What a day! A little chaotic, fun, and exhausting 🙂 We all started out for the train station in the morning in one large group, but we were down a few chaperones, and tickets for the train were purchased for two different departure times. I had 8 kids in our train car, headed to Ruifang.
We arrived in Ruifang about 5 minutes after the connecting train had left the station (with everyone else). This local train only runs once per hour!
So instead of just sitting around for an hour we decided to walk along a bus path to check out the city, and then try to catch a bus when it comes.
A bus finally arrived and we took a winding 35 minute jaunt up into the mountains, finally arriving just above Shifen Waterfall.
Finally we see the falls! It’s 40m wide and really beautiful.
We kept along a path that brought us to the base of the falls.
After cooling off in the mist from the falls we hiked over to Shifen Old Street, a series of carts and restaurants with railroad tracks cutting right through the center of town. Once per hour they blow whistles and you get about a 20 second warning to jump off the tracks before the train comes roaring through!
The town is known for its sky lanterns where you paint your wishes on a paper lantern then they light a kerosene soaked wad of paper inside it and send it skyward. Dozens of lanterns are launching from the railroad tracks every minute.
Finally it was time to catch the return train back to Ruifang. Since it runs so infrequently it was the most packed train we’ve been on the entire trip. I literally could not adjust my stance because my shoes were boxed in by the people pressed against me.
In the subways everyone uses escalators in such an orderly fashion. If you want to stand you stay to the right. Almost everyone just stands, so we can move through really quickly by walking down the left side.
Everyone made it back to the hotel. We’re all sunburned and sweaty. Shower is going to feel great tonight. A few kids with energy went out to dinner with their homestay friends. The rest are relaxing, playing pool, or hanging out in the hotel common area.
With another sunny day in the forecast tomorrow, I think the plan is to visit Jiufen. Goodnight! 晚安!
Almost forgot: Two contestants with spikes on their helmets race to jump and pop balloons with their heads.
