Taipei Gay-ish Hot Spring

[Guest fountainhall]

In previous posts, I have talked about the all-male hot spring just on the outskirts of Taipei. Almost always I have a great time there, and so I am posting directions again for those who might wish to try it.



On one of my visits last week, I got chatting to a mid-20s English guy. We had both been in the tiny steam room (very little action apart from occasional touching) and were cooling off in the cold pool. He asked if I was gay. I then asked him the same question. “Not sure, yet,” he replied. Which was somewhat surprising as he told me he had been at one or other of the two all-male hot-springs every day that week!

I was interested to hear about the other pool because I have only ever been to this one. He said it is very close by, has more pools but tends to cater for a generally older crowd. So this is clearly the one for those enjoying the company of naked younger guys!

Although not a sauna and technically not gay (some fathers take their sons there on a week-end afternoon, for example), these hot springs attract a lot of gay guys, especially on week-end afternoons and evenings. Almost all the clientele are Taiwanese. Apart from myself, I have rarely seen more than a couple of non-Chinese foreigners there.

Unlike Thais, Taiwanese guys think nothing of parading around in all their glory – no attempts to cover their assets. So it is a wonderful place if you just want to soak in one of the three pools – hot, medium and bloody freezing! But like many who go to the bars, gay Taiwanese tend to congregate in groups. So you will see two or three friends arriving together, chatting in the various pools and then leaving together. Making contact is not so easy, although exchanging details is not impossible.

A Taiwan friend took me for my first visit a few years ago, and so I know how easy it is to get there. But for those not used to getting around in Taipei, it can be a little intimidating. So I suggest the following.

1. Look for the red line on the subway which goes to Tamsui and Beitou. 

 

 

 

You can get it from the main Taipei Rail Station stop or change there from one of the other lines. From there it’s only 9 stops to Shipai station.

 

 

This costs just Bt. 30 from the city centre (The NT$ is almost the equivalent of the Baht).

2. At Shipai, take Exit 1

 

3. After exiting, on your right you will see a taxi rank.

 

 

Just show a driver the name card above. Every driver knows where it is. You can if you wish take one of three buses but you have to know where to get off. The hot spring is about 3.6 kms up a steep winding hill and the taxi fare is around Bt. 140.

4. The taxi will turn right off the main road, drive down 500 or so meters and then either drop you here –



– in which case you have to go right down a long flight of steps. At the bottom just by a fish pond on your right, do a U-turn and go about 20 meters to the reception desk:

 

 

– or will go to the bottom of the hill and drop you right at the reception here –

– 

5. Buy a ticket for Bt. 200. If you have not brought a towel with you, you can buy a small one here for Bt. 100.

6. With your ticket, proceed towards that fish pond, do a little S turn by a small bar here –



– and the entrance to the male hot spring is on your left about 10 meters further ahead after the white wall.

 

7. On entering, take off your shoes and put them in one of the open lockers. Then find a small locker with a key and use that for your clothes and towel. You will need 2 x NT$10 coins to put in the slot to lock the locker and get the key.

8. Remember to bring a bottle of water with you and don’t put that in the locker. There are places by the main spring for it. After some time in the hot spring and the steam room, you will definitely need some re-hydrating!

9. When it is time to leave, towel off and get dressed. The reception where you bought your ticket will order you a taxi which will usually only take between 5 and 10 minutes. But if it is raining, the time may be 20 minutes or so. You can either take it back to Shipai station, or straight back into town when it will cost you around Bt 300 – Bt. 350 to most places. Make sure you have your destination written clearly in Chinese characters because the ladies at reception speak no English.

The complex is open 24 hours, and includes little restaurants as well as a ladies pool.

[Rogie]

I'd love to visit this place, I'd certainly do so if I ever go to Taiwan. Thank you for the meticulous directions.

 

As far as public nudity is concerned, from your description FH, it sounds to me as though the Taiwanese (or do they like to be referred to as Chinese?), have it just about right. As far as I am aware, in many western countries (particularly before a time when every household didn't have the luxury - we take so much for granted nowadays - of its own supply of running water) when visiting the public baths men and boys were quite happy to perform their ablutions without having to worry about being seen in their birthday suits. Of course, men and women were strictly segregated in such places. I would imagine the 'modern' requirement towards covering up happened as a result of  mixed bathing becoming  the norm. This certainly applies to swimming. However, some traditional components retain their single-sex sessions, for example turkish baths, in which case nudity is quite acceptable in my experience.

 

The reason why I say the Taiwanese have it just about right is that enjoying the facilities such as at these hot pools is, and please correct me if I am wrong FH, greatly enhanced by not having to don such a superfluous item of clothing. However, that does carry a risk that some may not respect the space and privacy of others, and seek to take advantage. Every bather has a responsiblity not to overstep whatever bounds tradition dictates. Thus FH refers to 'very little action' in the steam room. That to me seems fair enough, as what goes on in the steam room (assuming it is a proper one with very poor visibility) could be thought of as semi-private, or semi-public, depending on how you look at it. The steam room is quite tricky because IMO the visibility has to be just good enough to ensure any 'action' is taking place with the full consent of both people. If the visibility is next to zero that's as good as a groper's charter. Hopefully the Taiwanese would not take advantage of that, but the behaviour of some falung in places such as Babylon tells me they would!

 

So I believe in such places as these excellent traditional hot springs there is a fine balancing act going on. Provided the users of such public places respect and know their responsibilties towards each other, long may they flourish.

