After I checked out from the Regent Taipei hotel, I moved on to another luxurious hotel in Yilan, also under the same hotel group as the Regent Taipei. But before going there, I went to meet Yuna. We don’t meet often, so whenever we have time, we can talk at any place or any time. This time, we spent time together in the park, with her nephew, because I was not in the hurry to Yilan.

We were talking while playing with her nephew. Well, after spending time with the kid, we had a stronger feeling that both of us really don’t want to have children. Children really take up a lot of time and attention, and both of us want to enjoy our lives more! We still prefer spending time on ourselves than on kids, because there are too many interesting things to do in the world. Hmmm, Yuna and I both agreed with this thought.

It was quite interesting. I used to think it will be great to have a family and have kids, when I was still dating with Henry. But things changed after I broke up with him. Probably it was because I don’t have partner anymore. Probably in the future when I have someone to date again, I will want a kid. But definitely not now. I have so many things to be busy at, I don ‘t want to spend time on kids. And I feel so scared to have kids, because I am strict to myself and I will be strict to my kids. I think my kids will probably feel I don’t love them because I always ask everything to be perfect. I feel stressed out because I realize I have this bad habit, while I have no control over it. So the good solution is not to have children. They won’t feel stressed, and I won’t either.

And I think the God heard my voice? I got diagnosed with a certain female syndrome that I won’t have period and won’t have children unless I go freeze my eggs. And the worst thing is my bad temper will worsen…… Well, kind of sad? Yes, kind of sad, Although the result is what I want, I want to have rights to decide that I have children or not have children. But it is not good for me keep thinking about it, so, just relax~~~ Back to Yuna, after saying good bye to her, I continued my trip to Jiaoxi, Yilan. On the way to the train station, I passed by a Turkish restaurant, Safranbolu Turkish Restaurant 蕃紅花城土耳其餐廳, that I always want to try. So I went inside and had a quick lunch there. There are so many things on the menu, I had stir-fry chicken with a salad. Next time I want to try their kebab and doner!

I planned a two-day trip in Wellspring by Silks (the hotel group name). Yilan, Jiaoxi is one hour away from Taipei city, which is very close and very popular among citizens in Taipei. This town to people in Taipei is exactly like Hakone to people in Tokyo: a small retreat place which is convenient as well as easy to get to. This place is famous for onsen, so there are so many onsen hotels on the street. There is no need to go deep into the mountain for the onsen area, and that is the reason why I choose this place. Bike renting is not so popular in this area, so I cannot go anywhere unless I take taxi. Therefore, I have to sacrifice the tranquility onsen town deep in the mountain, but only choose the onsen town close to the train and bus station.

There is another big hotel in addition to Wellspring hotel, the MU JIAO XI HOTEL. I also took a tour inside that hotel and I think Mu hotel is better than Wellspring hotel. The hotel is much bigger, separate to two building. They offer bike renting and I also had buffet dinner inside the hotel, where the food was very tasty. Wellspring hotel is a bit small, but still the overall quality is good.

Walking into the room, there is a huge storage place for luggage and clothes. The room is Japanese style, very spacious, and it was separate to several areas with doors. There was an outdoor onsen bathtub inside the room, and the long sofa of course is very comfortable. The hotel offered set bento box for the breakfast, so I asked for taking away back to the room. The hotel thought there are two people in the room, so they gave me two portion of breakfast haha. I asked them to prepare one vegetarian breakfast and another non-vegetarian. That’s why there were a lot of food on my breakfast table hehe.

There is no gym in the hotel, but there is an exercise room with yoga mat next to the hotel restaurant. So I went there for doing my own workout. On the first night, I ordered seafood from a seafood restaurant downstairs. All ingredients in their shop look so fresh, I ordered some salad, grilled squid and fish soup. The food was very tasty!!!

The next morning, after a satisfying double portion breakfast, I started my training day. There is a famous mountain near the hotel, around 3km away. It is famous because there was one Japanese blogger climbing up to the mountain and taking photos, while saying the green and shinny mountain looks just like Matcha. Therefore, this mountain is also called “Matcha mountain”. The name is cute, but the height is not. It is actually a very challenge hiking trail, which takes up to 6 hour for a round trip. Usually visitors will start early in the morning, in order to avoid the bad weather at noon so they can see the green and shinny mountain top. Usually in the afternoon, the weather will become bad and the Matcha mountain will become Snow white mountain haha. But I don’t like to be always in a hurry, so I still left the hotel pretty late. Some people are saying, sometimes even if you get there really early, you still see the white mountain. That makes people feel really bad after a 6-hour hardwork.

In order to make up for the late departure, I climbed super fast. At first, the slope was not steep, so it was quite easy. The hardest part was the last few meter up to the mountain, because the slope became really steep. At the same time, I saw the weather starts to turning bad. I hurried up once again, very tiring. FINALLY I GOT TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP. But climbing up to the 20 steps at front is the hardest, I think, because those steps are very high and huge, so hard to climb. Once I reached to the platform and taking a few photos, it started to rain!!! I was the last one who got to take photos of the green mountain, although not so green as the real Matcha mountain.

