my room was a very nice treat. I had a bath when I first got here, and another one before bed last night.

My booking came with breakfast and dinner buffets (thank god! resort food is so expensive and there's no other options at hand) and after my bath I headed down for dinner. The buffet was excellent, with a variety of Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese, and Western options. Apparently the rice here is some of the best rice in the world!

The server who took me to my table was a young woman with a funky undercut who I quickly found myself befriending. She complimented me on my hair and I showed her my undercut and we chatted about what I was doing in Taiwan and where I'd come from. I'm quite happy travelling on my own and keeping to myself, but it is nice to meet people and form bonds, even if just short lived. It's made going to dinner nice, knowing I'll get to have a little chat with her.

In the evenings there is an aboriginal cultural program. I got a bit confused the first night because it was meant to be outside, but had been moved inside due to rain (it wasn't raining). I had brought my camera but didn't end up taking any pictures because I wasn't in a position to get a good spot and just wanted to rest as my hip was quite sore. Thinking it was the same performance every night, I figured I'd skip last nights and go check out the open air hot springs. Well, those hot springs were closed for some reason, and the performance was outside, and it was different from the previous nights. I stayed and watched it for a little while, but opted to go back to my room because I was actually finally getting some work down on my article.

My private balcony

I spent pretty much the whole day yesterday in my room, writing. Having this view to look out on while I worked was pretty special and I'm really glad I'd planned to do this! I did venture out in the afternoon, planning to go have a walk in the nearby forest while housekeeping made up my room. Of course, getting to the forest park would involve a rather substantial walk through the mountains, and had I bothered I would have found the park closed because of the damage from the typhoon, so, that was a bust. There is a temple next to the hotel and I wandered over there for a bit. It was so hot outside though that I soon made my way back to the hotel and pottered around until I figured I could go back to my room.

The hotel grounds are quite beautiful and there are lots of activities for people to do, but especially for kids. There's all sorts of climbing gyms and pools and sand pits and putting greens and archery ranges. There's also lots of ponds and some enclosures that I think would normally have more wildlife... At the moment there's 3 geese, a black swan, and a few ducks.

Giant creeps!

One thing that is quite spectacular here is the butterflies. I think they are quite rare, and they are everywhere! And they are HUGE! The ones in the picture are about mid range for the ones I've seen here (turns out butterflies are not easy to photograph - I spent a good chunk of my afternoon yesterday playing "ok, just hold still for a moment, no, don't touch me!") Butterflies, beautiful though they are, creep me out. They're like pretty moths, and moths are pretty much the worst thing ever, so, there was a lot of flinching and jumping in the process of getting these pictures. I was, however, quite relieved to discover that some of the (smaller) butterflies were actually hummingbirds. I feel pretty fortunate to have encountered some of them.

Since I'd missed out on the open air spa last night, I figured I'd get up really early and go to it first thing in the morning, before the heat of the day set in. Unfortunately, it was still shut and wasn't going to be opening. But, the indoor spa facilities were open early and I could go there. For some reason I'd gotten confused and thought that the indoor spa you had to pay extra for. There is a spa you can pay extra for, but, there's also one that is freely available to guests. So I went there, feeling quite silly that I'd not gone the day before as well!

Like the baths in Japan and South Korea, it's a naked bath. There is a men's side and a women's side, and you go in, undress, shower, and enjoy the different types of baths. It was pretty quite at 7am. An older woman was heading in and she explained the shower and baths to me (I've used similar ones before, but years ago now). I started in the 38 degree pool, which was like floating on a cloud. Then I went into the 28 degree jacuzzi which was pleasantly cool. At this stage a younger woman came in and was excited to meet a foreigner so we struck up a conversation and tried out the different baths together. We went back and forth from the 48 degree bath to the 18 degree bath. The cold bath ended up being my favourite. It was quite a shock to get into at first, but then when you adjust to it it's very refreshing! I spent about an hour in the spas, going around to the different baths and chatting with my young new friend.

Beatrix and I

Beatrix told me about how she had just sat her entrance exams for uni and was travelling around Taiwan with her dad as they did every summer, but also visiting different universities. I told her that I teach at a university. She told me about her love of Japanese culture and the Australian Open. We decided to meet up at the restaurant and have breakfast together, which was a really lovely change from eating on my own. I joined her and her dad and they told me stories about how Google Maps had shown them a different part of the country, and talked about the freedom driving around provided (as opposed to taking trains and buses like I am). Her dad was quite funny and I'm really glad I got to join them for breakfast. That's how I know this hotel has the best rice, and also pork buns (which I've also been enjoying), and that the scenery has changed drastically because of the typhoon. It was great to hear their different stories and get advise on things to do and see in Taipei, along with hearing about the places I was missing out on in other parts of Taiwan. Obviously I'll need to come back! I also apparently need to hunt down some sort of pineapple cake dish, which Beatrix has written down in Mandarin for me on a toothpick packet. So there's an adventure waiting for me when I get back to Taipei tonight!

Sadly it's time for me to pack up my room and head out. I've gotten a late checkout, so have another hour in this glorious room. Then I'm catching the hotel shuttle in 2 hours from now. I'll spend an hour lounging around in the lobby reading a book, I suppose. I'm tempted to go back into the spa! This has definitely been a worthwhile treat for myself and I hope it's not the last that I see of the Royal Chihpen Hotel!