Ahhhh the Taipei hot-springs. Actually, there are no hot-springs in Taipei. You need to go a little ways out of the city to find these. Beitou is in the north, and to get to it all you have to do is take red MRT just like you're going to Danshui, but you need to switch to the pink line when you reach Beitou. The pink line will take you to Xin Beitou, which is where the hot-springs really are.
Once you exit the MRT there are very easy signs to follow to get to where you are going.
Just outside the MRT there are very easy signs to follow. You don't even need a guide book... you just gotta be a little intrepid.
Ok, so to get to the public hot-spring, all we need to do is walk through the middle of that big green park there to the East of the MRT and we will reach it. Just keep a look out for the plentiful signs to guide you.
Very easy maps to follow. Be careful, though, some of the MRT maps don't orient North towards the top of the map. This one does. For example, see below.
Hmmm... Never, eat, soggy... hey wait a minute!!!
Cool staircase. It leads up to a public library with huge windows set amidst the lush greenery.
Lots of lush foliage in the park we are walking through. Another tip to reach the public hot-spring is to simply follow the little river. It's a hot-spring river and will lead you right by the public bath.
A cool place to sit and have some tea.
View of the hot-spring museum through the foliage.
Some kids playing on the rocks. I must admit I warn't much interested in museums at that age either.
Museum has nice architecture.
A court-yard of the museum.
One of the museum's back doors.
More easy signs. These are all over the place. Just have a little faith that another sign is just around the corner.
When you see this staircase and the white wall, you know you have reached the public bath. Don't go down the staircase. The entrance to the bath is on the left.
Don't try to sneak a pic over the top of the wall.
Front door of the public bath.
Rates for the public bath.
Obviously, we couldn't take pictures inside the bath, but it is really cool. You'll just have to see it for yourself.
After the bath, you can head over to the Plum Garden Residence. Some famous guy lived here a long time ago, but I don't know who he was except that he was a master at calligraphy. The residence has traditional architecture. This place is just after the public bath.
The landscaping is very beautiful.
Inside the front of entrance of the Plum Garden Residence.
After the Plum Residence you can take a stroll through this forest walk. It's pretty cool and it's not too far out of the way to where we are headed.
Here you begin to see the hot-spring river flowing out of the Thermal Valley attraction.
Hints of the river through the trees.
Awesome old tree looms over everyone in the river.
Everybody just hanging out in the water.
Ancient steps lead to the water.
Damn, my feet are white!
You can see I am very satisfied.
After the river you can check out some of the private hotels. They have hot-spring baths, too, but they are way more expensive. The "public" bath is open for a fee of about $400 per person, but it doesn't include a room. You can get a room for about $800 per person for 90 minutes and it includes hot-springs bath and bed. The baths here look really nice, so we'll probably head back for the hotels some time.
Hot-spring hotel from outside.
A cat sleeping in front of one of the hotels.
This is what I really want to see: the Thermal Valley attraction.
This was a cool little pottery shop outside the entrance to the Thermal Valley.
Walk down this way into the trees to get to the Thermal Valley.
Almost there!
Naturally, when I got there, it was closed. Tomorrow is a national holiday, so they closed early.
Oh, well. I'll have to see the Thermal Valley next time.
Even after the Thermal Valley, theres a lot to see.
Very popular restaurant in the hot-springs area.
I found a crazy-looking church right in the middle of everything.
All around the hot-springs area you can find these really cool stairways leading up the mountains to people's houses. See videos below!
Okay, I took too many videos. But I just couldn't stop going up the mountain!
Beitou from the top of one of the staircases.
And now, back down!
Xin Beitou is even more beautiful by night!
Hot-springs hotel at night.
Most places near the city have pedestrian walkways, but some areas are old or the buildings are in too close, so you just gotta walk on the street! I've never seen someone get hurt and people don't drive too fast anyway, fortunately.
The walkway by the hot-springs river by night.
The Xin Beitou MRT exit from outside. Headed back home.
Well, we missed the Thermal Valley, but there just is too much to do in one day in Beitou. Definitely deserves multiple weekend trips back just to soak in the thermal waters!
