Taiwan Day 3 (Part 1) - Fu Hang Dou Jiang and Xinbeitou

Staying above the Taipei Mai Station DEFINITELY has its perks. By taking the Blue Line to Shandao Temple, we arrived at Fu Hang Dou Jiang (阜杭豆漿). We were warned by numerous blogs that lines at Fu Hang Dou Jiang can be crazy so we reached by 8am. Being a weekday rainy morning, we hoped it had deterred the legendary queue. When we reached, the queue was bearable.

Fu Hang Dou Jiang is located on the 2nd floor of HuaShan Market Building. It is on the right of Exit 5. Luckily we did not see any queue that trickled down the stairs. We hurried up and quickly found some bar stools next to the window. All tables were occupied so the girls watched for empty tables while the guys got in queue.

The queue on the left is for dine in and the queue for the right is for takeaway. No cutting into line here if you queued up wrongly. Back to the line bubba!

There is a method to ordering your food. The instructions on how to order and menu are ENTIRELY in CHINESE! Not a speck of English. Certain servers at the counters specialise only in soybean milk and if you order food from them, they will direct you to another person. Be patient. It's not their fault that you can't read Chinese. 

So if you are heading there, have an idea on what you want to get. The pictures here could be used as reference.

Queuing directions

The queue

You will pass by the production line

Soybean milk ("豆漿水") with Chinese crullers wrapped in Chinese egg pancake

Peanut paste ("花生糊")

The soybean milk and peanut paste were a tad watered down for my taste but then again I don't think I can digest the thick gooey version for my breakfast. The paste did thicken at room temp after awhile. Perhaps it is more watery when it is fresh? It has been ages since I made peanut paste (one of those late night cooking insomniac cooking episodes) and I can't rightly remember the texture of when it first drips out of the muslin. 

Back to Day 3. 

As a precursor to the travelling madness ahead of us, the boys decided that a dip in the hot springs of Beitou was in order. Off we went to catch train to Xinbeitou. 

When you get to Xinbeitou station, there are many figurines and models depicting the wonders of the hot spring around the area. There are clearly marked signs on where to start Xinbeitou's expedition. The temperature has dropped slightly since we were higher up north but with the global warming, it only got chilly when the wind starts blowing.

We proceeded to Ketagalan Culture Centre (300m away from MRT) which is actually a museum of sorts showing the cultures of the ethnic tribes in Taiwan. No photography are allowed beyond the first floor so no pictures to show on the different costume and tools used for a particular tribe. It houses a multimedia room, performance areas, artifact rooms, conference and research facilities. 

When you enter the building, it doesn't really look like a museum as most of its items are housed on the upper floors. A charming old lady manning the info counter saw this bunch of lost sheep and explained to us how to tour the facility on our own. There is also a English guided tour at certain times of the day but we weren't able to wait around for it. She even showed MY and I all the stamps for our stamp collection. Our hungry stamp faces must be quite obvious.

Figures showing Ketagalan costumes on the Ground.

Next item on the itinerary was to find somewhere to soak. On the way to the semi-public pools and those housed in hotels around the area, we passed the Beitou Hot Springs Museum (北投溫泉博物館). This Euro-Japanese styled musuem used to be the biggest hot spring bath house circa 1913. Visitors are required to deposit their shoes at the entrance and change into slippers if they want to gain entrance, due to the museum's polished wooden floors. Don't worry, the shoes are placed in cubby holes so no one will steal your shoes. You shouldn't be wearing Louboutins to a hot sprint anyway...

The museum tells a story on sulfur mining and how the Japanese used the bath house for relaxation. It even has a private movie theatre!

View from a window of the Museum

Mini theatre ~ look who decided to play the ticket seller

Guys having a chat in the restored bath

As we continued upwards, hotspring hotels greeted you at every turn. We read about an outdoor hotspring place called Millennium Hot Spring where you can soak in outdoor pools for NT$40 (RM4.20). Unfortunately they were closed for cleaning and it wouldn't open for another hour. The proprietress informed us that if we decide to soak at Millennium, it generally would be like a public bath. Belongings would be stored in a paid locker (NT$20) and you haul your toiletries along with you. Shower facilities are available. I don't remember if Millennium sells toileries e.g. soap, shampoo, towel etc. on premise but I'll show you a Google Map of where you can buy some later.

