Hot Spring Feast at the Emperor Spa

Today, I had a nice chair massage. Lately my neck and upper back has been acting up for some reason, likely from poor front-of-computer posture. And it reminded me of a nice relaxing trip to a hot spring in Taiwan that I had been meaning to write about. Welcome to...

The hot spring dungeon! On a dark and ominous day. That whole week had been just dreary, persistent clouds and intermittent rain. But, great weather to go to a hot spring. True for any non-extreme weather, really.

I was impressed by the neon signs, though. They really light the whole place up. It just screams "tourist come here!" But this spot is quite popular with locals. The entire area is hopping with hot springs, with a wide variance in quality and offerings. Some are full service spas, and others, like this one, offers something rather unique: hot spring and a delicious meal.

This is the picture of the front door, and I find this entrance way and the lighting to be striking. The purple hue is rather unsettling somehow, feels like at any moment it can go all Stranger Things upside down world.

But about the layout. As you enter, there's the reception where you register, and you can choose to either to eat or to do hot springs first. To me the choice is obvious: I can't imagine who would want to stew in a hot spring on a full stomach. The deal is quite nice as well, they will subsidize part of the meal with the hot spring admission.

The hot spring itself is pretty standard. Multiple pools of various temperatures, sauna and steam-room. As far as cleanliness goes it isn't one of those nice full-service clean spas, it's quite bare-bones. The lockers are coin-operated, which was a bit of an annoyance-- each time you want to open it you would need to insert coins. It's split male/female, and no clothes are allowed in the pool area. (Yeah, you just get used to it. It's a little weird if you have never done it before). Rinse off in a shower and into the pools you go.

Also, the source of the water is from natural hot springs, so it will smell like rotten eggs. And be careful with silver jewelry. They will turn black (it's possible to restore the shine after with toothpaste, interestingly enough, but better to not expose it in the first place).

But anyway, spend time in the hotter pools or the sauna/steam room, and then jump into the cold pool. It feels really great. Rinse and repeat. Also perfect after a long day of walking or working out (I did the former).

After we finished, we met up at the dining area, where we ordered a lot of yummy things. By then we were quite hungry. And of course I took some photos:

This is a crab porridge. Rice Porridge / congee is already one of my favorite dishes. They throw in some crab claws which really provides a nice base for the soup. I remember that this one also had a nutty taste as well, from the added peanut.

Fried buns (Silver Strand Roll, if I translate the words literally). It comes with a condensed milk sauce, and it is a great dessert. I should have taken a picture of the inside, which has a bunch of soft noodle like strands which are chewy. The outside is fried to it is crispy. I remember as a kid I ate this once, and loved it so much but was never able to find it again. Until now.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We really liked the hot springs. It's a must-visit for Taiwan. Actually, this is a great way to start the trip too and fend off jetlag. A relaxing pool of stinky sulphur to melt away the tiredness.

Emperor Spa Website

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