Major tourist attractions in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), including the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, will extend their opening hours on weekends and introduce night time activities to promote the tourist area during the summer months.
Beitou, a hub of hot spring culture in Taiwan, was recently voted as one of the top 10 tourist areas in the country. It is well-known for traditional hot spring sites and a variety of spa facilities and is -especially popular during winter when tourists flock to enjoy the hot springs. Japanese-style structures and buildings scattered around the district also made it a favorite destination for Japanese tourists.
To promote the area during the summer, Taipei City’s Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday it would extend the opening hours at the Beitou Hot Spring Museum, the Plum Garden and the Ketagalan Culture Center to 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays from next month to September.
Photo: Tsai Wei-chi, Taipei Times
The three tourist attractions are scheduled to hold a joint party at the Beitou Hot Spring Museum at 5pm on Sunday featuring dance and music performances.
A traditional folk song performance led by folk singer Chen Ming-chang (陳明章) on the yueqin (月琴) will be held on July 20 at the museum to showcase the nostalgic atmosphere of the old Beitou.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday touted Beitou as a great tourist spot not only for its hot springs, but also its old district which is rich in history and culture.
“The extension of opening hours makes it easier for tourists to visit Beitou during the summer nights and hopefully the public will learn more about Beitou’s rich history and culture,” he said.
The department has also invited local tourist guide Yang Yeh (楊燁) to lead free tours around the town at 4:30pm on July 14, Aug. 11 and Sept. 15.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by