While we planned our next move, some of us went next door the Plum Garden (梅庭). Our pre-planned itinerary was rapidly evolving to something else. To our delight, Plum Garden had a stamp stand. Yay!

Plum Garden used to be the summer residence of politician and calligrapher Yu You-ren (1879-1964). Entrance is free and again, off with the shoes. I felt like I stepped into a traditional Japanese house with tatami flooring and paper blinds.  The interesting part about this house is that it is built with battlements on the outer walls. Amazingly fortified with a a natural obstacle of a hot, boiling river just in your backyard.

The custodians of Plum Garden had a book on all hotsprings resort in XinBeitou with prices listed next to it. After getting some advice from them which would have private baths and a little bit cheaper, the custodian helped us call the hotel.

Hotspring stream

From the villa, we continued upwards. We passed a couple of small waterfalls and saw some people soaking their feet in a small stream. It was amazing to see an actually hotspring stream and locals just pulling off their shoes, dipping their feet into the water. 

The sulfuric smell became stronger. We had arrived at Geothermal Valley (地熱谷) aka Hell Valley. 

Bubbling witch cauldron

This is the heart of the hot spring where temperatures could reach up to 100° C. It's a lake where you could see bubbles coming up from the bottom of the lake like a boiling water in a kettle. I think this lake is able to keep the valley warm like a heat pad on cold days.

It was nearing noon and we hurried onwards to Beauty Age Spring Resort (美代溫泉飯店). At this hotel, we managed to get a private bath big enough for 8 people (even though there was only 5 of us) for around NT$1000 (NT100) for an hour. It wasn't on the cheap side but we were running out of time, plus it was a private bath. We make do.

Towels are provided by the hotel and we took turns to change in the adjoining bathroom. Given that it was a private bath, visitors were expected to change in the bath itself because it had a locked door and cubby holes for clothes. We weren't into the whole nudist thing so we changed into swimsuits, washed ourselves with the showers and stepped into the heated pools.

Showering area

There are 2 heated baths and 1 ice cold bath.Each pool had different temperatures so you have to find one that fits you.

Slightly colder pool and the ice cold pool

Hottest pool. We turned into lobsters in it

The pools are fed by the underground spring but did not have a heavy sulfuric smell to it. The part we found really tingling is jumping into the cold bath after soaking awhile in the hot baths. After we were done, we rinsed ourself off and dried our hair (hair dryer provided). Keeping with hotspring bath tradition, you don't use soap to wash the minerals off (because it is good for your skin).

With heavier bags, we bought some juice on our way downhill. Its was cold but the hot spring bath made us feel quite warm and cosy.

Fu Hang Dou Jiang (阜杭豆漿)
Address: Fu Hang Dou Jiang (阜杭豆漿), 2/F Hua Shan Market, 108 Zhongxiao East Road, Section  
               1,Taipei City.
Tel: +886 2 2392 2175
Opening Hours: Tues - Sun (5.30am - 12.30pm). Closed on Mondays
Getting there: Taipei Main Station ►Shandao Temple (Blue line toward Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre) ► Exit 5 ► Hua Shan Market (華山市場).

Xinbeitou
Getting there: Taipei Main Station ►Beitou (Red line toward Tamsui) ► Change train to Pink Line Xinbeitou

Ketagalan Museum
Address: No. 3-1 Zhongshan Rd, Beitou, Taipei. Tel: +886 2 2898 6500
Opening Hours: Tues - Sun (9am-5pm). Closed on Monday

Hot Spring Museum
Address: 2 Zhongshan Rd
Tel: +886-2-28939-9815
Opening Hours: Tues - Sun (9am-5pm). Closed on Mondays and public holidays




Plum House
Address: No 6 Chungshan Rd, Xin Beitou, Taipei City
Tel: +886 2 28972647
Opening Hours: Tues - Sunday (9am-5pm). Closed on Monday

Geothermal Valley
Address : Zhongshan Road, near entrance of Wenquan Road
Opening hours: Tues - Sunday (9am-5pm). Closed on Monday.
Getting there: Xinbeitou MRT station ►walk towards Guanming Rd ► Beitou Hot Spring Museum ►Geothermal Valley

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