Taiwan Day 8 Part 1: Beitou Hot Springs 新北投溫泉 + Tamsui Old Street 淡水老街 + Fisherman's Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭 + Lovers' Bridge 情人橋

Ok, Day 8 of my Taiwan trip. Almost there! So is seriously taking forever. Thanks to my procrastination. Heh. 

Ok, so day 8. Started our day early (as always) and we headed to Beitou Hot Springs first. 

To get to Beitou just take the MTR towards Danshui direction. It is quite self explanatory from the MTR map, which is one reason why I love Taiwan. :)

Beitou would be an ideal place to spend a relax day at. It is basically a place filled with hot springs, and thus the name 新北投溫泉. So this is the place to come if you're looking for hotspring in Taipei! 

We were there in June, so it is definitely not a month for hotspring. We probably will become cooked chickens. Haha! 

Anyway, I love how direction boards are everywhere to guide you to your destination! We were here for the Thermal Valley!

The Beitou Park, which you'll see a lot of elderly practising Tai-chi. 

Streams that we saw along the way. You could see some hot steam coming up from some! Apparently there are quite a few 'hot spots' at Beitou, which is the reason why there are so many hotspring places here! 

Destination reach. Glad that it was only a short walk from the MTR. 

The famous Thermal Valley, 地熱谷.

The valley is actually a volcanic crater filled with steaming natural sulfuric hot spring water. The temperatures of the water can reach up to 100°C!

Tourist moment. :P

A short stay at the valley because we almost died under the heat. Haha! 

You wouldn't want to go near this. But it was certainly a good showcase of the beauty of mother nature. :)

Just outside Thermal Valley you would notice a number of people happily soaking themselves in the stream. 

This is a free public hot spring! 

Seize this opportunity to enjoy our first hot spring. The smell was quite... unbearable. Haha! 

Another interesting place at Beitou is the Beitou Hot Spring Museum 北投溫泉博物館. 

This museum makes a good place to learn more about Beitou's hot spring culture and history!

Such a beautiful view. :)

Perhaps a short stay at Beitou only before we decided to head to our next destination, Dan Shui 淡水.

Anyway, we concluded that Beitou is a 'once a life time is enough' place to visit. Haha. Unless you're interested in hotsprings of course. ^^

Dan Shui 淡水.

I would highly recommend you to visit Beitou and Dan Shui on the same day as they are just a station or two away. 

Tamsui Old Street 淡水老街.

The place to go when you're at Dan Shui. Can I say I was scared by the human traffic? So crowded!!

You got to try this when you're at Tamsui Old Street 淡水老街. The famous red bean pancake! 

Now we are talking. What's Mr Bean and Jollibean? Look, this is the standard. <3

Oozing. 

You definitely won't miss this stall because it is locately directly at the entrance of Tamsui Old Street 淡水老街. Second, the queue. 

Ah gei, a speciality of Dan shui. 

From what I know, ah gei is a fishermen's food. When they are out in the sea, this is what they would bring along to fuel themselves. Why the weird name? Now I have no idea too. Hmm.. 

Left: Ah Gei 阿給

Right: Temperua 甜不辣

Compared to the ah gei (which I'm not really a fan), I love the Taiwanese version of Tempura! Not the usual deep fried ones from the Japanese, Taiwan's Tempura is more like Yong Tau Foo! So yummy! Love the tempura sauce! 

Ah gei. Basically cellophane noodles enclosed in a beancurd skin. For convenient sake I guess. 

The famous Turkish Ice Cream man! 

Ah Po Tie Dan. The original one is here! 

Ah Ma's sour plum drink. A refreshing drink to have!

Overall Tamsui Old Street 淡水老街 is seriously an awesome place! Packed with a lot of street food from different night markets in Taiwan and it is also a good place to get your souvenirs! Bags are especially cheap here as well. :)

Next stop, Fisherman's Wharf 淡水漁人碼頭. It will require you to take a yacht over. The journey is about 15 min. :) 

The famous Lovers' Bridge 情人橋! 

So meaningful to have him with me at the Lovers' Bridge 情人橋. <3 

All couples have to be here at least once! 

To take a couple shot. Haha!

SO SO SO SO SO BEAUTIFUL! 

<3 

Although the weather wasn't exactly great when we were at Dan Shui (raining quite badly), we had a great time there! It would be a place where I would want to come back again. :)

Coffee time as someone's legs were swearing to break. :P

Tiramisu x Dante's special brew.

This boy said that the tiramisu was the best food he had tried in a while. Clearly someone was sicked of all the food in the night market. Hahaha!  

However I can't deny that the tiramisu at Dante Coffee was really good! This cafe joint is quite famous in Taipei, you can find it almost everywhere like Starbucks in Singapore. :)

Rested our legs before heading to our next destination, Shilin Night Market 士林夜. Coming up in the next post. 

Till then~

• Taiwan Day 1, Part 1: Starry Minsu 清境觀星園景觀山莊 (Cing Jing)
• Taiwan Day 1, Part 2: Green Green Grassland (Cing Jing)
• Taiwan Day 2, Part 1: Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) + Plaza Hotel @ Tai Chung
• Taiwan Day 2 Part 2: Feng Jia Night Market 逢甲夜市 (Taichung)
• Taiwan Day 3: Tai Chung 台中, Xin She 新社 - Lavender Cottage 薰衣草森林 + Summit Resort 古堡花園 + Carton King 纸箱王
• Taiwan Day 4 Part 1: HuaLien - Bayview Hotel + Qi Xing Tan 七星潭
• Taiwan Day 5: HuaLien (Golden Triangle Commerical Circle and Zi Qiang Night Market)
• Taiwan Day 6 Part 1: HuaLien - Taroko Gorge
• Taiwan Day 6 Part 2: Taipei (inhouse hotel 薆悅酒店 + Guide to eating in Ximending 西門町)
• Taiwan Day 7 Part 1: Jiu Fen (九份) and Shi Fen (十份)

Love,

Lirong.