[Guest fountainhall]

I am not sure how far back in time the Taiwan hot spring tradition goes, but the popular present ones are clearly a result of the Japanese colonisers prior to World War II. Like Japan, Taiwan is earthquake country (there was a smallish one when I was there last week). Hot springs have been a tradition in Japan for centuries and remain so today. Indeed, finding new and out-of-the-way hot springs and hot spring resorts is a sort of national pastime with more than one television series being devoted to it.

Present-day saunas in Japan follow the tradition of walking around naked. Small towels are provided but these are primarily to help wash thoroughly and then to dry yourself before seeking some action whether that he in the shower hot/cold pool area or the rooms upstairs. Just outside the bathing area, '24 Kaikan' in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ni-chome district has a nifty little spinner so you can quickly dry the towels. Some of the slimmer guys then wrap them around their waists rather than use the larger towels which are used for parading around elsewhere.

In addition to hot springs, as Rogie points out, another Chinese/Japanese/Asian tradition was the bathhouse. Few private houses had bathing facilities and so public bathing was the norm for vast numbers of people. When this becomes a daily occurrence, getting worried what the guy next to you might think of your private parts, as might be the case in the west, is something you just never consider.

In Japan, there was also the fact that all city and town dwellers lived almost on top of one another in houses built of very flimsy materials. So, as I noted in another earlier thread, although you knew that your neighbours had had a fight the previous evening, you greeted them the next morning as though nothing had happened. You had heard, but you did not hear. You saw things, but your mid rejected the fact they had been seen. For that was about the only way you could live and stay sane in such cramped, sardine-like conditions.

Taiwanese (and, yes, they do regard themselves as Taiwan nationals even though the vast majority are also ethnic Chinese) do have it just about right, in my view. The enjoyment of a hot spring is being at one with nature in one’s own natural state. The spring that is the subject of this thread is only half roofed, and so you can sit and see the darkening sky in the late afternoon and the trees on the opposite hillside. It is not dark like a sauna, although the light is much more subdued in the evenings.

The issue of responsibility is perhaps more due to cultural norms and licensing regulations. You go there to participate in a sort of hot spring ritual, not to engage in any form of sexual activity. The steam room is indeed tiny and the steam can often be almost unbearably ho!. And that is when those interested in making a ‘connection’ can do so without fear of others seeing them.

But whether or not you want to arrange a later hook-up, just lounging in the therapeutic, slightly sulphurous waters watching young Taiwanese guys parade around in all their glory is its own special kind of joy!

[Rogie]

I think most of us reading this thread would agree that a foreign visitor to any public place in the country they are visiting should respect local customs and traditions. That would not necessarily mean the same as following such customs; for example when visiting a Buddhist temple there is a plenty of leeway. Apart from taking off your shoes and dressing conservatively, you can choose to follow or not. So, in Thailand, Burma, and Laos I have found equal enjoyment visiting a temple whether on my own or together with a local person. In my own company I wander around soaking up the atmosphere - and it can be very atmospheric, to hear large numbers of monks chanting (so much so that a deserted monastery feels a little two-dimensional IMO) - taking a few photos perhaps and relishing the peace and order of the place. When I'm with with a native person I follow his lead. If he is making an offering I am happy to join in, and so on.

 

In such places as we have been discussing in this thread, however, I believe we ought to follow the cultural norm. So just as it would be rude and probably get you booted out if you went into a hot pool in Taiwan or its equivalent in Japan wearing board shorts and hadn't taken a shower beforehand, so it would if you went naked in a sauna in Thailand. Even in saunas frequented by many falung wrapping a towel around yourself whilst fully visible is expected.

 

Quite why differences in attitudes to public nudity should arise is a fascinating topic for discussion. As FH describes, the way it evolved in Japan meant nudity made perfect sense and is still commonly found in public bathing. In the west, and to take Britain as an example, as already discussed it was the norm to bathe in the nude as long as bathing was a single sex activity. Britain nowadays is a very prudish nation when it comes to public nudity; unless you are a practicing naturist (attending a specifically naturist event at your local swimming pool for example) you will be expected to cover your privates. But other western countries seem to have managed the transition a lot better. One thinks of the Scandinavian countries where the love of the sauna is part of those country's tradition, whether it be single sex or mixed company. On a leisurely tour around Finland one summer in my campervan I had stopped by a lake to admire its beauty and tranquility, when a car drew up, and a woman and her early teens daughter got out, stripped off and ran into the water stark naked. That would never happen in Britain!

[Guest fountainhall]

. . . it would be rude and probably get you booted out if you went into a hot pool in Taiwan or its equivalent in Japan wearing board shorts and hadn't taken a shower beforehand . . .

 

You would probably be loudly jeered if you tried wearing any form of clothing in a hot spring. But the strongest approbation would be not showering and thoroughly cleansing your body first. In the west, we tend to regard a bath as a place to wash and soak. To Japanese, Taiwanese, Koreans and probably quite a few other Asians, public baths are places to soak in only after you have rigorously washed, rinsed and dried every part of your body.

 

In most Japanese homes, the 'bathrooms' will have a shower and a small, deep bath. Because you will be so clean when you enter the bath, the water will be left in it for many days, if not weeks. A heater underneath will warm it each time you want to have a soak.

 

That would never happen in Britain!

 

I guess for all but a couple of weeks in the year, it would be too bloody cold 

[fedssocr]

Thanks for this. I may well try it out next time I am in town. This is probably a dumb question, but do you wear any footware (i.e. flip flops or "shower shoes")?

[Guest fountainhall]

do you wear any footware (i.e. flip flops or "shower shoes")?

 

Over several visits, I think I recall just one guy wearing flip flops in the spring area. Everyone just puts their footwear in the lockers provided and walks around in their bare feet (and bare everything else  )!

 

Try to make your first trip on a Saturday evening - when the place is packed!