EXPERIENCE TA IWAN’S HOT SPRINGS

Hot springs are generally open all year round, but the best time to enjoy a warm bath is during the cold months from Jan–mar

beneath the earth seep through cracks in the rock. A beautiful Japanese woman whose husband has betrayed her boils the water with her jealous rage. The spilt blood of Indian warriors angers the mountain, and she protests with searing jets. Every hot spring has its story.

The geological explanation of what’s happening is no less impressive. Hot springs occur naturally when geothermally heated water rises through a fault in the Earth’s crust. They are found predominantly in active volcanic zones, where magma has heated the groundwater enough to build up pressure beneath the surface. Sometimes hot springs erupt with a superheated jet of steam known as a geyser; in other places the temperature has cooled sufficiently by the time the water breaks through the rock and it materialises as a pool.

Many ancient societies had little or no comprehension that the Earth’s core was as hot as the surface of the Sun. Instead, they used miracles and dragons to explain the hot spring phenomenon. People were drawn to the pools to bathe and to pray, because they believed the mineral-rich – perhaps even sacred – water might heal their aches and pains.

Taiwan’s Beitou Hot Spring Museum contains a brief history of hot springs. Built as a public bathhouse between 1911 and 1913, it was once the largest public bathhouse in East Asia. Inside its impressive red brick Victorian exterior (a Class 3 Historical Site) are airy wooden galleries, balconies, and a vast communal bath lined with arched colonnades.

This investment in infrastructure, and the attention given to the aesthetics of the surrounding environment, is indicative of the importance of hot springs to the Taiwanese. Private baths do exist, but there are more than 130 hot springs in Taiwan, and the vast majority of those are communal. Bathers come to wash, of course, but more so to relax with their friends, catch up on gossip, and even to do business. Pools such as the Jinshan Governor General Hot Spring, first opened in 1939, tend to be segregated by sex, so there’s no need to be self-conscious about nudity.

One of the best developed and most dramatically situated hot springs in Taiwan is Zhaori Hot Spring, right on the coast of Green Island. It’s one of only three saltwater hot springs in the world (the other two are in Japan and Italy), and whatever the weather, the lava-heated water remains a scorching 60°C to 70°C. Entering the ocean-side complex with friends, bathers luxuriate in the waters as they listen to the waves crashing against the shore, with stunning sea views to boot.

Many ancient societies had little comprehension that the Earth’s core was as hot as the surface of the sun WHEN WHERE HOW