Travel With Me #5 - Shifen (十分)

Shifen (十分)

One of the places I've been to recently on my Taipei trip is Shifen, mainly thanks to @sweetsssj and @shieha for posting up related post for this place. Shifen is a small township located within the Pingxi District of New Taipei City, it was one of the stops from the Pingxi Branch Line which was originality built to transport coal out from there back in the early 20th century but now it has been transformed into one of Taiwan's famous tourist areas attracting lots of international crowd from overseas.

The places to be visited within Shifen was the Shifen Old Streets, Shifen Waterfalls, Jingan Suspension Bridge, and not forget the annual Sky Lantern Festival. There is few method of transportation to reach Shifen, which is either by Train, Bus and Taxi/Drive; but I'm gonna explain about the train as I have experienced it.

Getting There

First off, you can use Easy Card to get onboard the TRA local train from Taipei Main Station heading towards Hualien (花莲) or Taitung (台东) at Platform 4, make interchange train to Pingxi line at Ruifang (瑞芳) and get off at Shifen (十分). Please do not change to Pingxi line at Sandaoling (三貂嶺) as there's no shop around and pretty empty of that station, personal experience 😉. The journey will take roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes and Pingxi line is mostly crowded because of tourists.

Map of the Train

Shifen Station (十分车站), you will need to cross the rail to reach the station, Source.

Koreans are everywhere when I reached there 🙈

Shifen Old Streets (十分老街)

Shifen Old Streets are marketplace shop selling sky lanterns, souvenir, restaurants and scooter rentals which is separated by the railway tracks along it and tourist are able to walk freely across the track as well as release their sky lantern.

Lots of tourists standing in the middle of rail tracks releasing sky lanterns

Me and @joannewong wefie

Don't forget to take a picture in the middle of the track as well

We took our time to visit Shifen Waterfall first before coming back to explore Shifen Old Streets during the evening hours as there is operating hour limit at the Waterfall.

Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布)

Shifen Waterfall is well known for its 40 metres tall and 20-metres width of water pouring downwards into the lake creating splashes and rainbows (if there is sun available, sadly it's cloudy 😕). It's located 30 minutes walk away from the Shifen Old Streets or 10 minutes ride on an electric scooter which can be rented for 200NTD/hour at the town (no need license, passport). Visiting hour for Shifen Waterfall is from 9.00AM until​ 4.30PM, and you will need​ to plan your trip wisely if you intend to stay longer​ to enjoy the magnificent​ view.

Before reaching Shifen Waterfall, you will encounter a smaller size waterfall known as Yanjingdong Falls (眼鏡洞瀑布) before crossing Guanpu Suspension Bridge (觀瀑吊橋) and if you're lucky, you can actually see the train pass by on the track just next to the bridge. Another 5 minutes walk, voila~ you're here witnessing the water diving downwards to the lake from the side of it and there is​ actually few platform to view the waterfall from various angles which are a ​small walk around that.

Some silky smooth long exposure shot of Shifen Waterfall

Bringing back the waterfall alive to Steemians

Went to the opposite platform to get this overview angle of the waterfall

Landmark showing the tall and width of the waterfall

Check out this timelapse video

While taking photo and videos around the waterfall, I also enjoy the ​peacefulness of ​nature's call from birds​ chirping, water splashing from the waterfall and cold breeze blowing around the areas. I hang out until the waterfall park closes at 4.30PM then head back towards Shifen Old Streets while enjoying some views from the nature walk experiences trail.

You'll be walking a lot​, make sure you have a comfy shoe

Not a sign of water ripple was found in​ the river

Sky Lantern

Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮) was a Chinese inventor during the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-265) which invented the Sky Lantern as a tool for military usage. As time passes, people start using it to give out prayers/vows by writing over the Lantern ​and sending it out into the sky.

The annual Sky Lantern Festival is a festival which has been celebrated​ from the pass until today by villages living here making it one of the most celebrated festivals​ in Taipei, and many international tourists​ come to Shifen to celebrate it together and enjoy those thousand Sky Lantern to be released together, lighting the sky up.

Sky lantern has been sold to tourist by the ​local shop here in Shifen Old Street today​ and the ​price is reasonable as well ranging from NTD 150 (1 colour​), NTD 200 (4 colours​) and NTD 350 (8 colours​).​ Each colour represents​ a different meaning and locals are willing to explain to you. We choose the 4 colours lantern as the sky is getting darker and shop usually start closing at 6.30PM.

Lots of Sky Lantern being released out when we walk back

Prepping and writing our sky lantern using the black ink provided

Not forgetting Steemit, Teammalaysia and Crypto as well (Upvote, Resteem, Steem, SBD & Steem Powarrrrr)

Off it goes! Up up to the sky, wishing our prayer to be blessed

A wonderful experience

Drop by at Mac 2, 2018 for the Sky Lantern Festival if you're at Taiwan, you won't want to miss this awesome experience. (Too bad, I'm back in Malaysia already 😱)

Check out this releasing of Sky Lantern video

Getting Back

Remember to catch the 6.35PM train (else you will need until 8.00PM for the next train and shop there closes around 6.30PM as mentioned) back to Ruifang (瑞芳), change to train heading Taoyuan (桃园) and get off at Taipei Main Station (台北车站)

Marks the end of today's journey

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