Suddenly, the air became cold and wet. I got all wet by the rain and by the sweat of all hard work. I felt cold and super tired. I did prepare some snacks, but it was really too cold to stay there. So I left quickly. The weather in the mountain really changes a lot according to the height. Once I got to the lower area, it became super hot and dry again. Looking back again all the green mountain and city view, I felt more relaxed than when I was on the mountain top. On my way back I saw monkeys. Monkeys here are very scared of human, not like those scary and fierce monkeys in Kaohsiung. I even went to take a quick tour at the waterfall. I remembered this waterfall because when I was in high school, I came around here for Nobel prize educational camp. I didn’t get the chance to see the waterfall at that time, because the tour group left too early. No high school students will want to wake up so early to see the waterfall haha.

In the morning, because I was in a hurry, I took taxi up to the hiking entrance. Now I finished, I decided to take a walk back to the hotel, it was not far though. After I got closer to the city center, I found the coffee shop I want to go. I ordered a salad and a cup of coffee, trying to relax a bit in the shop. It is a tiny and warm coffee shop, and I got a good rest sitting in front of the window with some good food. After a while, I left the shop and continued to see what is inside the city center. I had little interest at those gift shops, all selling the same products. Instead, I passed by a small tea stand, selling the tea I like. It was refreshing to get a big bottle of ice tea in my hands and it tasted so good!. I thought it is just a stand, but then I noticed it is actually a shop selling tea. I started to talk to the owner and I bought the tea I ordered at the stand. It was not just one kind of tea. Instead, it was a mixture of two kinds of tea. The tea was not cheap but I decided to get some and give it a try. At the same time, the owner filled up my big bottle again since I finished drinking it so fast! Thinking back now, I really like their tea because I make the tea very often now in a big bottle. The tea is good with or without milk, and my mom loves it too! Good thing I took a photo so I know where to get it next time.

I got back to the hotel around 4:30 pm. I took a shower and soaked myself into the onsen pool in my own room. I felt so relaxed. Today was such a challenging day because I finished the hiking within 4 hours. I like this kind of challenge. Also, I finished fast because I went hiking alone so no one can control my speed haha. My colleagues always say I am the horse without leash, keeping running forward.

After the relaxing bath, I felt so hungry. Walking out of the hotel and went into the more fancy hotel across the street (Mu Hotel), I entered their buffet restaurant. The food variety is indeed amazing and the quality is very good, except for the meat section. All kinds of their meat seem to be overcooked, undercooked, or no flavor. But except meat, all other things are very good, they even offer fresh juice. I got to try everything and I love their seafood section. As I mentioned before, I kept having seafood in Taiwan because this was probably the only place I felt safe to eat seafood. Hospitals are everywhere haha.

After the feast, I decided to walk around the hotel area. Hotels in this town are all around each other. The city center is very small, basically develops around the hotel area. I found a small chocolate shop, very tasty and I got some. I found many massage stores, so I chose one to enter, to get a good massage after the crazy hiking today. Massage was good and the time passed fast. Finally I got back to the hotel around 11 pm. Get ready for a good sleep.

The next day, I left the hotel without eating breakfast. Today, I decided to go to the trail I went one time when I was in the university, with my ex. Last time, he drove me there. This time, I waked and ran 7km from the hotel to get there. The hotel staff said it was crazy to do that haha, but they helped me postpone my check-out time so I can make it on time coming back by bus. Actually I have to say, I probably wouldn’t walked there again if I come back in the future. It is not because of the distance, but because the road is too quiet. I don’t feel so safe walking alone on the road. There was really no one along the road. I got a bit scared, that’s why it became walking +running instead of just walking.

When I got closer to the point, I started to see some visitors. The trail was super easily and short, compared to yesterday’s Matcha mountain. I finished within 40min, I walked fast because I was worried I can’t make it on time for the bus going back. Although the trail is short, the view is amazing. It was just like last time when I came here, very relaxing and refreshing. It was a good morning workout before my big breakfast.

Finishing the quick trail walking, I went back tot he hotel to get my breakfast and started packing. The weather today is very nice, so I decided to stay around the train station for a bit longer. I got into a cute bakery and cafe, pretty famous on the Internet. The building and the small garden are very beautiful. The food and drink menu has some special items too. But the taste of the food is nothing special. Probably this shop is the only modern bakery in this town and it is close to the station. Visitors always recommend this shop.

There is also a cute cake shop in the station. The filling in the cake is really amazing, way too much haha. I think this small stand is even worth visiting than that bakery. My long luxurious hotel hopping trip finally came to the end, including three hotels. I really miss my own bed now, can’t wait to go back home! Now I realized I am really a homy person, can’t leave my own place for too long.