A place to enjoy nature and a few ions

Mention the name Jhihben (知本) and most people's minds wander toward blissful soaks in natural hot springs. And rightfully so, because the village in the foothills of Taitung County has been the country's most popular hot-springs resort since the colonial Japanese administration began developing the spa town in the 1930s.

But there is more to Jhihben than hot, cool and cold spring pools. Only a few hundred meters farther up the Jhihben River valley from the garish strip of resort hotels is the 425-hectare Jhihben National Forest Recreational Area (知本國家森林遊樂區), which spreads out over an entire lush mountain that rises 500m from the valley floor.

The park lies within view of most of the hot spring resort hotels, but somehow goes unnoticed by most of the crowds that pack the village on weekends and holidays. Those that make the added effort to visit the park are then treated to a comparatively solitary and all-together fascinating experience, as the park is, in the words of its manager Chuang Chiong-chang (莊瓊昌), a perfect example of a low-altitude tropical forest.

The recreation area has sufficiently low visitor numbers -- just under 160,000 last year -- that the park's fauna have not been entirely chased from its boundaries, which means that visitors are usually treated to the sight of several of Taiwan's most exotic animals and birds during a stroll through the forest.

There is also a large number of highly varied indigenous flora species that are characteristic of low-altitude tropical forests.

Thoughtful planning on the part of the Forestry Bureau, which operates the recreation area, has provided a range of educational resources targeted at all ages. Though the displays at the center's ultra-modern visitor center are exclusively in Chinese, the stuffed animals and insects pinned to the walls and photographs show the impressive amount of fauna that the park boasts.

The Forestry Bureau's recreation areas, of which there are 21 in total, are leisure destinations designated specifically to provide space for the growing population of people pursuing outdoor leisure activities. Unlike most government organizations, the recreation areas have enjoyed stable budget allocations even during the recent economic downturn, which has allowed them to expand facilities and protect the often fragile ecosystems they administer.

The recreational area has four immaculately maintained trails that trace loops through the forest and, as with most things, the largest rewards come to those who make an extra effort. One trail is billed as a negative-ion "green shower," which the Forestry Bureau rather hyperbolically says provides an "exploration of natural mystery, and the cultivation of disposition and intelligence."

"Most tourists in Taiwan are herded off tour buses and given a minimal amount of time to rush through a site and get back on the bus," Chuang said. "This is a pity, because on weekends it can get quite crowded on the short trail and most people only see a fraction of what the park has to offer. But I guess for those who bother to take the longer trails, they usually get to enjoy being alone in the woods with all this wildlife everywhere."

The shortest trail is the scenic trail that parallels the Jhihben River and passes through rice paddies converted into gardens and leads to a picnic area with a man-made creek bed that doubles as a foot massage path. This is the last stop for most of the elderly visitors who come to Jhihben to soak in medicinal hot springs and who walk up and down the creek bed stimulating the pressure points on the soles of their feet to improve the body's