平溪放天燈

For last-minute planning, today actually went really well. I met up with a bunch of people from different TTT orientation groups and we took the train to 瑞芳, then a bus to 九份. I've been there before, so I wasn't that excited for it. This time however, I got a rock carved with my name and a fish for Pisces, and I can wear it as a necklace or just hang it up somewhere. We also explored this street off the main 老街, and it was a lot prettier than the more popular street.

Next, we took a cab down to 瑞芳 train station and caught the train to 平溪 to 放天燈 (light lanterns). We first walked around the street area with shops and food stands. The Taiwanese sausage was really good there; the sausage had slits in them and there was garlic in the slits. The fried chicken was also pretty good, but had too many bones. It took forever for the lady to make because there were at least ten different layers of spices, sauces, and toppings. When it got dark, the eight of us got two lanterns, and each of us got to write on one side. The lanterns were wish lanterns. We wrote what we wish for, lit it up, and let it float up into the sky. On mine, I wrote 學習成功 (success in academics), 身體健康 (healthy body), and 天天開心 (happy everyday). We lit both lanterns at the same time and let it float into the night sky. When we looked up a few minutes later, the two of them were still side by side. With ten minutes left until our train, we ran to this store and bought mini lanterns with Chinese sayings on them. We barely caught the train and headed back to Taipei.

It was an eventful day overall with a fun bunch.

My 天燈.

I matched with the 天燈.

Preparing to let it go.