Entree Kibbles

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Releasing the Sky Lanterns - Free Activity @ Shifen in Taipei [Taiwan]

The releasing of lanterns to the sky is such a popular activity in Shifen that I could almost certainly say that should the authority decide to ban it; half the business will die, not to mention the drastic reduction in tourist numbers.

It's my dad's first visit to Shifen and since the releasing of sky lanterns was a free activity as part of our tour package; of course we had to make full use of it by stepping into the designated shop.

Awaiting the staff member to help us set up the lanterns. Releasing the lantern to the sky was the final step; what's most important were the wishes we intend to pen on the lantern!

Pricing for your reference; single color cost NT$200 whereas multi-colored lantern was slightly more expensive at NT$250. There were different colors to choose from but maybe because we were part of the tour package; it was the most auspicious color chosen for us.

The blood red for health and peace.

And all ready for us to doodle!

My handwriting was bad enough with a simple ballpoint pen. Give me a calligraphy brush and I can so guarantee you that the words would likely turn out to be illegible, unless i write big big. Not to mention the mess as well.

Okay, I did my best.

Frankly, I was quite satisfied with the words; especially when it had been ages since I last written a Chinese character, except for my own names!

Rest of our tour mates giving a go at their own lanterns. Since this was a free activity, each lantern was said to be shared by four persons. As it was just my dad and I, we had to co-share the lantern with a mother and daughter. Weird indeed as it's a lantern filled with wishes from two separate families.

I knew for a fact that paper would be burned to provide lift to the lantern; what I didn't know was the use of incense papers, those we commonly burn as offerings for deities and the departed!

Once the lantern was sufficiently lifted, it's time to pass one of our mobile phones to the staff member. Trust them as they would have taken thousands of photographs for visitors!

The guy assigned to us was quick, and asked, almost in a robotic manner, for us to make the various poses for our co-shared lantern. I have blurred out the faces for the mother and daughter for privacy reasons! Wait, why did my dad make a middle-finger gesture in the second photo?!

Sharing the gif for ease of viewing!

Final photograph to conclude the successful release. The guy took so many photographs for us that one or two were bound to be pretty good. It also helped that the sky was in our favor that day.

Hope my dad had fun!

Video of a beautifully released sky lantern. Honestly, I am not likely to partake in this activity ever again. What appeared to be visually so appealing turned out to be terrible pollution in the making, and I don't know how it can be made more sustainable for the environment.

Do refer to the above photograph, which showed the massive amount of sky lanterns that dotted the canopy of trees surrounding Shifen old street. Zoom out further and there will be a lot more!

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Click HERE for the Summarized Itinerary for Our 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brothers

Jingan Suspension Bridge @ Shifen in Taiwan

We were told of a historic suspension bridge in Shifen and since we had some time to spare after the disappointing lunch; why not check it out?!

Called Jingan Suspension Bridge, it was completed in 1947 and the original purpose was for the transportation of coal. What I found more intriguing were the interesting blue-white colors used; were they the original colors?

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful bridge that spanned 128 meters, and across Keelung River. I would think it would look quite eerie at night but I think it's more my personal opinion as I might have watched too many horror Taiwanese movies.

View of the bridge; first one was away from the Shifen Old Street where it was a lot less crowded. Now that I am planning for my trip in January 2025, I am in a dilemma if I should stay at areas that are less trodden by overseas visitors. It would be a nicer experience, albeit one that is less predictable.

The clear Keelung River; length of 86.4 kilometers and according to Wikipedia, said to be "heavily polluted by both raw sewage and industrial pollution from illegal industry" from an article in 2011. Looks alright to me although I am no walking laboratory.

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Click HERE for the Summarized Itinerary for Our 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brothers

Friday, September 27, 2024

Shabu Shabu Buffet at 新千葉火鍋 (Ximending Branch) in Taipei [Taiwan]

Dinner on day six of our Taiwan tour package brought us to another shabu shabu restaurant; 新千葉火鍋, which was super crowded with a long queue waiting to get in! Thankfully, there were "tour group" privileges!

This shall be individual pot, similar to what we had on day one at Taoyuan. But what's better was that the food was buffet style; good news to many but not to me, as I tried not to overeat for dinner! It didn't help that its review score was 4.4 from over 13,000 reviewers as of today.

Hot ready food and cold appetizers for your selection. But maybe due to the cold weather, I was more keen to just have steamboat. That would have been more more shiok!

There were even bread and even sushi.

Some of the raw selection; there were a lot more which I shall share in a video towards the end of this post since there were too many people, making it pretty hard to take a decent photo.

Desserts, drinks, fruits, packed ice cream, soft serve etc. The variety befuddled me as it was so wide! I can't imagine I could even try everything, even if I take just a teeny weeny bite of everything.

Only thing I thought was lacking, was the poor selection of sauces and condiments. I can't find any peanuts / sesame sauce and no coriander, which severely dampened my experience....