Day 4 - danshui 淡水 - Bei Tou 北投
4th day in taiwan greeted us with a cloudy sky
clouds saturated with raindrops, threatening to fall any moment.
nonetheless, it was a day filled with sightseeing and food hunting,
and first stop was a breakfast shop reccommended by the owner of accoms#2
freshly deep fried youtiao dripping oil...but still taste super oily anyway...
the shop is like many old breakfast shops in taiwan, selling the typical soybean drink with youtiao 豆浆油条.
unfortunately, the youtiao tasted so oily, it was quite *ugh* after a few bites.
pic first, eat later. the youtiao is super long, about twice the length of the singaporean ones
mummy and i had the salty version 咸豆浆, which actually is soybeancurd in a savoury soup base (likely lotsa soya sauce) with spring onion, dried shrimp and salted vege. ermm..very salty, but taste quite nice lah...
the others had the sweet version, which looks like the towhueyzhui 豆花水 in singapore. but it taste better, less syrup, more real soy. however, the others complain that it has a weird taste. for me, i thought it's nice cos it has less of that soy smell, which i don't like...
2nd stop, we decided to hunt for a famous food in danshui called a-gei 阿给.
the hunt took awhile cos the map was kinda misleading, and well, as the navigator with accumulated lack of sleep, i brought everyone in the wrong way.
nonetheless, our perseverance for good food still brought us to the right shop
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FYI, many shops in old streets of taiwan would proclaim that they are the 老店 or 原创 (i.e. original shop).
but based on our handy little guidebook borrowed from the NLB,
this shop that we found is THE orignial a-gei shop.
and how do we know it's the right shop?
the shop doesn't have a name...it only says 阿给 on the front of the shop,
unlike the others with 淡水X年老店，原创阿给 etc etc splashed on the front...
i choose to believe that the real original shop doesn't need to announce it...
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by now, you might be asking what on earth is a-gei?!
this is the before 'dismantling' pic of a-gei
the famous a-gei, taken apart to show u the good stuff inside...but picture abit blur...mummy is pulling out the vermicelli from the tofu...very yummy!
well, it's actually 油豆腐, with the middle bit stuffed with rice vermicelli 冬粉，soaked in some sauce, then sealed with fish-paste (like those used in yongtaufoo), then steamed and served with a special sauce. the vermicelli is fried beforehand, so it taste SUPER!
and then u will ask, why is it called a-gei?
because 油豆腐 in jap is abura-age, pronounced as ah-bu-ra-a-gei.
therefore, the locals just call it 阿给, shorter and easier to say :D
if you ever go to danshui, must try ok?
after a scrumptious breakfast, the mummies need their caffeine to get on with the sightseeing later
so we brought them to a rather classy cafe called cafe 21, located on the 3rd floor of the Red
House 红楼
红楼 - red house. located on top of a hill in dan shui. 1st and 2nd floor is classy restaurants, 3rd floor is a cafe with a view overlooking danshui
always pic first, food later. taken from the al fresco balcony of the cafe. background is dan shui river, and across the river is guanyin shan (i think)
mummy had her kopi-O (cafe americano) and i had my teh-O (earl grey tea without milk)
attempted an arty pic, but not really the effect i wanted. still mange to capture that carefre, ihaveallthetimeintheworld feeling though :D
all of us, enjoying the 'tai-tai' lifestyle
stomachs filled and blood caffinieted...one last pic before we head off!
just when yq and i thought everyone is pretty full and bursting with energy,
we wandered into a street market on our way to the MRT station...
and then, guess what?
my mummy, who usually eats like 5 mouthfuls of rice for dinner, decided she wants more food!
and yq's mum agree....
goodness, these women are hard to feed at times.
so anyway, we strolled along the market, and they bought guavas and some grilled fish to munch on...
grilled fish...i think got grilled pufferfish..but i'm not too sure...tasted good, whatever the fish was...
