Dakeng

Dakeng mountains area is only 45 minutes away from Taichung, where we based ourselves for 4 days for easy access to fantastic nature places (like Sun Moon Lake and Wetland). Dekung has many trails, due to very hot and humid weather we picked a shorter one. Locals must have been suprised seeing us there as they were all smiling, greetings us and one of them even gave us some honey straight from the hive to try. It was sooo delicious! The trail was leading us all the way to the top for some great but foggy view. The way down was mostly on stairs, at the bottom a farmers market was selling all kinds of fruits, drinks, sport gear and pottery. We hopped back on the bus for our next stop, a spa and wellness centre! For a few pounds we could enjoy the outdoor pools with fantastic jungle views around. Bath culture became popular in Taiwan under the Japanese occupation (mostly fist half of the 20th century) therefore it had an 'onsen", taditional Japanese style feeling with its naked - separated by gender, of course - inside pool areas.
Outside there were many pools, one with extremely hot and the other with extremely cold water. A group of older local ladies explained it (without using any english) that we need to be moving between the two pools, they had great fun looking at our reactions as we sank in.
The music was relaxing, mostly classical music. It was a rather surreal and funny moment when 'Lilly Allen: F*** you' song suddenly started being played. Brilliant and weird day!Read more