This would the very last full day in Taiwan and for Day 4, it would a trip all the way to 十分 Shifen just to release the 天灯 sky lanterns! It's like how can you go to Taiwan for the first time and not try releasing your very own lantern! We could have easily hail a cab to bring us to 十分 but we decided to experience their railway instead, cheaper too! (:
Every morning must take a #ootd shot! Added in the lens flare on my own, LOL
Because there's no windows in our hotel room, we had no idea what's the weather outside until we step out and that day, it was pouring! How to 放天灯 like that! But still, no matter what, we insisted that we have to visit that place.
Bought the railway train tickets to 瑞芳 Ruifang for NT$59 (SGD$2.50) They allocated seats for everyone!
Here comes the train! It takes about 30 mins to reach Ruifang and we had to switch to another train to 十分.
Camwhore shot on the train! It was rather comfortable, no complains. I read that when buying tickets, we should always insist on getting a seat no. for the train, if not you might have to stand all the way. Not sure about this though.
They were selling home made Bento meal on the train at NT60 ($2.50) and this set above consist of pork cutlet, veggies, braised egg and more. Angela got one for herself. I wanted a chicken set so i thought i would wait...
They were selling home made Bento meal on the train at NT60 ($2.50) and this set above consist of pork cutlet, veggies, braised egg and more. Angela got one for herself. I wanted a chicken set so i thought i would wait...
It was still raining along the way. Praying that it would stop...
Finally reached 瑞芳 Ruifang which means we are halfway through the journey to 十分!
At 瑞芳 Ruifang train station, we had to top up more money to switch over to another train to 十分. It cost another NT$52 ($2.20) and i heard the train only comes very 45 mins! Lucky we only had to wait for about 15 mins that day.
If you calculate, the total cost to get to 十分 is only NT59 + NT52 = NT111 which is less than SGD$5! If we took a cab, it would be about 10 times the amount. The time taken would definitely be lesser but the experience would be different!
Couldn't resist the Bento set this time (couldn't seem to find the Chicken Bento set anywhere!) so i just bought one from the auntie selling at 瑞芳 Ruifang train station! This set had a variety of sides which i think is not bad and worth it!
Couldn't resist the Bento set this time (couldn't seem to find the Chicken Bento set anywhere!) so i just bought one from the auntie selling at 瑞芳 Ruifang train station! This set had a variety of sides which i think is not bad and worth it!
FINALLY WE ARRIVED AT OUR DESTINATION - 十分 Shifen.
That's the colourful train that we took from 瑞芳 to 十分! Once every 45 mins.
Photo with the colourful railway train before it leaves the station! Total journey took about 1 hour 15 mins.
The thing about me in Taiwan is that, you can
Walk abit more along the railway you will see people releasing their sky lantern! You will see a whole stretch of stalls selling 天灯, not much difference in price i think. Just a matter of which stall you want to go to buy your 天灯 only.
Even in the rain, people are still releasing the lantern. Of course we won't let this opportunity past by!
Different colour lantern has a different meaning to it and the more colour you have (max. of 4 only lah) the higher the cost of the lantern. So we chose the 4 colour one at NT150 (SGD$6 only!) which i kinda forgot what they represent...
Lucky i took a photo of the chart! Actually this is a template for example of good sayings you can write on your lantern. I was literally copying for the chart and the 2 auntie owner of the stall was laughing at me. Firstly because i'm copying for the chart and also because... i copied wrongly. You will see later in the photos below. Seriously FML -__-
The stall helpers will clip your lantern onto this stand and you can use the paint brush at the side to write whatever you want on the lantern. Yellow colour represent Wealth i think. LOL at all the brands i can think of at that time. HAHAHA
Our 4 sides of the lantern! I did the Red and the Yellow one. Angela did the Pink and the Blue one. As you can see the mistake on the red one is quite obvious, the 身体健康 was copied wrongly, so i tried my best to rectify it. See that big black heart shape on the pink one, it was to cover a mistake done by Angela too, why we so fail! LOLOLOLOL
After we are done, the auntie just took some paper and dip it in kerosene i think and attached it to our lantern!
Then i hand over my camera to them and they started taking photos for us. They very professional one, we just have to keep following their instructions! Like "hold it like this" *snap* "now turn"*snap* "turn" *snap* "Lift up the lantern and hold the base" *snap* "turn" *snap* and she just go on and on, very professional indeed. Everyday same thing. LOL
After she finish taking photos of the different sides of the lantern, she told us to release the lantern at the count of 3. So we just followed her instructions while she spam the shutter button of my camera... and the final photos:
WAH WAH WAH. LIKE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER LIKE THAT! What a fun experience.
Every once in awhile when we hear the train bells, everyone will then have to clear away from the tracks to let the train past. (the train will just be right beside you!) I was thinking imagine halfway you are taking photos with your 天灯 then if the train bells sound, would you faster release it or would you bring the 天灯 in and wait for the train to pass?
