I already lost track with the time. Taiwan’s sunset is earlier compared to the Philippines, making it darker already on an earlier time. In Taipei City, establishments mostly closes at around 9 in the evening, what more if you are in the province area.
It was almost 6pm when we decided to leave Jiufen. We can only manage to cross out one itinerary on our list. We are heading to Shifen Old Street.
From Ruifang, we took the Pingxi Branch Line passing through Shifen station. This line is one of the famous train line that runs daily from Ruifang station and consisting of stops to Daihua, Shifen, Wanggu, Lingjiao, Pingxi and Jingtong. Remember the cat town I said in the previous posts called Houtong Cat Village, we passes by that area on the train ride but it is much direct if you ride a different line going to that place.
We are hoping stores are still open when we arrive at Shifen. There was a 30-minute interval in the trains arrival, and it will take less than hour trip to Shifen. Good thing our Easy card can be both use in the bus and the train system.
It could have been nicer if we rode the train on an earlier time, at least we could be able to gaze outside the window, but it is not bad at all at least we were able to take some rest inside the train. The train was a bit deserted. There was only a few people who were in our cabin, actually I think half of the riders where Filipinos.
We went down at Shifen Station, and it felt like I was just in a railway in the Philippines. The train passes by the old street and we just walked a few meters back. The mood was like in the movie of the late Dolphy “Home along the Riles” (Home along the Railways), where houses were built along the railway, but this one is less crowded, cleaner and is not illegally built.
There were small restaurants and shops but was already closed, some other stores were already closing, It was pass 7 in the evening already. A few stores remains open and offers paper lantern flight. Flying a lantern approximately costs 100-200 NTD (around 4-8 USD), depending on how many lantern colors you would be getting. We were told that each colors signifies different aspect in life;
Lantern Colors
- Red for good fortune
- Purple for idealism
- Blue for hope
- White for health
- Yellow for success
- Pink for romance
- Orange for money
- Peach-Red for decisions and opportunities
- Green for growth
You can either pick a color for all sides or pick different colors on four sides. We picked the latter. We had Red, Blue, Pink and Orange. Funny that I do not know what to write on the paper I just drew some crazy images.
It could have been great if there were a lot of lanterns flying altogether. I guess that is the usual scene in the afternoon for I guess this place becomes a bit crowded in an earlier time. Nevertheless, the night view gave us an alternative sight.
Misfortune at Shifen Train Station
After flying the lantern, we decided to roam and visit some shops in the area. We even go out and check if we can still visit the famous 20-meter waterfall, Shifen Waterfall, near the place. It was already 8pm then.
Little do we know that the train passes the area only every hour. We just missed the ride back home. Ruth was like telling me that maybe that was the reason why the staff of the store was signalling us about the train, which we ignored.
Trying our luck to find another way, we felt hopeless seeing this image.
It was dark, deserted and felt like we were the only people in the area (besides the guard who were actually sleeping in the train station). All establishments were closed and no one was there available to ask for help. Most of the signages where in Chinese making it more difficult for us to understand. It was pass 8pm, and probably the next train would arrive at 9pm. We were hoping for its arrival the soonest, for the place could start a bit creepy we might end up scaring our selves. We waited for an hour at the train station.
When the train arrives, we were the only passenger boarding. There was a few people inside the cabin like we can literally lie on the chairs provided and nobody will care. It was an hour ride back to Ruifang and another hour ride back to Taipei.
The whole day was just one crazy adventure; wandering the worlds of Yehliu, to a mountain town in Jiufen, and flying our hearts out at Shifen.
To be continue . . .
Also Read: Yehliu Geopark | Jiufen Mountain Town | Taiwan 101
Until our next discovery in the City!
またね Mata ne!
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