CYCLING IN TAIWAN: Japanese Hot Spring Hunt, Trying Local Food, Beautiful Mountain Temples, and more

CYCLING IN TAIWAN: Japanese Hot Spring Hunt, Trying Local Food, Beautiful Mountain Temples, and more

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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

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