Beitou-Danshui-Fisherman's Wharf

As we have anticipated the day before to be exhausting, we made reservations at a hot spring resort in Beitou, which is a popular destination for both locals and tourist as it is only 30 minutes by MRT from Taipei, making it the closest hot spring area to Taipei.

We woke up late in the morning as we didn't exactly had much to do. We had reservations at 3:30 p.m which gave us plenty of time to get there. There was several things to look at in Beitou, namely Beitou Hot Spring Museum and Di-Re Valley.

We took the MRT to Beitou and then had to transfer to a spur train to Xin Bei Tou, which to me, was basically the same sort of train. Anyway, we got there about 11, and started walking towards the town.

MRT (R) & Spur Train (L)

We started off with a visit to the museum which as only about 10 minutes by foot. Just before the museum was a beautiful wooden building that caught our eyes. We thought it must be another hot spring resort, or at least a classy restaurant... But no! It was the Beitou's public library.

Library
*I would happily spend ALL my time here!*

The hot spring museum is just opposite the library, looking as different as day and night. Totally different styles of architecture and era.

Beitou Hot Spring Museum

Beitou was originally inhabited by Taiwan aborigines, Ketagalan and was named "Pataauw" which means home of the witches in Ketagalan language. The Ketagalan Museum is actually located just opposite the road from the public library.

I cannot say anything about what's being displayed and explained in the museum as most of them are written in Chinese. My language skills in this department are highly limited, I'm sad to say :(. But I was a little annoyed at their boards - that boldly says "What is XXXXX?" in big fonts, and then everything else in written in chinese. *sigh*

Sigh - see my point?

After taking heaps of photos in the place, and trying to make sense of what I saw, we headed to Di-Re Valley, the geothermal valley of Taiwan which is considered to be one of the country's best scenic wonder. Read all about it, look at photos online, plot my time and walk there - AND IT WAS CLOSED. From 9th of February till September or something. *strike 2* (Strike 1 was Maokong)

Dragged my feet unwillingly towards the hot spring resort at this point. How unlucky can I get!?! *sigh*

We made reservations at Asia Pacific Resort which is recommended by LP which was a long long walk away from the MRT Station. Didn't help that the weather was extremely hot that day. Anyway, enough of the negatives. The resort was quite pretty, with minimalist furniture arrangements, the service great.

Walkway to Asia Pacific Hot Spring

Asia Pacific Hot Spring

We booked a private hot spring room for ourselves as we weren't comfortable sharing with strangers and took up the spa package which was a fantastic idea! The massage was awesome after those long previous days. We managed to bump up our reservations to 1 p.m without any trouble.

Our hot spring private room

By the time we were done, we were so hungry that we decided have lunch there despite the high possibility of an extremely expensive meal but surprise surprise, the price wasn't too bad. We had a plate of fried rice & a mini hot pot meal to share. While the hot pot wasn't that great, the fried rice was something else :). Pretty good for hotel standards.

Lunch

The hot spring offers an hourly free transfer to Beitou MRT Station for it's guest which was marvelous as I so did not want to walk under the hot sun after the pampering session. From there, we took the MRT to Danshui to visit the Old Danshui Street.

*To be honest, there are other pretty resorts in Beitou nearer to the MRT station in comparison to Asia Pacific. But if you're willing to walk or take the free transfer, it is a pretty decent resort :)*

Old Danshui Market

The place was absolutely packed with people that it was pretty impossible to walk in. Thankfully the place was shielded from the sun by the buildings. We wanted to visit one of the temples located nearby, but I couldn't seem to find it. So we decided to just give it a pass instead and spent more time in the market.

Old Danshui Market is filled with arcades, restaurants and food stalls. There is a couple of famous dishes here, namely Ah Qi (aka Arcade) which is beancurd stuffed with crystal noodles, & iron eggs which is brewed in herbs till they become really hard and is black in colour. We tried Ah Qi but not the iron eggs as they seem to be sold in dozens or so.

More grilled stuffs!

Fruits dipped in sugar

Ah Qi

It really is quite nice, the noodles inside is juicy and the sauce is sweet. It actually looks like 'Yong Tau Foo' before it's cooked.

Pre-cooked Ah Qi

Walked along the pier after that to catch a ferry towards Fisherman's Wharf. Fantastic timing as it was just about sunset :D.

Sunset @ Danshui

It is a 15 minute ferry ride from Danshui to Danshui's Fisherman's Wharf, costing about NTD 40 or less. We only saw one ferry company operating with a long queue when we were there, which was Suen Fung Ferry Company. One can use the Easycard to pay for one's fare. We didn't have one which wasn't a problem anyway, as the staff will get you a ticket while you queue :).

Ferry to Fisherman's Wharf

@ Fisherman's Wharf

I thought this was funny :)

Lover's Bridge

Called so because the construction of the bridge started on the 14th of February in 2003. Quite a pretty bridge I have to say. So full of people that we didn't even bother going on it.

We called it a night after that and headed back to Danshui via ferry. There is a bus that goes back to Danshui/Taipei but frankly, we wanted to go on the ferry again :). And from Danshui, the MRT back to the hotel, but not before this :) :

*I am now officially a coffee addict at Starbucks - somehow Coffee Bean doesn't impress me anymore :( *