Finally, the town which the Railway Line is named after. And also the place to send your wishes sky high. Here are 5 other things you can do in Pingxi apart from releasing sky lanterns, or if it doesn't tickle your fancy.
Pingxi is our third stop along the Pingxi Line, after Houtong and Jingtong. If it sounds familiar, the town plays host to the annual Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival (平溪天灯), which looks pretty amazing as hundreds of lanterns are released and rise up the night sky. Where the lanterns go, and the pollution it causes, is trade-off for the popularity and commercial success of the town. I do hope it is sustainable, and if you'd like to release a sky lantern or 天灯 (tian deng) as the locals call it, consider sharing one okay? It has 4 sides anyway! I didn't since I had already hit my quota for a lifetime in Kukup.
You can see lanterns everywhere once you get off the train.
How to Release Sky Lanterns - A Dummy's Guide
1. Find a shop.
2. Pen your wishes.
3. Release lantern on the tracks. The shop assistants will help you with the release and some will even help you to take photos, and they know the best angles! Interestingly enough, Pingxi is apparently the only place in Taiwan where you can release the lanterns, read more about it here.
5 Other things you can do in Pingxi:
1. Take photos of and along the railway track (or a map of the town)
2. Wander the "Old Street"
3. Admire the Art
4. Bring home your very only mini lantern (don't release this) and indulge in some street food (Fried Pig Blood for you?) or old-school snacks.
5. Walk from Pingxi to Shifen along the tracks in about an hour, which was exactly what we did. Just remember to give way to passing trains. Obviously.
See you in Shifen!
More pictures are available on my Flickr (simply click any photo).
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