I had been waiting to "Fly the Lantern" (放天灯) since the day we reached Taipei. Finally, day 7 was here! XD
The most famous spots for the lantern flying is in ShiFen (十分) and PingXi (平溪) and by going there, we had to take the train.
Our train tickets
I later found out that You-you Card can also be used OTL
Oh well, letting the others see the formally-used train tickets. lol
There are 3 types of trains in the TRA
The one we took is the "local" (区间) one, which is cheaper and slower.
*This is the (自强) train, with interior similar to the HSR*
The ticket counter
Our train tickets to Shifen XD
The "Local" train
To get to the station itself, we walked across the railway.
The Shifen station
There was this DIY coin machine that allows you to choose 1 out of 3 patterns and roll it yourself. We all though it was interesting so we dump in NT30 worth of coins and started turning.
The copper dispenser.
Once you placed the coins in the given slot and turned it,
the copper will drop down, positioned at the "stamp"
Turning the wheel for "printing" the pattern on the copper
It was actually rather hard to make it a full turn ><
How it looked like after that.
3 of the designs to choose from XD
Thinking that to get to the famous Shifen waterfall, we had to get down that Shifen, we thought we overshot when we saw the park on the train. After looking at a map, we "confirmed" our conclusion that we should be walking down from the previous station because it was nearer. So, we thought of waiting for the next train while walking along the railway shops. Further down the railway was a lot of shops selling small lantern key chains. There was this certain shop that enables us to write a letter to ourselves and it would be sent to us a year from then.
I've always wanted to mail to my future self, so I immediately took up the offer. They send internationally too XD
The post card I chose for myself
The "1 year later" post box
"We were here"
We took the train back to this station called "大华" and boy, were we very wrong. The train master was shocked when we alighted. He asked where we were going and said to go to the waterfall, we had to walk from the Shifen Station, since it was dangerous and forbidden to walk the railway. Hence, we had to wait for another train back to Shifen. OTL
Time wasted.
The lonely station...
Warning signs OTL
Stuck.
At least the scenery was pretty XD
Initially we wanted to go PingXi for the fly our lanterns. Lingyu asked what was the difference between flying it at PingXi and Shifen. They said that the original "activity" was carried out in Shifen, so a lot of customers will come to Shifen to fly their lanterns at the 'birthplace' of lantern flying.
Supposedly, from its name "天灯" (lantern light) it means sky's light, so means it was normally flown that night when the sky is dark. However, when we arrived at around noon, there were already people flying their lanterns. The shop owners said that because the colours of the lanterns and the wording would be more visible in the day so customers would choose to fly it then.
Hence, we decided to fly it once in the day and another one after we came back from the waterfall.
Different colours symbolise different meanings and wishes
The purpose for this "天灯" was to bring your wishes up to the heavens
In a way, it is like praying. Haha
Pink is for love. :P
They normally have 4 different colours for each side of the lantern.
Colour combinations varies from shops.
Chuyi, Shiyi and I shared one lantern. We were kind of rushing to release it as the weather was not looking too good. After we release it, 5 mins later, it started to drizzle OTL
Our lantern was being blown away by strong wind.
Just above ours was another lantern.
It caught fire and went down ;A;
The distance was not short and as the rain got heavier, we got tired.
Nearing the waterfall
Finally we reached the waterfall! I had thought it was opened free of charge to public, but it seems like the waterfall was surrounded by a "playground".
Our tickets- NT70 per pax
As it was raining pretty heavily, the water was really clean
It goes further down. From that location, we cant see much.
I found out that there was another way to see the waterfall and it was free of charge.
Apparently if we walked opposite of the 'playground', there was this wooden stairs that lead to the other side of the waterfall.
Shouting at the waterfall
Isn't that what they normally show on TV?
(besides the meditating under waterfall)
An lucky encounter with the rainbow!
I was staring that that location and saw it turned into a rainbow as the light shone.
It was a totally dramatic moment. LOL
The rain had stopped.
Muddy water caused by the heavy rain
The journey back was like Alishan all over again, only less rain. Chuyi's sandals broke so she had to walk bare footed on the road. We got to see a family using a pole to get a lantern out of a tree. I pity those residents, wondering how many lanterns they had to clean up everyday.
As we had promised one store that we would go back to fly their shop's lantern when we got back, we did.
Our group's night lantern
We place firecrackers on it too XD
Notes:
- In Taipei Main Station, there are signs for HSR, MRT and TRA (Taiwan Railway Association). To get to Ruifang, go towards TRA.
- Be sure to take note of the timetables for the trains.
- To buy the ticket for Shifen, alight at RuiFang station and walk down the station. Remember to tap out your card before exiting the station platform if you used the you-you card. Purchase the ticket towards the PingXi line (平溪线) at the ticketing counter.
- To use your time better, you can take a map at the tourist counter near the ticketing counter and plan the places you want to go.
- *To get to the waterfall, alight at Shifen station and walk towards the shops. There would be signs to lead you there.
- You can fly the lantern at either PingXi or Shifen
- Timing for the next available train would be should on the timetable in the Shifen station. When I was there, it was located at a table with a bench.
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