Playing around Beitou

Howdy y'all! Today I got up late- ugh can't seem to get my body clock back to normal, but I went to Beitou! It's famous for being a hot spring area, and is influenced from Japanese culture from back when they colonized the island. Although it's way too hot for me to want to go to a hot spring I did some sightseeing and soaked my feet in a public spa. First of all here is the super stylish MRT station:

Right across from the station is the old train station. It's been restored obviously but it has the same Japanese architecture from before. I like all the wood!

I trekked over to a nearby park to try the foot soaking hotspring. I was excited because I remembered how good they were when Albert and I went to Guan zi ling (spelling?) and they had different essential oils/ Chinese medicine inside the water. Well... this time wasn't as good but it was interesting! I was probably the only one there under 50 and definitely the only non-Taiwanese. Most people just sat there chatting with their feet in the water and I noticed some people must have stayed there for a really long time because their legs were burnt red. The water was quite warm and I noticed mine turning pink after five minutes. They must think it's good for circulation is my guess. 

Okay you can barely see the line where it's turning pink but I bet if I stayed longer it would have gotten super red! Next I went to a museum about the indigenous peoples here. No pictures because it was a very poor exhibition. If you want to learn about them then go to the museums/park at Sun Moon Lake! That was awesome! So  I continued and went to the library. It's famous because of its super eco friendly design. I quite liked it but the English books selection wasn't as large as the main branch. They had quite a few dvds to loan though!

Then I continued on the same road to the Plum Garden. This is an old Japanese style house with a lot of history. It's famous for being a retreat for a famous calligrapher: Yu You Ren. Again, I can't really appreciate calligraphy too well- it all looks beautiful to me, but I can imagine how peaceful the house would have been to live in. The gardens, not so great.

The next stop for me was Thermal Valley. This is where sulfur water from a nearby dormant volcano (must be Yang Ming Shan?) mixes with other natural water and basically sits steaming in this pond. It's famous for being jade green, and, hey, it wasn't smelly! I could tell it was scalding hot because when the wind blew the steam over to my direction I could feel the heat.

Haha! Look I figured out how to make gifs! I'm going to try more of these later!
Supposedly people used to be allowed to boil eggs in the water but so many got injured that it isn't allowed anymore!

Heehee! Can you tell this one was doctored a little! I figured out how to make it so my face doesn't change (eyes are the normal size now)! But I made it so my skin looks a little smoother. Taiwan weather really doesn't suit my skin at all right now.

Had to get another tree hugging picture!

This sign says: Jesus loves you!

On my way home ... well it was out of my way, but anyways... I tried a cafe that serves 3D lattes. The Who Cafe. This isn't the most famous one but that's in Gaoxiong- at the bottom of the island. There was also a better looking one around where I worked but I didn't feel like going back there today. Anyways! It looks cute but super overpriced for what you can normally get here. I also made a mistake in what I ordered. Note to self: never get 80% Cocoa anything again. Too bitter!