Day Tripper

Have a day or two to spare and need a change of scene? There are some great day/overnight trips and you don’t have to go far or even have a car.


Day Trips (that I have done):
1. The beach. There is Golden Beach, Tainan beach, the beach over Yuguang bridge.
2. Guanziling hot Springs- If you don’t have wheels, a bus from Tainan train station takes about 45 minutes one way. Just ask the info booth in the train station.
3. Tiger Head Lake- Been there once and am going back this April 4th holiday. It’s a ten minute drive from Tainan city and nice for a BBQ and bike ride.
4. Cijin Island, Kaohsiung- Also bike riding and fresh seafood. The beach is nice too, clean sand and showers. From the train station take a taxi to the ferry. You can rent bikes there.
5. Chaishan Nature reserve, Kaohsiung: Or as my daughter likes to call it, “Monkey Mountain.” Nice for asweaty hike. The macaques are unpredictable, beware.
6. Hsitzuwan Beach, Kaohsiung. Beautiful at sunset, mountain backdrop, very clean, on the campus of SunYat Sen University campus.
7. Xiao Liuqiu island- Definitely worth spending the night. The campground is amazing and nearby are some cheap cottages on a green field overlooking the sea. A truly magical little coral island, hard to believe someplace so close to Kaohsiung is so clean. Snorkling, beaches, scooter freedom. Take a train south to Kaohsiung-Pingdong.  Then take a bus to Dongang (40 minutes, every 20 minutes), last stop is the ferry treminal. The first terminal leaves every hour in the morning, takes about 30 minutes one way. My friend got seasick, so if youre a landlover, buy meds in advance.
8. The Reservoirs (Wushantou, Tsengwen, Baihe)- Everytime I went was in a car, don’t know about buses going there. Nice for a BBQ. I camped at one of these and don’t recommend it (late night KTV by the campers next to me.)
9. Various coffee farms in Northern Tainan Co. Definitely need a car and if youre not a total coffee buff, then I’d skip this. The coffee shops selling the stuff are totally overpriced.


Day Trips I haven’t done yet (and let’s be honest, I will probably never will, see final list):


1. Biking around Lotus Pond (Lianchi Tan), Kaohsiung
2. Taiwan Salt Museum
3. Black Faced Spoonbill reserve

Weekend/One nighter trips: With high speed trains, you could easily spend a weekend near and around any city. These are just some of the one closest to Tainan.
1. Lukang
2. Alishan
3. Sun Moon Lake
4. Rueli
5. Kenting


3 Day weekend: In the lucky event you have 3 or 4 days to roam, then I’d highly recommend the following;

1. Penghu Archipelago (the Pescadores). Also known as the Hawaii of Taiwan, need I say more?
2. Green Island
3. Biking Guanshan+ 60 Stone Mt
4. Taipei (So much to see and do in the city and around).

Taiwan is an excellent base to explore Asia. There are always deals on Air Asia and Tiger Air to major cities like KL, HK and BKK and from there you can go to just about anywhere. Flights to Manila and Seoul are fairly cheap. 
5. Hong Kong

6. Tokyo
7. KL
8. Singapore
9.  Seoul- Haven’t actually made a trip there from Tainan, but l worked there before and always recommend it for a few days if you have the time, so much to see and do and possible for a long weekend.


Yes I have been in Tainan for almost 4 years and there are tons of iconic places I still haven’t gone and plan to before I say my final farewell. Trips happen when their meant to happen, right? So I’m hoping I will go to all of these places within this year and create some new memories and adventures, even if I don’t have a 3 day weekend. (Yet, I have been to Nantou so many times, I’ve lost track. Weekend trips, day trips, I just keep on returning to different places in Nantou, must be my affinity for altitude and my Rocky Mountain heritage.)


