And some like hot springs – hot springs are great! Especially because they are only an hour away from Taipei and it costs absolutely nothing to take a bath next to the river and soak in some hot spring water with some fantastic scenery as backdrop. Rain? Never was so indifferent about it. Actually it even makes me laugh because you cannot defy rain better than by getting wet in some warm water. Well enough said. Iri (Italy), Sicilia (Taiwan), Laurent (Mongolia), Rob (England) and I went to Wu-Lin hot springs and wandered through a fantastic gorge where the cherry blossom was already in bloom and mystical clouds covered the mountain tops. Down in the valley a rapid, dirty stream fuelled by the omnipresent drizzle in the mountain filled the river bed and us with joy. We bought some Taiwanese wine and laid down in these natural hot tubs.
In the beginning we were trying hard to ignore that the dirty water came mostly from a hydro-power plant, which was only 100 meters away. After a few minutes in the pools, though, we had absolutely forgotten about the world around us. My cold and my diarrhea from the morning was suddenly gone and any remote feeling of homesickness was drowned in the muddy water.
One of the highlights of the five hour spa was when a Taiwanese senior invited Rob and me into his pool to eat sweet potato and then took us swimming in the freezing cold adjacent river. It was pure joy jumping in and even better getting back into the pools.
That’s us (Rob is taking the picture).
Umbrellas everywhere.
In Taiwan, you definitely know what you are eating…
Don’t ask me why there is a penis on top of the ash tray… Maybe it’s supposed to protect you from certain forms of cancer?
Flowers to eat.
BBQ master.
Me… in the rain.
Flowers on the road side. Winter in Taipei is like a really rainy European spring.
Rob is climbing stones in the river gorge. 
Us in the natural hot tub!
Today was the first day of classes and I have to admit that although my expectations were extremely low, I was still disappointed. The class on Classical Chinese Philosophy is taught by a very able guy who was lecturing at Harvard University but he is SO EXTREMLY slow and boring and so not attention-grabbing when he was introducing his class. I just hope that he will be more enthusiastic when he can teach his passion because the readings sound very interesting. Queer studies was quite a downer because it was in Chinese – thanks for telling me in advance! Spent the afternoon in the cold dorm until I did not stand it anymore and now…
I have just discovered THE best café in all of Taipei. OK, it’s insanely expensive (a latte costs 3 times the price of a full meal in a nearby restaurant) but it fulfills just about any criterion that I require of a restaurant. The coffee is home-roasted and brewed, the interior is nicely furnished with beautiful bee-hive lamps and black-and-white pictures. Plus there is blues music, friendly staff and free wifi. Imagine to all of this a real intellectual feel that takes you away from the busy streets of Taipei into a good-smelling, slow-moving world that ignites creativity like a match. Oh – and did I mention that it’s got heating? I’d say it’s worth the price!
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