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went to the MRT toilet and found this interesting thing...
if u cannot read the mandarin words, this is actually a female emergency button (and not a toilet flush knob -_-). i'm impressed, they take good care of the females...
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so after filling our stomachs and taking pics here there and everywhere,
we finally reach the MRT to go to bei tou 北投.
Bei Tou is one of the hot spring attractions in taipei. and it is one of the first hot springs opened for use,dating all the way back to the japanese when they were in taiwan. if i'm not wrong, bei tou hot springs were actually founded by the japs.
well, if u are thinking we went there with the aim to soak in the hot springs,
u are, well, in a way wrong.
cos apparently none of us prepared the stuff to soak in the hot springs. mainly going there to look-see-look-see...
first stop we wanted to go to was 地热谷 Hell's Valley...
on our way there, we found this 'drain' at the side of the road...
i've never seen a prettier drain than this...the water is clear, and the stones are coated green from the sulphur build-up
seeing the colour of the stones, i placed my hand in the water and yes, it was WARM...
at this stretch of the drain, the water was warm..
(don't feel grossed that i dipped my hand in drain water la...it's hot spring water that flowed out from Hell's Valley....not dirty drain water like those in the long-gang in singapore)
so we followed the drain upstream as it leads to the entrance of Hell's Valley...and then we met this old gentleman (about 60-70years old?) who was soaking his feet in the drain water...
at first we thought, yeah, warm water to stimulate blood circulation, good!
and then, we saw his feet
his feet was red, like scalded-going-to-become-3rd-degree-burn-red!!
and then we noticed the steam rising from the water around his feet...
i stuck my finger into the water and OUCH!!
the water was freaking hot! i am guessing about 70 degree Celsius maybe??
and the ah-pek was standing in the water like he wasn't soaking his feet in FREAKING HOT WATER!!!
i think his nerve endings must have died from the heat, that's why he cannot feel the pain. my finger throbbed for a few seconds even after i lifted it out of the water lor...
And so, while we were gazing in wonderment at the ah-pek's powerful tolerance for heat, and taking pictures of the steam rising from the drain water,
my mummy dearest decide to try and cross the drain (which was about 0.75m apart) by stepping on a stone in the middle of the drain...
and yes, u guessed it..
she slipped..
and slowly fell into that HOT water...
first she landed on her buttocks, then she lost her balance further, and LAID BACK into the drain...
like her WHOLE back was soaked in that HOT water!
i saw the whole thing like in slow motion, probably cos when i saw her put her foot on that stone, somehow i knew she was gonna slipped...but it was just a spilt second later before i saw her go down...
i freaked out...i gave her my hand, all she could say was '快点拉我！'
she didn't even attempt to pull herself up, probably shocked from the heat attacking her skin on her back
finally, i cannot remember who else held her other hand, and we both pulled her up...
her 3 layers of top and 2 layers of bottom was soaked through..
at the moment, i felt 2 emotions
1) anger: WHY SHE SO STUPID!!??!
2) panic: oh no, what do i do ?? what should i do now?!?!?!?
luckily, we manage to find a public toilet with a hand dryer (we did not bring extra clothes cos no one was prepared to soak in the hot spring...or hot drain water...)
so everyone waited for yq and i to blow dry my mummy's wet clothes.
luckily luckily, we were dressed to keep warm, so i had extra layers to give to my mum...
and luckily luckily luckily, mummy wasn't hurt..not burnt nor knocked anywhere when she fell...
*phew*
so, 1 hour in the public toilet later...
we finally made into Hell's Valley
from the entrance...
welcome to Hell
Hell's Valley is so called that because of the constantly rising steam from the hot spring water. it's called 地热谷, probably directly telling people that the ground is hot, therefore the water is hot. althought it has such a ghastly english name, it's actually quite a pretty sight...more like heaven than hell...
i like the colour of the water, which also made the whole pool of steaming water look pretty. if the water was bubbling, then it would look more like hell...
especially when the wind blows across the pool, the steam would waft in one direction, very pretty :D
mummy's first pic after that fall...the steam has the dry-ice effect like in a wedding :P
there's only one problem with the heavenly setting of Hell's Valley...