Past by this stall which sells these unique tin sharpeners at NT100 ($4) each! Everyone of them is so pretty, especially the Eiffel tower one. First glance you won't even know they are sharpeners. Bought 4 of it to display in my room :D
The auntie that sells the sharpeners also sell this malt candy sweet and she offered it to us for free! So nice!
The 靜安吊橋, a 128m long suspension bridge at 十分. Walked across found nothing, and walked back.
Individual shot on the bridge with our candy. The view is really great, very peaceful place with nice weather.
At 十分, one thing that people do is send a postcard to themselves or to their family and friends! There are a few stores that allow you to personalize your own card and they help to mail it back all the way to your country at a small cost.
Writing a postcard to myself. #foreveralone
No lah! It's because of these stamps i'm sending a card back to SG! They have these little little stamps for you to decorate your card so i just bought a card at NT20 ($0.80) and started stamping every stamp that i can find, LOL
Happy us with our end product of the post card! ♥
They do not just offer post cards but also other things such as designed wooden board etc.
...and for just a small fee (depending on the weight), you can have it air mail back to your country! :D
After we are done at 十分, we bought our tickets back to 瑞芳 which cost only NT20!
Took photos on the railway while waiting for the train, which comes once every 45 mins only.
Here comes the colourful train! The initial plan was to go back to main Taipei but then when we arrived at 瑞芳, we saw that there were cab service to 九份 at a standard rate of NT180 ($7.50) so we thought since we are already there and we still have time, might as well just go up to 九份 to take a look! I'm so glad we didn't give 九份 a miss!
九份 is located up high in the mountain area, the journey took 15 mins. The view is superb when you are there!
The entrance of the 九份 street!
Everywhere is food, food and more food! You see the photo at the top left hand corner, they are cubes of pineapple tarts! These are the ones that are handmade and packed on the spot and they cost a lot more than those machine made ones! I bought one piece (NT35) to try and it was so warm and nice! A box would have easily cost NT300 or more.
Because there's food EVERYWHERE and i wanted to try everything, you would see me stopping by every few stalls and ordering their food. After all, everything is really cheap and nice there! It's like a food paradise, just keep eating!
Tried this handmade fish balls which i don't think it's really nice :(
THIS IS A MUST TRY AT 九份! It's this ice cream with peanut shavings wrapped in popiah skin!!! They have this BIG block of peanut which they use this wooden device (top right photo) to get the peanut shavings, put it on top of 2 scoops of ice cream (3 different flavors i think, i had the unique pineapple ice cream) and wrapped up nicely in Popiah skin. Cost only NT35 and it's one of the best thing i've tried in Taiwan. For this stall,you take your own change (top left)
This famous stall in 九份 sells handmade owls and each of these owls has a different meaning. The auntie of the stall can ratter out every single meaning of each owls! For a moment i was wondering if she is just randomly whatever she can remember at that point of time, LOL Bought one (some peace and harmony meaning, LOL) for NT150 for my family (:
This auntie is a living mascot of her stall as you can see from her outfit and the cartoon on the banner! She sells different kind of sausages which i tried the original one! (NT35) Really very tasty and sweet, grilled on the spot!
One last view from 九份 before taking a cab back down to 瑞芳 at the same rate.
Went over to Wufenpu 五分埔 which is well known for their wholesale of apparels, shoes, bags and more! Honestly, the things are everywhere and i had no idea where to start. By the way, guy stuffs aren't exactly the cheapest at Wufenpu. One tip for good buys would be to eye on their NT100 to NT300 ($4 to $12) rack which they place outside their store! If you look closely and thoroughly, you might actually find something that you like! I did found a few cheap pieces (:
Went to another night market - 饒河街觀光夜市 which is quite near to Wufenpu! Love the night markets in Taipei because there's so many kinds of food available and they are all so cheap and delicious! In fact, i think for the past 4 days, all my money i brought over were spent all on food, i bought nothing! Ok, maybe 90% were on food, 10% others, LOL
HUGE bowl of Mango iced topped with a scoop of Mango ice cream at NT100! Very refreshing!
While having the Mango ice, couldn't resist the pork rice from the store right beside so halfway eating the Mango ice, i ordered a small bowl of the pork rice to try (NT20). See what i meant by kept eating in Taipei! Cannot stop eating!
Saw A LOT people queuing for this bun at the entrance of the night market. No idea what it is but look at the amount of spring onions they are stuffing into the bun! OH MY TIANS. I will never ever eat it. Anyone knows what it is?
Went back to the hotel and took out everything we bought for the past 4 days and arranged them onto the bed for photos! Those apparels you see in the above photos are mostly Angela's and 85% of the loot above are all food products if you realised. Didn't really buy much and no idea what to buy back for friends and family except for food, LOL
The next post will be Day 5, which would be a rather short post as we took the afternoon flight back to SG.
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5