Spa Stories
Diary of a global hot springs traveller
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Peninsula Hot Springs co-founder and Director Charles Davidson reports from his latest plunge into the pools of China...
China January 2010
After 18 years of searching the globe for hot springs to bring the best of what the world has to offer back home to Australia, the thirst for adventure and natural warmth continues to flow.
Leading up to the official opening of the Stage Two main bathhouse spa centre I visited the Chinese Consul General in Melbourne to give him an invitation and talk about the cultural connections between hot springs, spas, health and wellbeing. He spoke of an experience he had in China in the Southern Island of Hainan where he bathed with fish which literally ate the dead skin off his feet and hands.
Needing no more encouragement than that I booked a flight to China and decided it was time to explore what that great country and culture had to offer. Traveling alone, en route to Japan where I was going to catch up with my family (wife Yuki and four children) and friends, I gave myself one week to see what I could see. The route took me from the Southern island of Hainan, to Xiamen in the East, Beijing in the North, Lijiang in the West and then on further West into Tibet and the fabled town of Shangri-La and their magical hot springs.
Hainan - South
A one day car hire from 9am till 11pm was enough to visit six hot springs and to find four of them with flesh eating fish (dead skin only mind you). The fish varied in size from about 1.5 cm to about 12 cm in length and the larger ones had distinctive teeth that made one hope they were not too hungry! Hainan itself is like the Tasmania of China. Small and accessible but set in a semi tropical climate similar to Byron Bay in Australia. The hot springs were plentiful and busy with tourists and locals alike.
Xiamen - East
There was only time for a visit to one hot spring in Xiamen but this one would have to be the jewel in the Chinese hot springs crown in terms of new and modern facilities. The Riyuegu Hot Springs centre offered 152 different bathing experiences from herbal infusion pools, hot and cold rooms, wine baths, heated granite slabs for sleeping on and many more. This facility has a history of 600+ years and was most recently refurbished five years ago.
Beijing - North
It has been the coldest winter in China for over 60 years and Beijing was a chilly minus 15 degrees Celsius when I arrived. The thought of Hot Springs was very high on my agenda. Greeted at the airport by Chairman Zheng, from the Geothermal China Energy Society, I was taken to the Nan Gong Hot Springs Village. Established some eight years ago as China, and the world’s, first geothermal city. Two geothermal wells provided the hydronic heating and hot bath water for about 3000 homes, public swimming facilities, greenhouses for growing fruits and vegetables as well as an aquaculture fish farm were also fed by the hot springs. It is a city of technical and educational interest but will not, as it currently stands, be high on any hot springs tourism map.
Ljiang - West
Here is a town that is alive. Set up for tourists Lijiang has a charm that makes one feel like they have arrived back in ancient China, time has stood still at a time that is about fun, laughter and song. The one hot springs in Lijiang is about 10 minutes by car out of town and like a large public swimming pool. Lijiang is the hop-off zone for travels to Tibet and many other day tours in the region. It is also the world's most visited city by size. When staying in Lijiang I recommend Villa Bubu run by a lovely French Australian man, Bubu, they are able to provide on-ground travel advice for trips in Yunan and beyond. After several expeditions with Bubu in Yunan over the past four years he is quickly becoming a leading authority on Chinese hot springs and health and wellbeing travel.
Tibet - Far West China
Three hours from Lijiang by car we made it to the town of Shangri-La and on the banks of a cold river, now 3500 metres in elevation, natural warm waters flowed into a vast bathing area. Out of the rock in a semi cave on the side of the hill, steam gushed out to form a natural steam room.
The Tibetan people have a long and proud history of hot spring bathing as well as laughing and having fun. These resting tour guides were no exception.
En-route back to Lijiang, on the banks of the Yangtze River, half expecting to see Ping the Duck, there were natural hot springs. It was a local's-only destination and the facilities were basic but the water felt great. The view over the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge makes it one of the more spectacular places to enjoy natural heat from the earth.
An amazing week of travels discovering the natural warmth of China.
Happy hot springing!!!
- Charles
Charles Davidson,
From the Peninsula Hot Springs Newsletter,
Peninsula Hot Springs,
Springs Lane,
Rye, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria 3941.
www.peninsulahotsprings.com