CYCLING IN TAIWAN: Japanese Hot Spring Hunt, Trying Local Food, Beautiful Mountain Temples, and more
hello there from a beautiful spot here in Taipei I guess I'm in Taipei so I came to a place called The Beitou Springs it's just a cluster of maybe 10 or so hot Spring Resorts you know I wanted to come soak in some hot water and you know what one of the biggest things that I miss from my time living in Japan wow probably already gave it away but yeah it's the hot springs man I miss it so much you know you just can't find that anywhere in the states I lived in Indonesia for a long time they don't have really anything like that well they do and I've been to one north of Bandung and it just wasn't quite the same so I came to this beautiful small little place and I'm gonna go test it out it looks like they're doing it right it's beautiful here but like I was saying I just love the Onsen the hot springs there's there's nothing better after a day of hiking a day of working a day of snowboarding you know maybe you've just had a long day of work there's nothing better than soaking in some hot water and I kind of you know I know what you're thinking well excuse me oh we got the Drone yeah nice be the shape of Taiwan you can oh this little Pond right here yeah that's the uh the north part uh-huh yeah beautiful okay I didn't know that I'm a local leader interesting so this little Lily Pond over here is the shape of Taiwan should I get a drone I don't know I'm not getting anything that big that's for sure but like I was saying you know some some of my family and friends back home are probably like well can't you just take a bath in the states or you know can you just take a bath in the tub at home it's not the same it took me going to Japan to actually learn how to take a proper bath and enjoy it you know back home in the states a lot of times I feel like it's just something you have to get it over with you know it's just something that you have to do but in Japan it's more of like an activity that can be shared with friends and you know it's can be somewhat of a bonding experience just soaking in some hot water uh hanging out with friends going from hot tub to hot tub and yeah it's and it's great and a lot of times they're they might be placed in some of the most beautiful areas like surrounded by beautiful nature and Greenery and rocks and whatnot and I don't know just back home in the States you just you're just soaking in a boring ass tub like that is and not only that like I said I came to Japan and I learned how to take a proper bath meaning that you're supposed to shower and clean yourself properly before you get in the water back home in the states I would just get in the tub of hot water all nasty and just soaking my own filth like that is gross but anyways there is a a public Onsen up here I kind of don't want to go to the public one that's Outdoors because I think you just wear a bathing suit and you just you just go in I want to go to like a proper Japanese one uh so we'll see what we can find right here is the uh the the hot spring Museum so what we're gonna do is we're gonna go inside and check that out first and then we're gonna go soak in some water let's do it hello okay please take off shoe okay thank you all right just like a proper Japanese Onsen you're slipping to the slippers see what that AC feels freaking good and this area right here is what I love about onsen's too after you soak in the hot water a lot of times you'll have a room set up like this a huge tatami room and you can do lay out relax maybe stretch uh drink a beer have lunch it's awesome and actually this is kind of a good opportunity to show you what the inside of a bath house looks like because obviously if I go to a real one I can't take the camera in here and show you a bunch of naked people but this is how it works obviously this is a much older setup but still generally the the same concept you would come sit in front of one of these little uh fountains (faucets) here and you would basically just cleanse yourself you sit down you fill the bucket up you clean and you know clean your body and then you would come over to the bat and soak yeah you would sit on a small little stool like that but the ones nowadays they have showers and a little you know like Shelf with a bunch of different soaps and shampoos you know depending on how nice of a place you go to but I also read in there that this place opened in 1896. one year after Japan colonized Taiwan so they didn't waste any time they got over here and they're like oh hot sulfuric water let's make an onsen took them one year crazy all right so right over here is the public hot spring here and as you can see everyone is wearing swimsuits that's not what I want to do I want to go find a proper Japanese style Onsen and get naked and take a proper shower and bath and so the first place I went to the Atami hotel they don't have a public bath they just had uh private bath private onsense private baths inside the room and so I'm gonna go to a few other places I mean there's hotels looks like lined all the way down this road surely one of them has a public-style bath house that I could use all right and this might be what I'm looking for this looks promising it kind of looks like some of the bath houses in Japan some of them are free like they'll just they're just on the side of the road there's a looks like a small house it'll be split up obviously men and women and you go in there there's a small small room you put your stuff in you you take a quick bath nothing fancy yeah I think this is what I need right here this is what I need that was pretty nice I enjoyed that the water was freaking hot that's for sure it was like 42 degrees 43 was the coldest bath 40 43 degrees Celsius and uh the other one was like 46. super hot all right so from here uh I need to get some lunch feed the belly and then we're gonna just head north there's a pretty cool looking Temple that I want to go check out and so no real plans really just gonna get on the bike and go later on find some place to Camp so that is the plan yeah the only thing that would make that last place better is if it had a nice cold bath that's another thing that makes the the bath experience really nice is if after soaking in that really really hot water you can jump in not necessarily