Ok, so I just got my Taiwanese driver's license. The DL is for the regular heavy motorcycle (up to 250cc). It's very easy to get. The whole process was done in under two hours. All you need to bring in is your ARC and a couple of DL sized pictures. Or you could just take the pictures there. The ARC needs to be one year in length from approval date to expiry date. You don't need to have one year remaining, like for a cell contract, you just need a year-long ARC.
Not too shabby.
So this is where the magic happens. The Taipei Motor Vehicles Department, north branch. I came here with a friend, and I think you need to take a bus from the red line MRT, so you'll have to look it up. Here's the website: http://english.mvo.taipei.gov.tw/MP_117012.html
85% to pass! "Panzaso!", as they say in Spanish (means, sliding on your stomach).
I got an 85%, which is the bare minimum. Of course, I didn't realize there were practice computers in the lobby which are open all day until AFTER I took the real written test. Oh, well, I got lucky anyway. If you fail, you must wait a week before re-attempting the test. You can take an online practice test here (although, not all the questions on the real test are in the online test, as I found out): http://driversimtest.thb.gov.tw/DriverSimTest/mocks/index.do
The written test is not so tough. You pretty much get it from driving back home. For the driving test, the most difficult part is the first obstacle: the stability test. Apparently this is new, and my friend said he could easily pass it now, but he doubts he would have passed it the first time he took the test back when he was 18. He said back then the passing rate was like 95%. Now it is much, much lower. By the way, when he took the test back in the day it was the first time he had even mounted a scooter, and he passed. I saw about seven people test while I was there. Two of them were older and clearly had been driving a while without a license. They passed no problem. The other five were 18 year-old new drivers. They all invariably failed. Immediately. Come back in seven days.
Anyway, the stability test consists of navigating a long, fairly narrow lane at low speed without putting you feet on the ground or swerving the bike out of the narrow strip. It tests your balance at low speed. The way they make sure you use low speed is you can't complete the lane before seven seconds. If you complete it in six second, it means you went too fast. It's actually quite tough. See the tip below.
The dreaded stability test. Note that even though this poster claims to reveal to you the "trick", it doesn't actually tell you jack. Thanks for nothin' Taipei DMV.
So here's the thing... the trick to the stability test is to start off with a bit of speed and then slow down right after you enter the test lane. The narrow lane used is right at the beginning of the obstacle course, so you can get a tiny 3-4 foot push off before you even enter it. It's a lot easier to start off stable at a medium speed and slow down than it is to try to keep low speed and maintain stability throughout.
After watching all those kids go down in flames, I kinda felt like going "what the hell" and just giving it a try, but I got a little antsy since I didn't wanna come back in seven days. So, I looked around for a place to practice. Turns out there's a wee lane leading up to the practice rink with some drainage grates that are about the exact same width as the narrow testing lane. I rode up and down these two or three times and counted to seven to get my technique down. When I got on the actual track, it was a piece of cake. The testing track is also open early mornings for practice, but I think it's crowded, and anyway we arrived too late for that.
Also, the stability test has a counter right the end of the narrow lane. You can look at this instead of counting to seven in your head to make sure you complete the obstacle after seven seconds.
Here's the track. You can see the lights in the background where you are supposed to make full stops. The narrow stability test track is in the foreground.
Instruction posters.
There was a waiting area where your friends (or I guess your mom) are supposed to wait, but during the actual test, both my friend and I just walked right onto track. Taiwan ain't big on rules.
Another beautiful day in Taiwan.
Although I went with my friend, everybody spoke English enough to get you through. The whole place was pretty much empty.
The five steps are:
register and fill out paperwork and submit your ARC and photos.
do the physical: height weight, vision, hearing
written test
driving test
watch a movie in Chinese. Even if you only speak English. The crashes in the video are gnarly enough for you to get the idea of "Don't do stupid **** and you will survive."
So the whole experience was really easy. Cost under $500 and almost zero wait time. Compared to an American DMV it was a piece of cake.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." - B. Baggins
