Pingxi Train Line Tour / 平溪線旅游 (Jingtong, Pingxi, Shifen & Houtong Cat Village)
00:00 - Pingxi Train Line / 平溪線
03:06 - Jingtong / 菁桐
06:49 - Pingxi Old Street / 平溪老街
17:54 - Shifen Old Streets / 十分老街
33:41 - Shifen Waterfall / 十分大瀑布
33:45 - Houtong Cat Village / 猴硐貓村
The Pingxi Small Railway line is a thirteen kilometre, narrow-gauge railway, one of three remaining open from the Japanese era. The towns along the Pingxi Line were all once thriving mining towns, all feature “old streets” selling tourist paraphernalia and old Japanese buildings.
Jingtong Station was built by the Japanese in the 1930s. The town is a terminus of the Pingxi Line.
Along the rail line, lovers and others write wishes on bamboo sticks (“wish sticks”) and hang these on trees, fences, and anything else that might be available.
Pingxi is special for its unique architecture and design, as its market area, Pingxi Old Street, is built into a hill with a train track going overhead right through the middle with shops around selling local food and gifts. Visitors are able to check out shops built during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as wooden houses built during the Japanese occupation era.
However, Pingxi is undoubtedly the most famous stop on the Pingxi Line because of its annual lantern-launching activities during the Lantern Festival period after the Chinese New Year. Perhaps 1,000 or so lanterns are launched over a period of a couple of weeks. The launchings are conducted at night, making for a dramatic scene. But be forewarned that the popularity of the festival makes for very crowded viewing. During the rest of the year, one can purchase and launch lanterns on one’s own.
Pingxi is also known for its sausage vendors who slice up and add toppings to their sausages.
Shifen is perhaps the best stop on the Pingxi Line for picture-taking. Travelers are free to walk along the rail line, which runs right through the downtown.
Shifen is the most active place for the purchasing, igniting, and launching of lanterns into the night sky. The lanterns, carrying written notes expressing the wishes of the launchers, are set aloft from the rail tracks, and everyone scampers away when a train makes its way through town. As helpful signs explain, different colors of lanterns represent different types of wishes, such as those involving romance, good health, and success on exams. You can buy the sky lanterns for about NTD150 (US$5) and then paint a good luck message. The origin stems from an ancient custom where people would release sky lanterns to signal an area was safe.
The Jingan Suspension Bridge, a popular spot for photography, is right next to Shifen Station.
About 1.3 KM from Shifen Old Streets / Shifen train station, the Shifen Waterfall has a total height of 20 metres (66 ft) and is 40 metres (130 ft) in width, making it the broadest waterfall in Taiwan. On sunnier days, the waterfall creates a rainbow as it splashes into the lake - widely regarded as the most scenic in all of Taiwan.
Houtong was once a rich small mining town in Ruifang, renowned for a well-preserved culture surrounding its railway, which was built during the Japanese rule of Taiwan. During its prosperous years, the area produced around 220,000 tons of coal per year, the largest coal output of a single area in Taiwan. This attracted many immigrants to the area, which further spurred the town's growth to as many as 900 households with a population of more than 6,000 people. The last facility built in the area was a coal purification factory, built in 1920.
As the coal mining industry began to decline in the 1990s, the area also declined. Young residents started to emigrate to look for other opportunities, and eventually only few hundred residents remained once the mining industry had died out.
However, things started taking a turn for the better from 2008, when a local cat lover organized volunteers to start offering abandoned cats a better life. They posted the cats' pictures online, resulting in an overwhelming response from other cat lovers around the nation. Soon, Houtong became a center for cat lovers as word spread, and the number of cats living there increased – thus reviving a declining village, and transforming it into a tourist destination. Some cats are sterilized, and will have one of their ears trimmed as confirmation – this helps to keep check on the local population of cats, and also helps identify new cats which enter into the village.
Where Cats Call the Shots:
WSJ Video:
Jingtong Old Streets (Pingxi Train Line, Taiwan)
Jingtong Station was built by the Japanese in the 1930s. The town is a terminus of the Pingxi Line.
Along the rail line, lovers and others write wishes on bamboo sticks (“wish sticks”) and hang these on trees, fences, and anything else that might be available.
