An Afternoon in Shifen

Shifen Waterfall is a picturesque waterfall located in Pingxi District on the upper reached of the Keelung River. It is the broadest waterfall in Taiwan with a total height of 20 meters (66 ft) and width of 40 meters (130 ft). It is a cascade waterfall in which the water flows in one direction and the rock sloped in the opposite. We went to the waterfall on an afternoon. There were a lot of tourists like us wanting to see the waterfall. 

To reach the waterfall you will have to pass on a suspended bridge. Adjacent to the bridge is a functioning train railroad. After passing the bridge, you will pass by at a small temple. After that you will reach the food stalls and waterfall. After the food stall, you will see the majestic waterfall. There are several viewpoints of the waterfall, and it is mostly crowded of tourist. However, each viewpoint will give you a stunning look at the waterfall.

Shifen Waterfall is open daily from 9AM to 4:30PM and its free. I would suggest going early to avoid the crowd.

A few walk away from Shifen waterfall is the Shifen oldstreet which is popular for its sky lanterns. Tourists flocks the Pingxi Railway Line to write their wishes on the lantern and release them on the sky in the middle of the train tracks.

The custom of releasing sky lanterns can be traced back to the Fujian province of China. In the middle of 1800s, the Pingxi area is full of bandits. The local villagers would send up sky lanterns to inform others that it was safe to pick up supplies. The locals started to writing wishes to the gods on the lanterns since it goes high into the sky.

The price for a sky lantern and Shifen is TWD 200 (single color, red is the most common), 250 (four colors), or 350 (8 colors). Each color of the lantern has a meaning. Once you light up the lantern and release it, it will immediately go up. One of the vendors will assist you in arranging the lantern so that you can write your wishes. They will also assist you in releasing your lantern and they will take photos of you releasing the lantern.

You can also buy some souvenir items on the stores selling lanterns. There are a lot of lantern keychains. Aside from shops selling lanterns, there are also some food stalls along the train tracks.