女王頭石／李明熙
早前同老媽子上郵輪後，她問下次帶她去哪？我給她大阪、釜山、清邁和台北選擇，她選台北，因為近，而且看得懂路牌和菜單。訂過機票後，她問我女王頭石離台北遠嗎？基本上從台北去野柳可以即日來回，但我不想太舟車勞頓，決定在基隆住兩晚。
問 Agoda 有甚麼住宿介紹，我只有一個條件，就是洗手間要有門，不要甚麼情侶套房。Agoda 給我們找到新開的香草藝術旅店，從基隆火車站只需行 10 分鐘。酒店以藝術作旗號，並不只是設計風格，而是他們會定期在地庫舉行爵士音樂會及講座。旅店房間骨子，應有盡有，屬巿內一個價廉物美的選擇，加上一過馬路就是廟口夜市，覓食極之方便。
前枱職員十分友善，知我們愛喝咖啡，又介紹附近的特色咖啡店，每次出入都跟他們寒暄幾句。向他們請教去野柳的最佳途徑，他們說若非坐 790 號公車就是計程車了。公車要坐 45 分鐘，下車後要步行 15 分鐘，但我們覺得平民化一點比較開心。
女王頭石是野柳地質公園的一個著名岩石，因為長年累月受海浪侵蝕風化，外觀似一個戴著后冠的女人，因而成為一個旅遊景點。小時候在老媽子的相簿中，看到她站在女王頭前的相片，充滿好奇，攜著相片到兒童圖書館找尋女王頭的資料。所以廿年前第一次到台灣，我特意跑去看這岩石，滿足兒時的一個夢想。
今天再訪女王頭石，本想跟老媽子來張合照，但看到烈日下排隊的人龍，我們都覺得美好的景緻，記在心中就夠了。
Guguan Hot Springs/Kimberlogic
On this particular trip to Taiwan, we visited the Guguan hot springs region. Since this is a very small town tucked into the mountains, the only way to reach it was by bus. When we boarded the bus in Taichung, I had already switched into relaxed, hot spring mode, but within about 45 minutes I realized the switch was premature. Narrow mountain roads with sharp turns and cliffs paired with a bus driver confident in his skills and on a time schedule, made for an extremely terrifying journey.
When the roller-coaster finally arrived at our destination, we were in a lush mountain area in what seemed like a small, vibrant tourist town. Before trekking up the mountain to our hotel, we decided to check out the town to see what we could get ourselves into later that evening. After about 10 minutes, we had seen the entire town and realized the most exciting part of our evening was going to be a trip to 7-11.
Luckily, our hotel room was a private hot spring paradise which left us with no desire to leave. The hotel was a small hot spring water park with large public springs, and even pools of fish to eat the dead skin from your feet. Our room had glass walls which shown on our outdoor hot spring tubs, shower, lounge area and waterfall, topped off with cherry blossom trees for shade.
The next morning at breakfast, an elderly man that worked in the hotel told us about the history of the area. He pointed out areas in the mountains that were “missing” due to the earthquakes and talked about the loss of tourism and decline of the town due to the earthquake tragedies. The man also pointed out a great hiking route which we set out to do after our breakfast.
Knowing that we were coming back to our own private hot spring that evening, and also knowing that there wasn’t anything else to do in town, I think we pushed ourselves harder and climbed higher up the mountains than we would have normally. We hiked for hours and enjoyed the river and mountain views.
We returned from our hike to spend the remainder of the evening in the hot spring. I wondered since our arrival why there was a large tub and a small tub. I found out quickly that the small tub only had cold water and it is used to cool down from the hot tub throughout your experience. This time of year the nights were still chilly, and there was no way I was about to dip myself into a cold bath outside. But, luckily, Ming Hay always fulfills my curiosity by showing me things I refuse to do. After seeing him go from the hot tub to the cold tub, I knew I had made the right decision not to do that to myself! The hot tub was perfect in that private, gorgeous setting, there was no need to spoil it by freezing.