Near the end of the main lane by the tracks at No. 58 is a place serving tasty traditional miners’ lunchboxes.
The Pingxi Small Railway line is a thirteen kilometre, narrow-gauge railway, one of three remaining open from the Japanese era. The towns along the Pingxi Line were all once thriving mining towns, all feature “old streets” selling tourist paraphernalia and old Japanese buildings.
Jingtong to Pingxi - Taiwan rail adventure
Riding the Pingxi Branch Line in Taiwan. This used to transport coal miners before the mines closed for good in the 1970s.
Heels 2 Wheels: Taiwan - JingTong Railroad Station and Pingxi Old Street in New Taipei City (Ep27)
One of Taiwan's many old train stations that have turned into tourist attractions, Jingtong was originally a coal mining town as you might be able to see from the remnants that were left behind depicting the history of the area and the coal mining industry. Today, it is a popular tourist attraction, fronted by the train station (one of Taiwan's four remaining wooden stations) and Jingtong Old Street.
We then ventured up to Pingxi Train Station to explore the aged narrow street with well preserved, historic buildings stretching along each side evoking feelings of nostalgia. Most of the shops here are traditional grocery stores that still retain their original character from the 1950s.
Finally, this is also the place where many send sky lanterns floating up into the sky bearing prayers and wishes, and is also the perfect place for photo-taking and film-making, as evident in the highly popular Taiwanese film, Apple of My Eye.
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JingTong, ShiFen and PingXi, small mountain villages in northern Taiwan 菁桐 . 平溪 . 十分
These small villages develop along an old railway which was built for coal mining during Japanese colonial rule. Now coal mining has become history.
The small villages are now places that people come for memory of the old time.
PingXi is also famous for sky lantern. Every Lantern Festival, people crowd into this small area, they write their wishes on sky lanterns, then light them and release them flying in to the dark sky.
Pingxi Day Trip! Jingtong, Pingxi, Shifen Sky Lanterns | Taiwan
Day trip from Taipei to Pingxi, Taiwan from February 2017! Took the Pingxi Railway Line and made stops at Jingtong, Pingxi, and Shifen. A bit of a cloudy day, but it was lovely nonetheless
Pingxi Train Line Tour / 平溪線旅游 (Slideshow / 幻燈片) - Jingtong, Pingxi, Shifen & Houtong Cat Village
00:00 - Pingxi Train Line / 平溪線
02:26 - Jingtong / 菁桐
04:58 - Pingxi Old Street / 平溪老街
09:10 - Shifen Old Streets / 十分老街
13:38 - Shifen Waterfall / 十分大瀑布
15:31 - Houtong Cat Village / 猴硐貓村
The Pingxi Small Railway line is a thirteen kilometre, narrow-gauge railway, one of three remaining open from the Japanese era. The towns along the Pingxi Line were all once thriving mining towns, all feature “old streets” selling tourist paraphernalia and old Japanese buildings.
Jingtong Station was built by the Japanese in the 1930s. The town is a terminus of the Pingxi Line.
Along the rail line, lovers and others write wishes on bamboo sticks (“wish sticks”) and hang these on trees, fences, and anything else that might be available.
Pingxi is special for its unique architecture and design, as its market area, Pingxi Old Street, is built into a hill with a train track going overhead right through the middle with shops around selling local food and gifts. Visitors are able to check out shops built during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as wooden houses built during the Japanese occupation era.
However, Pingxi is undoubtedly the most famous stop on the Pingxi Line because of its annual lantern-launching activities during the Lantern Festival period after the Chinese New Year. Perhaps 1,000 or so lanterns are launched over a period of a couple of weeks. The launchings are conducted at night, making for a dramatic scene. But be forewarned that the popularity of the festival makes for very crowded viewing. During the rest of the year, one can purchase and launch lanterns on one’s own.
Pingxi is also known for its sausage vendors who slice up and add toppings to their sausages.
Shifen is perhaps the best stop on the Pingxi Line for picture-taking. Travelers are free to walk along the rail line, which runs right through the downtown.
