Wulai hotsprings and waterfall

On a beautiful Sunday morning in Taipei, my teammates and I hopped into a cab for the hour-long drive to Wulai, one of the many hot springs locations around Taipei. Wulai has the added attraction of being in the mountains, so the air is a little fresher and there are plenty of trees around. The best thing about the area is the waterfall. It's been a while since I've been this close to nature, and it was particularly relaxing to get out of the city for a bit. I wish I could've gone for a dip in the river, though.

Trees! Nature!

The presence of a cross on the top of the mountain was a little surprising

The cab could only take us to the foot of the mountain as the town is closed to traffic, so we took a tiny train took us the rest of the way up the mountain.


My teammates Peter (L) and John could barely fit into the train! :p

The top of the mountain was a little disappointing, though. There's a resort up there that looks like it was built 20 years ago and never maintained since. It has an amusement park and an empty pool and a few run-down looking chalets. We were hungry but the only things on the menu were unidentified pieces of meat that didn't look particularly appetizing. We were looking forward to a soak in the hot springs, but we had imagined a European-style outdoor natural-looking pool instead of tiny buildings filled with what looked like big bathtubs that were mostly for private use. Definitely not suited for 3 colleagues.

Oh well. Maybe I can go to a spa sometime. Sans the two male colleagues.