A Japanese divine palanquin crosses the sea to pray for blessings, adding a Japanese touch to this year's Taipei Hot Spring Festival

By Li Xinyi, compiled and reported

The “2011 Taipei Hot Spring Festival” will launch on November 4 at Taipei Metro’s Xinbeitou Station. As this year marks the festival’s 10th anniversary, it has specially invited a grand divine palanquin from Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, to cross the sea to Taipei for a blessing and palanquin collision ceremony; there will also be performances of the Ming Hua Yuan Taiwanese opera "Zhou Gong vs. Tao Hua Nu" and classic glove puppetry by Liao Wenhe. The event also includes a four-day consecutive hot spring joint exhibition, a tour of the Six Scenic Spots of Beitou, as well as free Taiwanese folk culture experiences on holidays, a hot spring shuttle bus tour around Beitou, and an in-depth cultural guided tour of Beitou.

In conjunction with the Hot Spring Festival, the Six Scenic Spots of Beitou (Beitou Meiting, Beitou Hot Spring Museum, Ketagalan Cultural Center, Beitou Civic Center, Beitou Branch of the Taipei Public Library, and Beitou Geothermal Valley), which are normally closed on Mondays, will also be open on November 7. Due to time-limited traffic control and partial street closures during the Hot Spring Festival period, as well as the large number of participants, to avoid traffic congestion, it is recommended to use public transportation. Additionally, the Citizen Mini Bus Route 2 will skip the Beitou Park (Zhongshan) and First Bank stops from 10:00 to 11:00 on November 6.

In addition to the above activities, from now until November 30, visitors to Xinbeitou can enjoy discounts on hot spring baths, accommodation, and dining. For details, please visit the official event website www.chccd.com/2011taipeilife or the Taipei Travel website www.taipeitravel.net, or call (02)2895-5418 for inquiries.