Relaxing in Some Hot Springs

Matthew's time in Taiwan is quickly coming to an end. His visa is up at the beginning of February, so his tutor employers wanted to bring us to some hot springs for some relaxation, they even paid for the hotel. I took the Saturday off so we could leave early and drive to Xihu to meet the family and drive up to the hot springs area together. The area we went to reminded me a lot of Lushan (where I took Matthew for his birthday). It's a small mountain town with plenty of natural springs and rivers.

Once we got to the hotel we basically split up. We stayed in rooms next door to each other, but we didn't see them much, only for dinner. We went to the rooftop where there are private hot spring baths that each room gets to use for one hour. The hotel workers thought we were nuts as we went to the rooftop in our bathing suits and towels, without our clothes. It's mostly because it was very cold outside, but you're only outside for a mere moment, from the rooftop lobby until your private bath room (outdoors), Once you're inside your own little bath room it's very warm from the hot spring, and it's in an enclosed area. The only bad thing was that the jets made so much noise it was impossible to have a conversation and if your ears happened to be near one of the openings, you might be forced to
use something to cover it up.

After the private soak, we met up with the family for dinner. It was your typical Asian buffet. We later tried out the other hot spring soaks, the sauna, and the steam room but never ran into the family again. The next morning was a lazy sleep in kind of day, then down for breakfast and later we all checked out of the hotel and went to pick strawberries. Most things are quite a bit cheaper in Taiwan than in Canada, but strawberries are about the same price, whether you buy them from the store or pick them yourself.

After strawberry picking we headed back towards Changhua for dinner at a restaurant that we had previously dined with them at, for their clinic's Chinese New Year party. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and headed home, back to Erlin. It was the last time we would be seeing Matthew's tutor family before our departure.