On this Sunday afternoon, I had almost finished writing my next posting on the Forbidden City, when we left with our Taiwanese partner to the Riyuegu Hotsprings.
Well, guess what… It was such a unique experience that you will have to wait a few more days to read about the Forbidden City.
The hot springs are not quite as sophisticated as the website would lead you to believe (2021 update: it now looks like a luxurious resort, from looking at its website) but it is indeed something you probably never experienced!
Imagine 60 little swimming pools surrounded by bamboo trees and palm trees.
Imagine all these swimming pools made of large stones and filled with water from the natural hot springs, all at different temperatures, from warm to unbearably hot!
Imagine people going from one swimming pool to the next and experiencing each one. But the best part of it is that each pool has a special scent, from rosemary and lemongrass to several kinds of tea, lemon, curry, milk, and yes, beer, red wine, and rice wine or coffee!
And they have those wonderful names: lemon burst, coffee pot. “Would you join me in the coffee pot?” Funny, no?
And I am convinced that in your life, you have ever taken a hot bath with a few glasses of red wine mixed into it…
Personally, I can add the following to my list of exotic things I have done in Asia: “I relaxed in a sake-scented jacuzzi!“. Pretty crazy…
Then, after walking around and experiencing the therapeutic benefits of these aromatic pools, we finished our visit by laying down on a nice warm granite slate, with a little bamboo box pillow, and relaxed there for a while…
We could have had a massage there, or a pedicure (and even, yes, have our eardrums cleaned… not a Chinese thing I would ever want to do, but Chinese people seem to like it, as I have seen at my hairdresser).
The funny thing is that our host fell deeply asleep for about one hour, so guess what, we had no other choice than just lay there and enjoy the moment.
A nice way to spend Sunday afternoon, and maybe a new idea of something to do for some of my ex-pat friends in Xiamen… I am not sure it is an attraction that many Westerners here know about…