2024 Taipei Immersion Trip | Day 3

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十分老街

放天灯

After a nights rest, we gathered and prepared to board the bus to 十分老街. It was quite exciting for us as we will be releasing lanterns (放天灯). Our tour guide shared with us more about the history of releasing lanterns, and in the past, it was to honour our ancestors and to fulfil wishes.

When we learnt more about the cultural significance and meaning behind releasing lanterns, it allowed us to appreciate this experience further.

Walking past the streets, we could experience their culture as we walked past some shophouses. Most of the shophouses were unfortunately closed.

Finally, we reached the lantern shop, where we chose the colour of our lanterns which symbolise different wishes.

We picked the blue lantern as it means that everything will go well. Afterwards, we sprung into action and written our wishes using the brushes that they provided us with.

It was then time to release the. sky lanterns! With the help of the staff, the lantern was lit up and we took some pictures before releasing it.

十分瀑布

After releasing our sky lanterns, we went to Shifen Waterfall. Unlike the waterfall we visited the previous day at 阳明山, this waterfall was more visible.

Lunch

For lunch, we made our way back where a restaurant was situated and ate there.

九份老街

Up next, we returned to the bus and went to 九份老街, a place with many shops for us to buy souvenirs. It was the monsoon season and it rained. Luckily, we had umbrellas.

I bought some butter cookies, seaweed snacks and gifts for my family and friends back home, and some postcards.

士林夜街

Food

After a round of shopping, we assembled and went on the bus to Shilin Night Market. It will also be where we have our dinner.

Here are some of the food we bought:

Aside from the food above, I also got some pork skewers that tasted very nice!

Games

After dinner, we decided to play some carnival games, and though we ended up spending a lot of money, we had a great time.

Liam, a friend of mine managed to shoot all of the balloons, and we were all shocked by how well he played.

We also played ring toss, and managed to win a bottle of Sprite.

As there was still time, and we enjoyed the bubble tea we had on the first day of the trip, we went to the bubble tea shop and got some drinks.

We then concluded our day with reflections after reaching the hotel. As a whole, it was one of my favourite days of the trip as we managed to have free time to walk around the streets of Taipei and experience their culture.

Want to read more about my Taipei Immersion Trip Experience? Here are the other posts on it: