We had breakfast on the second day at the corner stand that sells delicacies from Taichung. The bowl on the top left is Taichung meatball (台中肉圓). The dough is made from corn starch and sweet potato starch and is gooey and chewy, The inside is filled with meat, bamboo shoot and shiitake mushrooms. The bowl at the bottom is oyster vermicelli (蚵仔麵線), which is a savory noodle dish with a thick soup.
Our destination for the day was Shifen (十分), which could mean “10 points” or “very.” So they came up with a great marketing scheme of the Happiness train, so a trip to Shifen will lead to a very happy life.
We arrived in Shifen on a gray morning after the rain.
The train station exits right onto a busy old street, where the welcoming voices of street vendors and the wonderful mix of incense and stinky tofu fill the air. Of course, we started our exploration with some stinky tofu and oden, a Japanese dish where different ingredients are simmered in a soy based soup 🙂
Then it was time for some oyster cake!
Even though it was raining, there were a ton of tourists and all the restaurants were packed! We had to sit on little stools with food on our laps 🙁
After we stuffed our tummies, it was time to do what we came for! The sky lantern (天燈/孔明燈) originated from the Three Kingdoms (三國) era, where the famous Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮) sent paper lanterns into the sky with a message for help. Since then, it’s become a cultural tradition where people write their wishes on the lanterns to pray for a year of happiness and good fortune. This one’s ours!
And here we are seeing our wishes go up into the sky ^_^
Unfortunately, by the time we finished lighting our lantern, it started pouring really hard, and we decided to forego the Shifen waterfall, known as the “Little Niagara” of Taiwan. We did, however, run into this fun procession as we headed back to the train station.
Before we made it back on the train, I couldn’t resist one last dish – wild pig sausages on a stick!
And thus we ended our journey to Shifen. May we have good fortune for an entire year! 🙂
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