Taiwan-go-round: Day 1 Shifen

After days of encouragement, finally J agreed to start the journey circling the island of Taiwan, by riding my white 125 cc scooter. Still weary after his job, he tried to hypnotize me and wishing we could go by train. I insisted and told him that was my last chance go around Taiwan before I left, also my last trip to spend with him.

At last, we departed at around 10 a.m with my denim backpack and J's travel bag. The sun was shining bright, yet I saw some dark greyish cloud in the direction we were travelling. Crossing my finger hoping it wouldn't rain, we finally starting our journey toward Taipei.

We set our first stop in Ximending (西門町), a popular district in Taipei among the young adults. The sky was getting real dark, I started to worry and after we parked I covered our helmets with raincoat.

We decided to eat at the Curry House. J had been feeling quite unwell since he didn't get much rest after his previous job, which made me feel a bit guilty. I couldn't see him in this state so I bought him cold medicine and let him rest a bit before hitting the road again.

Doing this trip by riding on scooter, is quite dangerous actually. You never knew the limit of your scooter, even if you take good care of it, and the gas station isn't always there when you need it, especially in the mountain region. Also your back hurts a lot maintaining the position. J didn't let me drive, even in straight city road. I bet his butt hurts too.

Beside your scooter, you have to watch out for the weather. Mostly on the northern part of Taiwan, we experienced the hottest day of our lives, burning our skin to the bones. Yet as we went further south, the rain poured like you spill plenty bucket of water. Watch out for the wind. In the mountain region, in worse state by adding the rain, the strong wind will try to knock you out. Thank goodness J has a pretty good balance while steering, his skill is top notch. Blazing hot sun, drizzling rain, searing wind, make you feel hot 'n cold literally, like in Katy Perry song. Remember to use your sun block lotion and jacket or you're gonna end up like us, sunburnt. After like the 5th day when we were in Taitung, I started to feel dizzy and nearly caught a cold. So keep an eye on your health.

There are these three great places if you want to enjoy flea market, the gloomy feel of old railway stations, and flying a wishing lantern: Shifen (十分), Jiufen (九分), and Pingxi (平溪). All those are the stations in this area, and if you want to go there by train, you have to change in Ruifang Station (瑞芳車站). Me and J went to Jiufen some time ago, so we went to Shifen instead of Pingxi because of its magnificent waterfall.

There are lots of B&B's near these areas, but not every location is near the stations. I called this B&B to ask if there's a room for us, and when we tried to get there by using Google maps, we were lost. It was so far and we couldn't find its location. So we went back to Shifen railway and just find another one there.

We found out later that there are only a few B&B in Shifen, the locals pointed there are more in Pingxi, but I was too exhausted that we finally settled down in Shifen. A small room but clean for NT$1600 a night. Better than no place to sleep, right?

Shifen is a small town with railway run through the town, surrounded by shops selling lanterns and food just like in night market. Sometimes the train runs through the town and people will automatically get to the side.

Then we set out to fly our own lanter. There are many shops which offer lanterns in one color for NT$150, if my memory is right, or more for NT$200, each of them symbolize love, money, etc. Just pick one shop, the price are all the same. Later you will use black ink and brush to write down your wishes on the thin paper which has 4 sides, or just brush it on your partner's face :D. After you're done, the seller will guide you to the middle of the railway, and start a photoshoot session, till he start the fire then you can fly it. If the lantern fly high, your wishes will come true. The guides can speak Korean, Cantonese, and English, 猴曬蕾 (very lihai in Cantonese).

A stack of lanterns

Fly, fly, up in the sky~

Shifen waterfall

Watching our lantern flying higher and higher, we went to Shifen waterfall on foot, which only took us like 15 or 20 minutes. You have to pay to enjoy the waterfall though.

Student fee, yipee.

The night had fallen and we shared the taxi with two other girls, apparently one from Italia. We bought dinner and J was surprised to know that I hadn't played with sparklers before, so he bought one pack and we were gonna play it after we finish our dinner.

I have always wanted to play with sparkles and long exposure. As the tourists slowly disappear, we lit up the sparkles and after a few attempts, we finally captured a beautiful heart-shaped sparkle.

After several attempts..

Loving long-exposure shots

All photos taken with J's Nikon, not my Canon. I was too lazy to bring mine :D