Yesterday, we woke up at the crack of dawn and headed to the secret hotsprings on YangMingShan (YangMing Mountain). I've been to these only a few times before, once by scooter, and once by car, but this time we decided to take a bus. The bus was actually the longest commute of the 3 options (1.5 hours), but at least it was super comfy and we both fell asleep on the way there. We arrived at our stop at 8:30 and began our 20 minute hike to the hot springs. It wasn't a challenging hike, and luckily it was still early, so it wasn't as hot as it usually is at that time.
I thought we'd be the only crazy ones who would go to hotsprings that early in the morning, but we ran into a few retired Taiwanese couples on our hike. They were super sweet and friendly and shared their fruit and water and snacks with us once we got there. One couple even offered to take us back to the city after we had already soaked for 2 hours. At first I politely declined their offer, but after they insisted 20 times, we agreed to ride with them. Not only did the ride down take only 30 minutes, but they saved us money on bus fare. I honestly can't stress enough how NICE Taiwanese people are. This is not the first time that random strangers offer up their kindness to me. This is probably the number 1 reason why I love Taiwan so much.
Today, my life is back to normal. I am back to job hunting, back to working out, back to my regularly scheduled program. Time to get serious people. Time is running out!!
L.U.C.K.Y. !!!!
Posted by: bahar | August 02, 2011 at 03:05 AM
Lucky, indeed. It seems like a wonderful place to rest, relax, and just plain rejuvenate oneself with a soothing vacation before going back to serious work and whatnot. Once in a while, having that precious time to spend in a vacation can do a lot of good in motivating a person to work harder.
Posted by: Shanae Buckner | January 18, 2012 at 03:44 AM