#hokutolite

[lexthechef78]

Experienced the Beitou Thermal Valley for the first time. A 'cool' place to visit. #hotsprings #北投 #thermalvalley #hokutolite #greensulfurspring #taipeitravel #islaformosa #gayexpat #expatlife #hotspringegg https://www.instagram.com/p/CGxM7HAJLs1/?igshid=1s99cjfi7529u

[taipeiornottaipei]

Hot with Hokutolite

In 1905, a Japanese geologist placed an unexposed roll of film on a rock along a riverbed in the town of Hokuto (now named Beitou) in northern Taiwan, and upon getting back to his home discovered that the film had somehow been developed. Curious, he went back to Hokuto and took a sample of the rock on which he’d set the film, and sent it to Tokyo for analysis. This rock was found to be a composite of lead sulfate, barium sulfate, and--most importantly--trace amounts of several radioactive elements including radium, iodite, bismuth and polonium. Today, it is called hokutolite, and is found in only two places in the world: Beitou, Taiwan and Akita Prefecture, Japan; it is so rare that there is a conservational ban on mining of it, and it was declared a Taiwanese natural monument in the 1930’s.

History aside, hokutolite is interesting also in that part of its production depends on the presence of a natural volcanic hot spring, as Beitou is famous for having. Hot springs have long been popular in Japan, and thus when the Japanese came to Taiwan and found a the dormant volcano in northern Taiwan, it should come as no surprise that they quickly also found a series of hot springs with sulfuric, near boiling water. Within a few years, these springs were used to build Beitou into a very famous destination for spas and leisure. By the mid 20th century, it had also become the center of the Taiwanese film industry, which, according to the Beitou museum, was predominated by movies about young men who left their hometown and met a beautiful young lady who would then spend the rest of the movie accomplishing impossible feats and being generally melodramatic in order to win the affection of the man, who didn’t really do anything aside from looking good.

Nowadays, Beitou is not all that different; aside from being the corporate headquarters of Asus, it is most well-known for its hot springs, of which there are many. Most are part of a hotel or spa, but there are several public ones that you can spend a few hours in at a time, soaking in pools separated by temperature and elevation: the top-most pool is at 45C, and its water spills into a lower pool at 40-42C, and this one spills into a bottom pool of 36-39C. There is an option of a cold pool, but given the alternatives I believe a degree of insanity is required to use that one.

Side note: The water in the hot springs is so acidic from the sulfur that metal pipes cannot be used to direct it; the water eats through them. Bamboo pipes were used when the Japanese first established the spas in Beitou, and nowadays only plastic piping can be used. 

Anyway, today our little posse of exchange students decided to visit Beitou and enjoy the hot springs there. Before going, I visited the Tian Yuen Temple, a large and intricate pagoda north of Taipei most well known for the beautiful sakura trees that surround it. I had wanted to see these lovely pink blossoms around the temple, but after a long train ride and crowded bus to the temple, it turned out that the trees are not yet in bloom (they are in the rest of the country…), and within five minutes of arrival the sky started to cloud over, fog loomed heavy, and it began to rain. Perhaps another time.

Anyway, arriving in Beitou we visited the museum there and then paid the $0.80 entry fee for three hours of hot spring time at one of the public springs. It was very enjoyable, and I learned that the average Taiwanese 80 year old woman or 85 year old man can withstand much higher temperatures than me; I had to keep getting out of the water every ten minutes or so because I got lightheaded it was so warm. No passing out in the hot spring, please (although there was a man in a red jacket who, like all good lifeguards, felt the need to blow his whistle at increasingly regular intervals during our time there, so I doubt an in-bath loss of consciousness would have gone unnoticed).

Coming home much later, it drizzled a bit more, and we walked around the streets by Taipei main station until we found a restaurant for dinner. I thought my new roommate was coming today, but it seems he will not arrive until later this week.