Here is my list of places I haven’t gone but really want to:
1. Hsinchu- I want to see my dear friend Grace up there since she moved from Tainan and she wants to show me around.
2. Lanyu Island/ Pongso No Tao
3. Matsu Island
4. Camp at Liyu Lake
5. South Cross Highway- I have had this road trip fantasy about the South Cross highway since the day I first started reading up on Tainan. It just seems like a road trippers dream to stop here and there and explore all the hot springs along the way. My scooter wouldn’t make the trip and it just hasn’t worked out with friends w/cars.
6. Finish East Rift Valley, Highway 9
7. Biking the East coast
8. Hike Jade Mt.
9. Hualien and Taroko
10. Biking Ershui, Jiji Rail line


I know what you’re thinking, its sad and shocking that I still haven’t seen Taiwan’s number one natural wonder, the Taroko Gorge. Its definitely high on my list, there were a few 3 day weekends years past when I was making plans and all accommodations were just booked way in advance. There is also no easy way to get there from Tainan, highspeed train to Taipei and then another train to Hualien, or fly there I guess, but I definitely need to go. I guess I’d like time to explore Huelien and also camp in the park.


 For one little island, Taiwan is jam packed with plenty of options worthy of exploration. Mountains and sea, islands and hot springs galore, good things do come in small packages.

Weekend Fellowship: Sunday at Guanzihling Hot Springs

The day after I met up with Eric in Yuanlin I went to enjoy some hot springs in Tainan County with Grace and family. I have been to hot springs in Taiwan in Beitou and Yangmingshan in Taipei City which are Sulfuric, Jhiben in Taitung County, and Dungpu and Lushan in Nantou County. There are so many hot springs on my list!


It was about a 2 hour drive there from our place in Anping (maybe less, but with Z and Grace's 2 sons playing and yelling in the back next to me it felt longer.) Before we took a dip we walked around an old temple built during the Japanese Colonial period, walked down numerous stairs into a valley on the side of a small hill that had a large Matsu statue surrounded by lotus and we walked the grounds before checking out the temple and outdoor eatery stalls near the water/fire display. The bee man selling honey (real honey as so much if it sold here is fake, or a mix) gave us bottles of free honey water for us and the kids (Grace is a beauty).

At the temple entrance a poem that can be read up/down, or right to left

We went to Grace's favorite bath house to soak, its not the best looking place, there are some new, snazzy hotels with hot springs water pumped into your bathroom tub that are lining the main road. She took me to the original Japanese established bathhouse, which looks its age. The water was fabulous, the smell was not the strong sulfuric, hard boiled egg smell I imagined. It smelled strangely of Chinese medicine. The water was a muddy gray and Z and I had our own huge bath room to ourselves.  After about an hour we were getting restless, I could of easily dozed off. I went in intervals from a soak where I was sweating to a cooling off/rest and found a game Z could play with the differnt shapes/sizes of water buckets. The only nuisance was my door didnt lock properly and when it did lock the owner had to unlock it for us to get out.

Japanese era bath house

After we  put our clothes on, I literally felt things moving around in my gut, there was alot of activity happening. Not like gas or cramps, but something was changing inside, I never felt that after a hot springs before. The  medicinal properties are said to "treat skin disease, neuralgia, and gastrointestinal disorders, " due to the high levels of alkaline and iodine. I imagined the ph balance was changing in my organs or something, there was some kind of chemical reaction going on. I'm sure the iodine was great for my thyroid.

Grace with the kids walking around town beside the mineral waters

Grace and her husband treated us to lunch which consisted of a nutritious Chicken garlic soup (free range), mountain veggies, fresh craw fish and fried noodles. Before we drove back to Tainan we stopped at Baihe Reservoir to take a walk, there were lovely views of the water being framed by misty mountains.

Baihe Reservoir

More than one website said, " With the exception of the Sicilian hot springs and the Japanese Kagoshima hot springs , the Taiwanese Guanzihling hot springs are the only other hot springs of this kind." For a detailed listing of hot springs click here: Hot Springs Listing . For more details click: Hot Springs in Taiwan .

Fire and Water

References:
http://www.go2taiwan.net/product.php?pid_for_show=24
http://www.saunas.com/FAQ%27s/Saunas%20of%20the%20World/taiwanhotspring.aspx