IT STANK!! ohh..that sulphur smell...argh! it's like being surrounded by dozens of rotten eggs
that's probably the only thing 'like hell' about this place..it stank like hell...PHEW!
nonetheless, we enjoyed the scenery, the ever-rising steam that gently dissipates with the wind...and eventually, our noses desensitized to the smell. see, we look happy right?
after this, we went in search of a ramen place that sells cheap and yummy ramen.
but unfortunately, we did not make it in time (the place closes at 1400h, then reopen at 1700h)
so instead, we went to take a look at this Buddhist temple, with a japanese shrine architecture
潽济寺 Pu Ji Temple.
it was a small temple, so we only took some pics and then our stomachs decided that it's time for lunch..we had lunch in a tiny cafe near to Hell's Valley. i was too hungry to take pic..
but i really wished i did take out my camera to take a pic of its menu...
and my brain cannot recall what was so funny about its english...
all i remembered was something like 西式猪扒饭 = western pig *cannot remember* rice
"western pig"...heeeheeheheeheeheee...
anyway, after lunch, we went walking around the area...
then we thought, since we are here, must at least soak the feet right??
so we head back to that drain we saw when we arrived...
of course, we chose a spot that is downstream from where my mummy fell...
but no matter how far we went, the water was still too hot to tahan! in order to take this pic, we lifted our feet just above the water, then '1,2...' PUT FEET IN! TAHAN! '3!' and quickly remove feet from hot water... i have to admit my feet felt really relaxed after the soak (total soaking time was probably like 5 minutes, and 10 minutes was spent fanning my skin)...
mummy had no phobia of the hot water. she could tahan longer also..probably cos she already had a taste of how it felt earlier on...
initially there was no one soaking feet. but after we sat down to soak, all these people started soaking too..some went really downstream, probably cos they heard us yelping when we put our feet in the water...can even see abit of steam in this pic...
with our newly 'cooked' and relaxed feet, we walked around bei tou...
bei tou is really a scenic place...
this is the equivalent of a canal in singapore, except it drains the hot spring water from the hot spring resorts in the area. the water is still slightly warm. i think it really looks like a stream more than a canal...so pretty....
building here is the public library, built from logs. and that is the real drain, as u can see got rubbish. but it still doesn't look like a drain...
we also visit the public hot spring, where we didn't take pictures to respect the privacy of the people soaking in the spring (well, they were dressed in bathing suits...)
according to the owner, the hottest spring there is about 45 deg Celsius....and the coolest one is about 35 deg Celsius...
and they also have cold spring, where you soak in cause vasoconstriction and make sure you don't faint from the heat and vasodilatation (which causes low blood pressure)
unfortunately, no one was game to go in and try..
well, maybe next time..now that we know how it all works... hee hee...
so after our little tour of bei tou, we head back to dan shui..
where the rest of them want to go shopping (AGAIN!)
so we head to one of the night markets..
where everyone enjoyed the walk except yours truly..
cos i was feverish and my shoulders were so sore, i couldn't carry my backpack anymore..
it was a long long long night..
and the walk back to our accoms was torturous
dinner was a simple affair of soup, rice and vegetables bought from a stall at the night market...
soup was yummy...some chicken with pineapple (yes, soup!) and sesame oil chicken (also soup)..
dessert was taro-balls in redbean soup...
i felt better after dinner...and a shower...
then my mummy and yq's mummy stayed downstairs in the living room,
finishing up their midnight snack of duck head/neck
(i have no idea why they like it...)
while the 3 daughters chatted in the bedroom upstairs..
despite knowing that we have to wake up bright and early at 6+am the next day,
we chatted until 2+am!!!
in the end, D fell asleep first..
then YQ and i continued to chat...mumbling more and more...
until eventually, we said goodnight..
and the 4th day ended with the 2 mummies coming upstairs to turn in...
at 2+am as well...
to be continued...
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