Shihfen is an area outside of Taipei which is most famous for sky laterns and the market along the railway tracks. It is easlily accessible by train from Taipei station and makes a great day out.
Most people come here for the novelty of walking along the railway track and trying to see how far they can push it to get a photo of the train coming towards them. This is as far as I dared before I quickly moved backwards, but the guy in front of me was much more daring. Great for him for being so daring, but it's really worrying for the driver because they never know when someone over estimates themselves and get injured.
The other thing the Shihfen railway track is famous for are the shops on the side, particularly those where you can release a sky latern. These colourful sky laterns are hung on rails outside the shops. You are given a marker to write a message on the latern. Then the shop owner helps you to take the latern onto the track, help you take some photos of you holding your latern, and then lights up the latern. Slowly, he will instruct you to let go and you watch your latern rise up towards the sky and over to the mountains gradually disappearing away from sight.
I didn't release one of these laterns. To be honest I think it is one of the most environmentally damaging thing to do. Not to mention the danger if it falls on the mountain and causes a fire. When I was there, I saw a constant stream of people releasing these latern. I wonder how many of them wrote "I wish the planet will be a better, cleaner and healthier place for us all"
After a while, I saw enough and went off in search of the other landmark, the Shihfen Waterfall. This was about half an hour walk from the track, and a very pleasant walk.
The waterfall is about 40m tall and there was a sign which directed us up towards some stairs. After a little climb, we got to some sort of observatory deck. There was a waterfall ahead of us but I couldn't get a very good photo of it. To be honest, I don't really know if this was THE waterfall, or A waterfall.
It was getting a bit late by now, and we had a train to catch back to Taipei. This is the Shihfen train station in front of me, the busy area where people release the sky latern is behind me. There's a range of mountain ahead of me. It beats my why anyone would want to pollute this beautiful environment.
Location information
● Shifen Old Street 十分老街, 十分老街 Pingxi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan
