Climbing Mt. QiXing or A Westerner's First Public Bath

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Thursday was the last day of class for my friend Miyuki and her friend Colin, so on Friday the three of us went hiking up Mt. Qixing, or "Seven Star". We met in a district of Taipei called 士林 (Shilin) where we ate a very international lunch (a savory, eggy street dish called 蔥抓餅 and slurpees from 7-11). From 士林 we caught a bus that took us up into the mountains north of the city. The road was winding and steep, and before long the entire city of Taipei was sprawled out behind us. After we got off the bus, we stopped at a visitor's center to use the bathrooms (and so that I could buy a cold Taiwan beer--they sell them everywhere!).

The island of Taiwan is a relatively recent product of tectonic collisions, and therefore is home to a bunch of hot springs and fumaroles, as well as the site of frequent and sometimes devastating earthquakes. The beginning of our trail was marked by one such fumarole, an enormous dark maw in the side of the mountain which belched sulfurous steam from yellow holes. My hiking companions complained, but to me (having spent weeks of my childhood in Yellowstone) it smelled of home. The hike was steep but brief, and offered plenty to look at. Besides the dozen or more striped lizards we saw on the trail, there were smoking rocks and fissures around every corner. Framing it all was the ever-thickening mist and the wind-blown grass.

Once we made it up and over the mountain, a different sort of all-natural experience was waiting for us. For Miyuki, who planned our afternoon, much of the appeal of this particular hike lay in the fact that it ends at the LengShuiKeng public hot spring bath. We climbed the steps of the facility, and saw that it was gender segregated (for soon-to-be obvious reasons). Miyuki promptly trotted off to the Women's bathhouse and Colin sullenly told me that he didn't want to go, so I ventured into the wet, wooden structure by myself (but not before taking a photo of the sign out front, which still makes me chuckle). I pulled aside the curtain and saw a dark, steamy room full of 15 or 20 ancient, naked men. Some were dashing buckets of water over their legs and backs, and others were practicing 太極拳 (tai-chi) in slow, deliberate movements, but most were languishing indolently in a wide pool. All that fleshy and ancient nakedness almost made me turn back in that moment, but I swallowed my modesty (and my gum) and dropped trou, and proceeded to walk toward the pool. My youth and my white skin made me a bit of a spectacle, and the chatter stopped as I approached the water. I must have seemed unsure of how to proceed, because immediately several of the men started shouting instructions and gesturing with the buckets, so I splashed some water over myself a few times, and moved as though to enter the water. The men erupted in more shouting, and the man nearest me demonstrated more graphically the correct way to wash. I complied, and once I had bathed to their collective satisfaction, eased myself into the water. They asked me a few questions, and despite some initial misunderstandings (Old man: "Oh, America? What State are you from?" Me: "Oh, I've been here for about a week."), seemed impressed that a skinny foreigner could speak even a little of their language. When the novelty wore off, the room returned to a contented silence. I lingered for what seemed an appropriate amount of time, then made my slippery, awkward exit. Just in time, too--the last bus back to Taipei left just a few minutes later. We weren't the only people trying to take the last bus--we stood, packed like sardines, for the entire hour+ ride. Smelling of sulfur, and with skin dyed faintly orange from the iron in the water, we chased the sunset back into the city. And it was great.

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Photos

Trees in bloom
This was taken through the window of the bus that we rode up the mountain from Taipei. There were pink trees everywhere. A sign we passed said "Flower Season: Feb. 26 - Mar. 28"

Self portrait
Medium: dirty bus window

Sulfur and smoke
The trailhead was at the base of this huge, crater-like fumarole. Our hike took us up and around this devastation, and through the ridges beyond.

Mountain path 4
The path became mistier and mistier as we climbed. At certain points you could only see the ground immediately ahead of you and behind you, and nothing else.

Summit!
The top of the mountain was completely inside of a cloud. Colin was bummed (apparently the view is spectacular on clear days), but I was loving it.

Wiiindy
Airplanes! Beeaaooowww. (Colin was less into it than me).

Miyuki
A beautiful candid photo on the summit.

Back down again
The terrain was very different on the descent, less grassy and more foresty. The man on the left is an old Taiwanese man, he told us he hikes these mountains almost every day.

Lovin' that orange
Miyuki surprised us with oranges as we took a break on the walk down. I was pleased.

Instructions
This is a sign just outside the entrance to the hot spring bath. Someone made a hilarious punctuation decision.

Comments

[aj]

That IS a good looking orange, and I like the fact that you brought those sunglasses on such a misty hike.