Walking Along the Thermal Pool at Beitou 北投
The island of Taiwan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, this means this place is geologically active. I have been aware of this fact for a long time but I didn’t realize that this would lead to the presence of active geological features in the middle of the city of Taipei. This place is Beitou Thermal Valley. While I would like to describe Beitou as something like a Yellowstone, it is far from it. There is geothermally-heated water which pools at the surface forming a hot spring. The water is actually near boiling point at around 90 degrees so it is too hot for bathing. More on that later.
Steam Rising from the Waters at Beitou Thermal Valley 北投地热谷
The steam can be clearly seen rising from the water and it is almost like sitting in the middle of a volcano. It is obviously warmer here but not hot. I suspect that it would be very nice to be here when the weather is cold. It was just the start of winter when I visited and it wasn’t that cold at all. I might be nice to take a dip here but it is probably way too hot. The thermal valley area isn’t that large either. There is the main pool which is the center of the thermal valley but there is little else to see here. A lot of times, the steam would obscure there rest of the area, giving the place and ethereal feel.
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