Let Me Bathe

Amazing how a volcano that's been asleep for over a thousand years still emits hot water. I had the incredible privilege to bathe in a natural hot spring on the top of a mountain. I still can't believe that the water was naturally hot. I mean hot. I could barely stand the heat in some spots of the spring. It was unbelievable. The spring was in the middle of the mountain, with smoke evaporating from its surface.

We travelled for about an hour to arrive at the bottom of Jing San, at the North of Taiwan. After we were parked, we followed a trail to get to the spring. I looked down at the trail as I hiked up the mountain—wearing flip flops to walk this rocky road wasn't the greatest idea. The rocks were green at first, and suddenly became a rusty red. And before I knew it, we were there.

The spring was just deep enough to lie down in. As a ran my fingers on the bottom of the spring, I felt the smooth mud and grabbed a handful out of the water. We rubbed the silver mud all over our bodies and faces. Crazy how this clay could give you smooth skin in just a few minutes. There you go. We had the world's most expensive spa at our disposal... all, at free of charge.

Right beside this still water hot spring, was a stream of ice cold water. I couldn't bring myself to jump in when my feet were in there, telling me that it was way too cold for the rest of me to stand. But a German girl was there and said: "Once you're in, it's good." I couldn't resist. I sucked up my fear and let my body fall into the stream. The current was so strong that I had to hold on to big rocks to avoid the water from carrying me away with him. And the girl was right. It was good.

The sky was getting dark. The clouds were starting to gather. Soon, it was raining. We reluctantly got out of the water and left before we could no longer see the trail we had to take to get back to civilisation. Good thing we left when we did; on the way down, I could no longer tell what colour the trail was, and my flip flops were teaching me a lesson for making them walk on slippery rocks in the rain.

The way back seemed never ending. But I would never wish that we had left just a little earlier to avoid this challenge. In fact.. maybe I would have liked to stay just a little longer.