The Tourism Bureau yesterday unveiled a list of top 10 hot springs in the nation, adding that it would market those that made it to the top five to international tourists.
The top 10 are: Guanzihling (關子嶺) in Tainan; Xinbeitou (新北投) in Taipei; Jiaosi (礁溪) in Yilan; Guguan (谷關) in Taichung; Jhihben (知本) in Taitung County; Tai’an (泰安) in Miaoli County; Jinshan (金山) Wanli (萬里) and Wulai (烏來) in New Taipei City; Rueisuei (瑞穗) in Hualien County and Baolaibulao (寶來不老) in Kaohsiung.
Hot springs in Xinbeitou and Jiaosi were tied at No. 2.
Photo courtesy of Tourism Bureau
The bureau’s domestic travel section chief Su Yu-hung (蘇宇宏) said that this is the first time that the bureau has evaluated the hot springs in the nation and compiled a Top 10 list.
Su said that the list was determined in two phases. During the first phase, which was from Nov. 1 last year to Jan. 10, members of the public were asked to vote for their favorite hot springs.
Results at this stage accounted for 70 percent of the overall score, he said.
Independent experts were then invited to evaluate the hot springs at the second stage. They examined them based on seven major criteria, which included water quality, safety and hygiene, and creative tour arrangements.
The hot springs that made it to the top five were those that received the highest scores among the hot springs in the south, the north, the east and in central Taiwan, Su said.
The bureau said that each hot spring varies in water quality, history and culture.
For example, Xinbeitou was the first hot spring area in Taiwan, it said, adding that hot springs there can be divided into three categories: those containing white sulphur, blue sulphur and iron sulphur.
The area can also be accessed by the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit System.
Guanzihling is the nation’s only mud springs, the bureau said.
Hot springs operators there have succeeded in combining mud springs tours with the delicious food and coffee produced in Dongshan (東山), the bureau said.
Visitors to Guguan can also see pine trees that are hundreds of years old and experience the Atayal culture, it added.
Visitors to Jiaosi can enjoy hot spring tours and farm produce irrigated by the hot spring waters, the bureau said.
Hot spring operators in Jhihben have turned the town into a holiday resort, where people can bath in the hot springs, walk in the forest and sample traditional Puyuma dishes.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all