Winding Down in Yilan, Sorta

I wish I could say I knew the city of Yilan, because that was where we wanted to go after Hualien. However, we ended up staying in Jaoxi, a town one stop north of Yilan. It was a hot spring town and we stayed at a hot spring hotel that had an outdoor unisex (bathing suits required) hot pool, inside hot pools, and private room hot spring baths. Really good stay given the amount of relaxation due from all the traveling. It felt good to do nothing and soak in a hot tub of natural mineral rich water that was also odorless. None of that sulfurous stank you can safely pass gas in. Nope. This smelled of hot bath and lazy slumber.

And for going out, we actually headed to Loudong, a town one stop south of Yilan. This place was notorious for their night market, which we tried and I loved. But this was also where we decided to rent a car to check local attractions. First was the Rabbit Pencil Factory. Not much of a museum, but the gift shop did carry some unique looking pencils. I had to buy some for some creative friends back home. If you didn’t make an appointment, like we did, to tour the factory, the place would be small. Tiny. You’re confined to one room, being the gift shop, and the other room paying tribute to the history of the factory. Within fifteen minutes we were off to the National Center for Traditional Arts. Not my sorta thing given we’ve been to the real old towns on our trip. This place was a cleaned up artificial looking old town and a major tourist trap to suck the bills out of your wallet. Just to summarize, you have to pay for parking and pay for entrance. Inside, you’ll see fabricated old town architecture housing, you guessed it, gift shops selling you taffy and “traditional” paraphernalia. And by the way, no pictures inside please. Ugh. Well, if capitalism has gotten you down, no fret. Sit down at the old town Starbucks and grab a lunch box from 7-11. They’re definitely looking out for you inside this place. Ooops, let me rephrase that – they’re definitely looking out for what’s inside your wallet inside this place. Defeated we decided to head back to the station.

By the way, we also did the “kissing fish” pool during our stay. If you don’t know about it, it’s these little fish that will help exfoliate skin from your feet. I’ve read about this and decided to try. What I found out was it’s not for the squeamish and definitely not for the ticklish. It only took two or three fish to send me balling, drawing the disapproving stares from the experts. One of them being Vicky. I just couldn’t help it. It’s not every day you get this sort of thing happen to you. And trust me, I really want to be able to do this. The corns on my feet can feed millions.

Sorry Yilan, I will have to stop by next time. For now, it’s back to Taipei to end this around the island trip.

Food:
Good stuff. We tried the Double 3 hot pot chain which was average for Vicky but very good for me. I loved it, and for the price and the amount you get. I loved it. The other memorable time we ate was at, you guessed it, the night market. If you’ve read about the lamb soup place, it’s worth the wait. Not very gamey and you forget you’re eating lamb noodle soup every once in a while. Oh and this area’s known for the green onions. We had this deep fried thing with a green onion mix inside. Very good, but very hot. Wish I took a picture of it to share with you.

Getting Around:
Can’t say, we were driven everywhere.

Overall Feel:
There are sections of mom and pop shops but it has a main area for all your trendy shopping needs. No high end stuff though.

Travel Cost(s):
$39NTD bus ride from Loudong to Taipei
$2300NTD/night hot spring hotel
$800NTD/half-day car rental
$350NTD/day scooter rental
$539NTD meal at Double 3