Monday, February 25, 2013

Taiwan: Shifen Old Street 十分老街

Starting the week with another TW entry :) The 2nd last day of our trip and as mentioned previously, we had a driver to take us around Taiwan for this day. We started off with a visit to Yehliu Geo Park, then headed off to our next destination. Along the way, Meeky told us a lot about Taiwan, entertained us and even treated us to the famous, or rather, infamous
槟榔 (betel nut)
槟榔 stall along the road-side, extremely convenient for motorists. The 槟榔西施 looked decently dressed too, much to my disappointment, lol!
 
This type is known by its Taiwanese name (in Mandarin it would be called qing zai) and consists of a small, tender areca nut that is cut lengthwise and stuffed with the flower inflorescence of the Piper betle plant. It has a red limestone paste that gets its color from the Chinese medicinal Er Cha (Catechu)
How it looked like after chewing. Try it once, but don't get addicted to it for regular chewers have a higher risk of damaging their gums and getting cancer of the mouth & stomach. 
 
We arrived @ 十分 Shifen.
 
Brisk business at this make-shift fruit stall.  
 
Snacks that Meeky bought for us - thumbs up for his service!  
Places that you can visit @ Shifen.
 
十分老街 is the only old street which has trains passing through everyday. The street is right next to the tracks but there are no fences in b/w.
 
 
The train passing by the street. All activities will stopped while tourists kept snapping away.
  
After the hype of the trains, we got back to our main agenda ~ to release sky lantern :) The meaning behind the colour code.
Leecher penning his wishes on the red portion, which symbolise health.
 
Wasted one big portion just for 4 words, lol!
Daddy-in-law writing down his wishes too. 
 
Pink symbolised 幸福 & 快乐
@ least I aimed to maximise my wishes, lol!
Since there are 4 sides to the lantern, must aim to maximise as much as possible :) 
 Leecher gave up following the colour code and started writing down his personal wishes, lol!
 
I also wished for more bags, lol! On hindsight, I should have wished for more clothes, shoes and whats-not :p
 Roger's wishes
 
With our wishes before we released them into the sky. 
 
You can add 炮竹 for a nominal fee.
Up, up & away, carrying the wishes into the sky.
 
Roger, the official photographer of the day. 
 
Mandatory pose with the sky lantern, on the railway track.
  
Getting ready to release it into the sky :) 
 
Hope our wishes will come true :) 
 
You can purchase mini sky lanterns back as souvenirs.
 Hold-hands pose while balancing on the railway tracks, haha!
十分老街
Ping River (Pingsi) Township
New Taipei City 226
Taiwan, ROC

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