an ice bath but just cold cold water and then kind of cool your body down and balance it out feels so good but anyway let's go jump on the bike probably head to the convenience store and get some money some drinks get some lunch t-bongo thank you atami hotel for letting me park my bike here [Music] all right before we get too carried away now start cycling and getting in the flow I should probably get some food it looks to be three local shops right here sure I could find something maybe are they open it is 1 45 maybe I I missed them hey shiba-ken hello whatever this guy is eating that's what I want they look pretty good pork chop oh yeah I think I found a good one choose three yes um some cabbage and I don't know what's good you choose for me okay thank you we got some chicken over here too I found myself another hole in the wall [Music] all right so this cost 100 which is about 3.20 cents not bad it comes with some delicious tea look at that uh-huh that's what I'm talking about the pork chop and then it comes with the traditional braised pork topping that you see all over Taiwan mm-hmm nice and hot it's pretty heavy too got some cabbage over here I don't know what this is looks like cabbage maybe a different kind of different kind of pickled cabbage Maybe [Music] it's gonna be good here's where the hard part begins that's where we're headed up in those mountains right there oh yep I am pushing already oh cool you can see Taipei in the distance ah yeah I don't know if you could tell on camera but it's pretty steep I promise or maybe I'm just really out of shape for this I'll get there I was afraid this was gonna happen the road it's blocked off and actually I think it's telling me to go this way up them stairs that ain't happening oh man okay so I guess the only only option is to go back down man okay well let's go check out this up here see why all these people are walking up here in the first place [Music] all right we have the Soil and Water conservation education Park just looks like a nice beautiful pond beautiful Park up here we got some fishies a turtle I ain't got no food not where I intended to go though all right I think we got to go way back down to the city and take the long route all the way around all right so we're gonna take a route that is twice as long but it's the only option I think and should be way less steep oh until we get to the end though still got to go up in the mountains but it is a a light steady climb as opposed to just straight up like the last one was oh um legs are burning what you looking back for girl? we are back to pushing back to riding back to riding not for long okay it's crazy just the the slightest increase in Incline makes it so much more difficult oh man gotta get these legs in shape we pushing we pushing you gotta run her down here too maybe he'll help me push there we go we're running we running go go go ah I don't know if I want to run though I'm going to a temple temple yeah very close it's close yeah a little Temple I'm going to uh oh let me show you Fuji oh what would you tell me yeah you can see uh flower uh Kawasaki okay okay all right okay let's do this let's do this okay thank you good luck good luck [ __ ] another dead end are you serious see that it says oh go up there to the right and then yeah what the hell hot sweaty and nasty I made it through this big ass Temple let's go up this way I just picked a a spot on Google Maps today I was looking at different attractions different places uh the mountain is right behind this Temple I forgot what the name is but I kind of want to make one big loop around the mountain I was just looking at different things and this Temple came up and uh it looked pretty dang cool looking I'm gonna go check it out back there I think I gotta go the other side oh I'm nasty yeah that's pretty dang impressive see if we can go in watch your step I wonder if you can go up all the way do I want to do that I've been riding all day hello can you go up yeah we're here might as well I guess this is the second floor okay let's keep going up what am I doing to myself third floor it's just like the other two and of course more stairs and uh We've made it to the fourth floor a lot of flags and more stairs are you kidding me okay we got all right this better be the last floor I see the Dome we've made it you hear that Echo now the whole reason we went up them stairs to see this View and uh we are about an hour probably an hour and a half too early too bright oh damn sure there's a you can see a beautiful sunset up here I'm sure okay from here I need to find a place to post up for tonight before it gets too dark I just need to find somewhere where I can uh pitch the tent maybe somewhere back in here go down if you go down to 7-Eleven I need to get some insect repellent and then maybe some food maybe some more water and then I call it a date Google has me going off-road again if anyone knows what this place would be let me know maybe I can camp here ah nope [Applause] foreign spot for tonight kind of tucked away uh off the the main road even the main road is kind of kind of like a side road anyway so looks like there's just this old abandoned building right here looks like maybe uh there's some Farms over here so maybe there's just some private land maybe a farmer uses this I don't know but I thought about maybe setting up the tent underneath this covering right here but it's kind of it's not exactly flat right there and I don't expect it to rain I guess I should check the weather forecast but here's kind of a plus too I uh looks like I can come over here and take a bat hell yeah okay I think this is gonna work let's at least go wash the face cool off a little bit one thing's for sure you can't stay still for long because the mosquitoes are terrible I'm already eaten up man hope this water's clean that's what I'm talking about what a day what a day not bad just in time too just in time the sun's about to go down once I get in that tent am I just gonna lay lay down and pass out from what I understand the sun comes up pretty dang early here so maybe four five o'clock it four or five a.m I'll be up and out of here so that's gonna do it today thanks for joining me guys and uh I'll see you when I wake up and I'll start a new video until then guys peace [Music]
2023-06-08 04:17
