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The Sound of Laughter Echoing in a Steam Room

The Sound of Laughter Echoing in a Steam Room

The silent witnesses to our collective lapse in maturity

The 180cm King Bed: Crisp, cool linens that smelled of ozone and laundry starch. It witnessed our 3 AM existential crisis, where we debated, with a feverish intensity, whether the flicker in the woods was a rare firefly or a very confused moth, eventually collapsing into a heap of exhausted, breathless laughter.

The Omnisens Soap: A creamy, floral scent of French luxury that clung to the skin. It witnessed the frantic, almost surgical scrubbing of sticky sugarcane ice residue from our fingertips after a detour to Shoufeng—a desperate, soapy attempt to pretend we weren't eating like toddlers in the humid May heat.

The Bright Blue Pool Float: A piece of neon, sun-warmed plastic that smelled of chlorine and summer. It witnessed our attempted synchronized swimming routine in the outdoor pool at Fuli Chihpen Resort, which looked less like a ballet and more like a group of startled seals navigating a storm, much to the silent amusement of the poolside staff.

The Oscar Electric Kettle: A sleek, humming metallic cylinder that breathed steam into the room. It witnessed the frantic brewing of midnight tea as we whispered secrets we’d forgotten we knew, the steam blurring the edges of the room while we tried to reconcile who we were now with who we were ten years ago.

The Room's Air Conditioner: A rhythmic, humming machine that fought a losing battle against the Taitung humidity. It witnessed the silent, passive-aggressive war over the thermostat, where 24 degrees was argued to be Arctic tundra by one and mildly oppressive by another, until we simply surrendered to the heavy, ginger-scented air.

If the furniture decided to tell the truth

We were a smudge of chaos on a pristine white sheet, a shared stain of laughter that refused to be bleached away by the quiet luxury of Fuli Chihpen Resort. We didn't fit the brochure, but we fit each other, diffusing into the stillness of the resort like a slow, inevitable saturation of joy.

A single white lily petal resting on damp pavement.

  • Try the cold pool immediately after the sauna for a necessary shock.
  • Walk to the forest area at 6am before the midday heat settles.

Nearby Food & Attractions

Qilixiang Pan-fried Buns

Qi-Li-Xiang Pan-Fried Buns is a thirty-plus-year snack institution tucked in Lane 385 of Zheng-Qi Road in Taitung City. The signature is a fist-sized pan-fried bun with a crisp golden base and a soft, generously filled interior, made even better with the house sweet-chilli sauce. Braised snacks round out the menu, prices are gentle — a single bun is just NT$25 — and queues are common. The plain shop on the corner of Zheng-Qi and Nan-Jing roads does both eat-in and takeaway.

66 Eat

Nanbei Dumpling House

Nan-Bei Dumpling House at 117 He-Ping Street in Taitung City has been around for more than forty years. Its oversized steamed dumplings — thin-skinned, bouncy and packed with juicy filling — are the headline act, joined by boiled dumplings, fried noodles, stir-fries and homestyle plates. Orders are taken on handwritten slips, sauces are self-serve, and spice fans should ask for the house peeled-chilli condiment. The two-storey room is often packed; lunch runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., dinner 5 to 8:30 p.m., with an average spend of about NT$400 per head.

52 Eat

Kazier Mahi-Mahi Specialty

Ka-Zi-Er Dorado Specialties at 115 Da-Tong Road in Cheng-Gong Township, Taitung, is a creative snack shop built around the local dolphinfish (gui-tou-dao). The kitchen folds the firm, white fish into classic Taiwanese dishes — dorado braised-pork rice, oyster omelette, fish-paste soup, fried fish cutlets and dumplings — for an affordable, distinctly local menu. Décor mixes old Taiwan with indigenous motifs, and the shop's packed rooms, mentions on the Taiwan Lu-Rou-Fan Festival list and frequent food-show features make it a Cheng-Gong must-try.

83 Eat

Banyan Tree Rice Noodles

Under-the-Banyan Rice Noodles on Section 1, Zhong-Hua Road in Taitung City has been slinging bowls for more than fifty years. The signature rice-thread noodles come with house chilli oil, golden kimchi, crispy fried dorado and other small plates that locals and tourists love. The roomy interior turns over queues quickly at peak hours; there is no air-conditioning, but the clean broth and old-school flavour more than make up for it — a Taitung essential.

70 Eat