Trip To Dongpu: Part II
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Photos by MJ Klein, including FOOD PHOTOS
After a very pleasant drive of a few hours, we arrived at our hotel. We wanted to check out Dongpu because of the many hot springs resorts in the area. All the hotels feature hot spring water.
We had to park underground in the basement parking garage. To get there, we had to ride in a car elevator. I’ve had the pleasure of taking several such elevators in Taiwan.
Still going down! We parked the car and headed across the street to our room.
The room featured a whirlpool spa (with a stocking filter hanging off the spigot) and….
A clear glass shower stall. One has to wait for hot water for some time because the hot water comes from the hot spring, some distance away. The wait was several long minutes.
We put our stuff in the room and went out for a walk around.
That’s the main entrance to our hotel at the right.
Dongpu is a nice little town, and looks cool at night. It literally is cool, being 1,000+ meters up in the mountains.
Notice the old spelling of the town in English. There are a few paths and trails on can take, but it was too late to go anywhere except on the main roads.
There is a nice map showing local attractions.
A few places had fish tanks outside, with small signs identifying the species in the tank.
We took a walk to the edge of town just to see what was there.
The mountains look great in the evening too.
Off in the distance we saw this lighted suspension bridge.
We got a bit closer to the bridge and decided to turn around and go back to find a place to eat.
It was getting quite dark by that time. That’s Hui-chen in front of me.
One last long exposure shot, thanks to a fence post, and we walked back into town.
Yeah, it’s time to eat! We passed some place selling these lovely tomatoes, and it just made us even more hungry.
This sure looks like a sturgeon to me.
The tank in front of a restaurant beckoned us inside.
A lovely tofu dish.
Grilled fish.
This is san-bei rabbit. San-bei means “3 cup” and this is a common dish in Taiwan. It was great.
There were bikers in the restaurant that had passed us on the road earlier. They had been riding some big bikes and that sure looked like fun. Also there was your typical bunch of immature people pointing at me and calling me names, but we had a good time anyway.
On the way out I snapped this shot of 2 fish together. The speckled fish sure looks like a Taiwan Trout, a species I did not know about until I visited an aquarium in 2002.
After dinner, we headed back to our room and enjoyed the spa. Spending time in hot springs always makes me sleep very well.
The next day we went and took a look at that bridge we saw the night before. In Part III I will show you the bridge and some sights along the way back home, but I will leave you with this photo until then:
Articles in series Dongpu:
- Trip To Dongpu: Part I
- Trip To Dongpu: Part II
- Trip To Dongpu, Part III
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August 9th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Gorgeous photos, MJ. Ah, hot springs! One of the joys of Taiwan.
I am duly jealous.
Re: the idiots. I feel the same disdain you do. You go to five places in a row and meet lovely people, then get stuck in a restaurant one night with a bunch of yokels who can’t stop making comments about the foreigner(s). I’ve come to the conclusion that it just doesn’t pay to be too sensitive in many parts of Asia, because you’re always going to run into this.
[Reply to Comment]
thenhbushman
reply on August 10th, 2008 9:27 am:
Truett Black » fortunately you can visit for yourself, and invoke your own feelings of jealousy in your friends!
i wouldn’t’ say that i’m sensitive to that kind of behavior, but when i’m eating and look up to find a table of people pointing (and worse) laughing right out loud at me, i can’t help but feel disappointed in the level of sophistication of the people surrounding me at the moment. just yesterday i walked into a music store intent upon spending a large sum of money, and i was greeted by a salesperson with the words “here comes Santa Claus.” i responded with “you would not believe how much i fucking hate that. now i’m going to have to kick your ass.” wtf? i finally figured it out, True:
People in Taiwan do not understand that it is wrong, and insulting, to call someone names. they feel it necessary to categorize people and find “similarities” in their own mind and then openly state these because they think they are being clever.
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August 10th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Wonderful post MJ and the pictures of course. You surely had a great time there. Dongpu is on the list now. I got to see this place.
Ashishs last blog post..Mr and Mrs Ashlin
[Reply to Comment]
thenhbushman
reply on August 10th, 2008 9:19 am:
Ashish » Dongpu is one of those quaint places in Taiwan that makes for a nice weekend excursion. one thing that i like about Dongpu is that it isn’t yet jammed with tourists every weekend.
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August 10th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Re the incident in the music store: If (when?) that happens again, I would ask to speak to the manager, let him or her know how much you were intending to spend there, and drop the bombshell - because of their employee’s rude remarks, you will be taking your cash to another shop (preferably one in the near vicinity). I’ve found the “So, you don’t want my money, then” line to be quite effective on several occasions. And it worked so well for Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”
Kaminoges last blog post..Trails, Dude
[Reply to Comment]
thenhbushman
reply on August 11th, 2008 1:39 pm:
Kaminoge » the thought crossed my mind. we had just come in from the THSR and walked the last couple of blocks. i wanted a piece of gear they had and i didn’t know another place to go to get it. he knew he made a mistake by my reply. another person came over to me and asked to help, and that person was very polite and professional. i ended up getting a cheaper price than was quoted to me on the phone. not sure if that person was embarrassed by the first person’s attitude but it may have worked in my favor after all. thanks.
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August 10th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
MJ A great post, mate. The place looks really beautiful and a good place to relax and forget about things for a few days. The small paved roads really adds some character.
The food looked delicious, especially the grilled fish. A good grilled fish here in Thailand is hard to find unless you do it yourself.
The San Bei rabbit looked delicious and I have eaten my fair share and more of rabbit in my time growing up in the country, We just can’t tell my rabbit “Cola” about that.
As for the ignorant people, as you know this also happens in Thailand, especially in rural areas where farangs don’t so frequent the areas. I usually ignore the comments most of the time and most of the time comments come from young Thai guys trying to impress teenage girls.
I remember once when some young Thai guys were being smart asses and I just ignored them after the initial “hello, where are you from” One then said ” Farang fung Thai Mai dai, Farang Kee Nok Ngor” or “foreigner doeasn’t understand That stupid bird shit”.
I replied in Thai and was very rude and to the point. I told him he had a rude mouth and a small dick. Khun Phut mai dai, Khun Phut Mai sapup. Khun Humm Lek Chai Mai.
I can tell you that his friends pissed themsleves laughing and the girls nearly fell over, I waited for another smart ass remark as I would have stood up and stood toe to toe but he thankfully shut up.
I can tolerate it to a point, but some of the people are just such fools at times.
Thanks for sharing MJ and a great trip with lovely picks. Hope the D80 is back on board soon mate.
Bruntys last blog post..One of Thailand’s finest abducts five kids, kills one, Thailand.
[Reply to Comment]
thenhbushman
reply on August 11th, 2008 1:36 pm:
Brunty » thanks for your comments, Brunty. it’s unfortunate that you had to deal with those rocket scientists, and even sadder for them that their mind is so narrow. we have awesome grilled fish in Taiwan! i don’t like the salt-encrusted version, but i do like the individual pieces like we had in the photo. rabbit is available in many places and we do enjoy it prepared like the dish in the photo. you’ll just have to come here and try these dishes for yourself!
take care, Brunty.
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