20 December 2011
On the way to Shifen and Ping Xi, Mr Xi explained that Ping Xi is the town where about 20,000 thousand Taiwanese and tourists would gather once a year to celebrate the Lantern Festival. Sky lanterns would be released from the town and also in Shifen, along its railway tracks.
We stopped in Shifen and walked to the railway tracks where there were shops selling sky lanterns.
The lanterns came in many colours, each colour symbolising different aspects. Combinations of colours were also available. We purchased two. Purple for the students and a multi-coloured one for the family. Wishes or messages to be sent to the heavens were written using brushes and black ink and with our names written below. If you didn’t know what to write or wish for, there were samples provided on a card.
It took us quite a while to finish writing on the 2 lanterns.
Then it was time to launch the lanterns, under guidance from the vendor.
The vendor also helped to take photos of us posing with our lantern with written wishes on each side. Then we released it and it shot up skywards.
Then we launched the second lantern.
Once done with our lanterns, we walked around the rustic, small town.
Shifen town is centred around the railway station. There is a waterfall in Shifen but we decided to skip it and head straight to Juifen for lunch.
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