Our day in Taiwan was spectacular. We arrived into Keelung – a major port situated at the northeastern part of Taiwan – and immediately departed for our excursion. Our first stop was to the Shifen Waterfall on the upper reaches of the Keelung River. Known as Little Niagara because of its horseshoe shape, the waterfall cascades into a wide pool at the bottom. Although not the highest of waterfalls, Shifen is certainly majestic, and we had a fantastic view of it.
After our visit to the waterfall, we went to Shifen Station where we had the opportunity to write a personal wish on a paper lantern and watch it rise into the sky to be answered. The sky lantern is made from biodegradable rice paper that is illuminated by a candle in the bottom. Depending on the color of rice paper you use, it’s supposed to mean certain things or grant you certain wishes. For example, our lantern was all red, meaning it was meant to bring us health and prosperity.
The lantern is big and has four sides, so each of us were able to decorate a side using a paintbrush and ink.
After we each completed our side and were ready to go, we went out to the train tracks in the middle of the street (which by the way had a train that still passed through on them, so when the train came everybody cleared the tracks, the train passed, and then everybody would just return to their stops…). In our spot in the tracks, we released the lantern. The worker took our photo, instructing us to make various hand gestures (which, of course, we obeyed). The photos below look almost identical… except they show the different hand gestures and the different sides of our lantern that we each decorated:
And then, finally, they lit the candle in the bottom and did a 3-2-1 countdown and had us release it. You could feel the heat on your fingertips before letting go and watching our wishes float into the sky. It was very cool to experience.
After releasing our lantern, we had some time to wander around a little. Near the area was a bridge where people stopped for photos:
We then wandered around Shifen Station and the neighboring streets. We had a street food snack of a chicken wing with rice stuffed inside of it. It was a delicious treat!
We then did a little souvenir shopping in the area before heading back to the ship. Once we were back, John and I headed back out to check out the area around the ship. We found some fun buildings, a night market, an impressive temple, and many shops with nothing but a ton of claw machine games in them.
After walking around for a while and appreciating the views, we headed back to the ship to relax and end our evening by playing a couple games. Without a doubt, Taiwan was a hit and a place we would gladly revisit!