Tian-Long Hotel — Hotel in Jiaoxi Township

Traveling in Taiwan is really a kind of a skill. Knowing how to do it will improve your chances at having a good time. Here's what you should know before you go:||JiaoXi is not a pretty city. It's not a quaint hotsprings resort that you might expect in a remote asian village. It's a honky tonk collection of old hotels built in the 70s and 80s from designs drafted in the 60s, mixed in with brand new big hotels of varying shapes and qualities. They buildings are an urban planner's nightmare. The streets are mostly ugly and very much like you would find in any Taiwan city/town/village. However, there are those of us who take a great deal of pleasure in this mish-mash quality that Taiwan excels in. Expect this, and you will not be disappointed. ||There are a few bright spots for the traditionalists, however. The JiaoXi Hotspring Park is really pretty. There are many sitting pavilions where you can soak your feet in the natural spring water, there is a visitor's center with helpful staff, a public swimming pool with outdoor soaking tubs (mixed sexes, swimsuit and swim cap required, and the star of the show, the Hotsprings. The hotsprings is located inside the park. Pay at the entrance ($150 NTD for single entrance), BRING YOUR OWN TOWEL so you don't have to buy theirs, and bring a few coins for the lockers inside. Leave your swimsuit and inhibitions at the hotel because this public bath is outdoors and nude! The insides are completely invisible to the outside world, but you get the sensation of being in the park and in the baths at the same time. For those who know how to do this already, skip ahead to the hotel. For the newcomers: Leave your shoes with all the others. You'll know where when you walk in. Grab a locker, either a free on with no door, or a locking one. Throw your stuff in. If you are kind of shy, you can bring your towel around with you, but it will probably get wet as there is no good place to stash it while you soak. Also, people will look at you strangely if you try to walk around with a towel covering your proud parts. Head straight for the showers. There will be soap dispensers and buckets. Rub yourself down with soap and water so you don't gross out the other patrons. Then find a spot in one of the four different pools and slither down. There are no cellphones or cameras allowed, no smoking, and no eating. If you have to go pee, go to the toilet and hit the showers again right after. Usually the toilet area has common use slippers for you to wear while you are in the toilet area. After you are done for the day, shower up again and get dressed. There are hair dryers for you to use in the dressing area. In the hotsprings you will see people of all shapes and sizes. Nobody cares. This hotsprings does not require men to wear bathing caps.||Tian Long Hotel - This is one of the many many many completely unremarkable hotels in Taiwan. It will provide you with a reasonably comfortable room, but don't expect the fixtures to be new. The linens were bright and clean and the room did not smell of smoke (a minor miracle given the number of Mainland tourists who continue to flaunt the no-smoking rules in Taiwanese hotel rooms). As always seems to happen, I asked to be moved to another room and I found the second room to be far better than the first (the first room was next to the elevator - too noisy). The second room was a corner room with windows on two sides and much more open feel. The room was old fashioned, and the tile was pulling away from the walls, but it was clean. The tub was plastic and not very handsome at all, but it didn't matter as the hotel is directly across the street from the Hostprings Park.||The top floor of the hotel has its own hostprings. In this town, that simply seems to mean that they have a swimming pool or two that is filled with the water from the springs. In this case the pools were clean, and no one else was using them. They were indoor, family friendly, and bathing suits are required. It's a nice presoak before heading out to the real soaks.||Why stay here? The price is reasonable by western standards (just around $90), and they serve a basic low-brow breakfast buffet. The food was completely mundane but the service was earnest and the food was constantly resupplied. Again, do not expect smart hats and snappy uniforms as the staff is just local aunties who got up at an ungodly hour to fry eggs and heat up sausages. If you are a hotel lover, I recommend you double up your budget and head for one of the many upscale resorts. If you are a total budget hound, I recommend you halve your budget and stay at one of the many older, dingier hotels such as the perfunctory Champagne Hotel (where the beds are harder than the floors but the price is only about $40/night). If you are a middle of the road kind of person who is happy to spend this much money and have a perfectly fine but not charming room, this...

We reached the hotel near midnight, I had previously informed the hotel about the late night check in. They kindly arranged a 2 double bed room for us as the 3 pax rooms were fully booked, although previously I only requested for an extra bed. The next day we were moved to a double bed room with extra bed (as originally planned) as all the other bigger family rooms were taken.||The breakfast was good, some local Taiwanese flavours which I had no problem with. ||The room was clean, although it was showing some aging signs. The bath tub for hot spring spa was as expected too. ||The only complaint I had was the air conditioning. The first evening we had to suffer through an AC-free night. We only found out that the reception switched off the AC for the whole floor because some other customers on the floor complained it being too cold. He told us to call the reception if we need it turned back on. The AC was turned off around 2-3am the next 2 evenings and we had to call the reception to turn it back on. :( I do suspect they wanna save the cost on electricity. Anyhow, the AC was turned out quite immediately after the complaint. But we were already interrupted from our sleep. ||The hotel is not far from the shops. Plenty of places for meals and...

Price was ok, as we got the family room. It wasn't that spacious as compare with the photos. Probably a saying goes that 'photos are deceiving' seems to be true. ||Air con wasn't really strong, but in a way, 'thanks' to the raining period that still ok for the coolness. Staff are really friendly...||What we love is the Hot Spring, which is located on the 8th floor. You need to take the lift to 7th floor and then climb the stairs up to 8th floor though. Just be careful as the stairs leading up is quite narrow. The hot spring area is great. Probably due to raining, there wasn't anyone at the hot spring area, which looks like, we are owning the hot spring itself. Have a shower area nearby, and some locker to put your stuff. But since we are staying at the hotel itself, we didn't even bring much stuff to the area. We did have a rinse (for hygiene purpose also) before heading into the tub though. ||Breakfast was so so. Variety not much and taste was ok. Its within walking distance (less than 2 mins walk) to the 'Hot Spring Park', which is the main reason why we...