Most of what I’d heard about Pingxi while living in Taiwan centered on the lantern festival. The small town of Pingxi annually hosts an incredible lantern festival where people travel en masse every year to release their own sky lanterns. I’ve actually heard that it’s pretty awful because of how many people attend.
A quick google image search gave me this image:
But, Pingxi is still a popular place to travel all year round (and you can release lanterns any time of year) because of the old Pingxi railway line that connects Pingxi, Shifen, and Jingtong, among other small stops, with the larger Ruifang train station.
I had read that an impressive waterfall was a short walk from Shifen station, so I decided to stop there before continuing on to Jingtong, the terminal station, and finally back to Pingxi. While not strenuous, and still fairly easy, it is a bit annoying to make this trip from Taipei. You first have to take a 45 minute train ride from Taipei Main Station to Ruifang, then buy a ticket for the Pingxi line.
Getting off in Shifen, I was amazed at the absolute mass of people and tourist attractions. I thought Pingxi was supposed to be the main lantern destination, but the train tracks going through Shifen were lined with stall upon stall of vendors selling lanterns of all colors, as well as numerous food and drink stalls.
The lanterns ended up being much bigger than I had expected. I thought they would be like the ones in Tangled:
But as I figured out, if they were that small, you would never see them when they get up in the air. They are in fact almost as tall as me.
The color you choose has a special meaning, and you can also get multi-colored ones.
You choose your lantern, and the vendor sets it up on the rack so you can write/paint (you use a paintbrush and ink) your wishes, hopes, and dreams. When you’re finished, the vendor attaches the flammable paper things to the bottom of the lantern, and, you, your friends/family, and the vendor takes the lantern onto the train tracks. The vendor lights the bottom while two people hold the corners, then you set it on the ground while the hot air fills up the balloon (it gets VERY hot). When it’s ready, you lift it up and hold it by the bottom ring while you pose for a picture, before lifting it into the air and letting go. I was surprised by the large number of people releasing lanterns in the afternoon, when I was planning on waiting until the evening when it would be darker and, I thought, prettier.
While I’d read that the waterfall was an easy hike from Shifen, it took me awhile to actually find it. It ended up to be a walk down a road, not a hike at all.
Believe it or not, this is considered the Niagara Falls of Taiwan. Taiwan has many waterfalls, especially in this area, but most of them are much taller, and this one is the widest, prompting the unfortunate comparison to Niagara Falls.
Because I stayed longer in Shifen than I meant to, I decided not to go all the way to Jingtong and instead just end my trip in Pingxi. Arriving in Pingxi, I was surprised by how small it was. Because Pingxi is THE destination for the lantern festival (although it was in February), I thought that was where everything would be happening. Instead, there were fewer stalls than in Shifen, and much fewer people. I succumbed to buying a souvenir and made friends with the nice lady who owned the stall. She asked if I was going to “play the sky lantern,” and when I responded that “yes, I will, but not yet,” she told me to come back to her shop when I was ready. I promised that I would.
In Shifen, I had a freshly squeezed orange juice and a mango milk (both amazing), but I was getting hungry at this point. There wasn’t any real place to eat, just two stalls selling sausages. I ordered one, and the woman cut diagonal slices into it and inserted large pieces of raw garlic. Delicious, but… wow.
The sun was going down, but unfortunately it was also starting to rain. I headed back to the woman’s lantern booth anyway where I met two Taiwanese guys who were also doing lanterns, but were taking a break because of the rain. The woman had moved their lanterns into her booth so they wouldn’t get wet in the rain, and after I chose my colors, she rearranged things so I could do my writing out of the rain as well. I actually didn’t end up choosing my own colors, she sort of grabbed one from the stack and said, “how about this?” It was red, white, yellow, and pink, representing good health, bright future, wealth, and love. So, all good things. I had no complaints color-wise.
I did my writing, then, while my words were drying, helped the two other guys release their own lanterns. Every time we let one go, the nice lady would throw her hands in the air and exclaim, “play!” before applauding profusely. After waiting a few more minutes for another lull in the rain, we all headed out to the tracks to release my lantern.
And we were off!
Going Out Your Door 