Shifen 十分

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Shifen is famous for the old streets, lantern and the 20-metre high waterfall. It is located in the Pingxi area (平溪).  Shifen Old Street refers to a collection of lanes and alleys around the railway station area.  The town was originally built for transporting coal during the Japanese era.  
Shifen railway station is an opened one.   People can cross the rails freely.  I have the feeling of going back to the very old time.  I remember, even in the eighties, it was forbidden to cross the railways in Hong Kong.  But Shifen still freezes in the past. it brings folks of tourists and they filled up the tiny station.

A lot of people from Asia travelled there with one sole aim: flying Chinese lantern marked full with good wishes. From time to time, friends upload photos of flying the lanterns.  We went there for the waterfall.   Once we stepped out the area of the railway stations, crowds of people were flying the lanterns.  Along the way to the waterfall, we saw lanterns falling in the mid of the air or lying on the ground to become rubbish.
The walk to the waterfall took about half an hour.  The way is dotted with a few nice buildings and beautiful nature. 

Soon we were in the area for the waterfall.  It is connected with red wooden pavement.  Walking is comfortable.  As the majority of the tourists were flying lanterns, we enjoyed the waterfall in a leisure way.  We saw a small rainbow at the bottom of the waterfall.  Not sure if it is always there.


We spent only very short time in the old streets as we had to rush for the train (very infrequent) to the town at the end of the station, Jingtong 菁桐, which is famous as a coal town.  The white building at the railway station is often seen at travel sites.



It began to rain and we still aimed for reaching and enjoying Jiufen in the afternoon.  Therefore we did not stay at Jingtong but hop on the train back to Ruifang and from there took a bus to Jiufen.
Ah, way to Shifen.   We took a train from Taipei in the morning.  The journey lasted about 40 minutes.  But the journey length depends on the kinds of train.  Then we purchased a Pingxi Line train ticket for NT52, each of us.  Here is a link for travel information.  Hope you will enjoy the places.


Location: Shifen St, Pingxi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 226

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