Shifen is the most active place for the purchasing, igniting, and launching of lanterns into the night sky. The lanterns, carrying written notes expressing the wishes of the launchers, are set aloft from the rail tracks, and everyone scampers away when a train makes its way through town. As helpful signs explain, different colors of lanterns represent different types of wishes, such as those involving romance, good health, and success on exams. You can buy the sky lanterns for about NTD150 (US$5) and then paint a good luck message. The origin stems from an ancient custom where people would release sky lanterns to signal an area was safe.
The Jingan Suspension Bridge, a popular spot for photography, is right next to Shifen Station.
About 1.3 KM from Shifen Old Streets / Shifen train station, the Shifen Waterfall has a total height of 20 metres (66 ft) and is 40 metres (130 ft) in width, making it the broadest waterfall in Taiwan. On sunnier days, the waterfall creates a rainbow as it splashes into the lake - widely regarded as the most scenic in all of Taiwan.
Houtong was once a rich small mining town in Ruifang, renowned for a well-preserved culture surrounding its railway, which was built during the Japanese rule of Taiwan. During its prosperous years, the area produced around 220,000 tons of coal per year, the largest coal output of a single area in Taiwan. This attracted many immigrants to the area, which further spurred the town's growth to as many as 900 households with a population of more than 6,000 people. The last facility built in the area was a coal purification factory, built in 1920.
As the coal mining industry began to decline in the 1990s, the area also declined. Young residents started to emigrate to look for other opportunities, and eventually only few hundred residents remained once the mining industry had died out.
However, things started taking a turn for the better from 2008, when a local cat lover organized volunteers to start offering abandoned cats a better life. They posted the cats' pictures online, resulting in an overwhelming response from other cat lovers around the nation. Soon, Houtong became a center for cat lovers as word spread, and the number of cats living there increased – thus reviving a declining village, and transforming it into a tourist destination. Some cats are sterilized, and will have one of their ears trimmed as confirmation – this helps to keep check on the local population of cats, and also helps identify new cats which enter into the village.
Where Cats Call the Shots:
WSJ Video:
Jingtong (菁桐) Miner's Lunchbox (礦工便當) at 紅寶礦工食堂, Taiwan (臺灣 / 台灣 / 대만)
紅寶礦工食堂
No. 58, Jingtong St, Pingxi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 226
+886 2 2495 2168
???? Having Fun in SHIFEN, with a THE WATERFALL and a POINTLESS GOOSE (十分好玩)
Shifen is a very popular tourist attraction in greater Taipei. It has a great waterfall, a railway line going straight through the small village, and lots of tourists sending paper lanterns to the sky.
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Travel in Taiwan (Jan./Feb. 2017):
The Pingxi Branch Line
Riding the Pingxi Branch Line in New Taipei City is a journey into the past, as well as a jaunt into lush and scenic countryside that feels hundreds of miles apart from busy and crowded central Taipei, which is in fact just a quick bus or train trip away.
Buy a Day Pass!
There’s a lot to see between Haikeguan and Jingtong, so you might want to pick up a Pingxi Line 1-Day Pass (NT$80), which allows unlimited travel (and stops) along the length of what the Taiwan Railways Administration collectively calls the Pingxi/Shen’ao Line. Tickets are sold at the Taipei, Songshan, Keelung, Ruifang, and Yilan railway stations, as well as some of the stations on the Pingxi Branch Line. If you’re just stopping at a couple of the stations, note that an EasyCard (a popular Taiwan smart card) can also be used.
Shifen
Continuing inland, beyond Sandiaoling the branch line follows the river through a scenic wooded gorge. The train is soon plunged into darkness as it enters the first of four tunnels on the line. For much of the way to the next station, Dahua, the train is either underground or the tracks and the river are crammed side by side in a rocky ravine. Try to get a seat on the right-hand side to get the best views. After rain, tributary streams course down both sides of the gorge in a series of small waterfalls.
After passing tiny Dahua Station, the train emerges from the last tunnel on the branch line, rolls over a long bridge high above the river, and runs straight down the center of the main street of Shifen before coming to a halt at this village’s station. Shifen is one of the most popular stops on the line.
All kinds of Taiwanese snacks, from shaved ice and popsicles to grilled sausages and stinky tofu, can be sampled in the main street, which is also a great place to make, decorate, and set off a sky lantern. Write wishes or messages with brush and paint on the sides of a meter-tall paper lantern, fix a wad of “ghost money” inside, and after lighting the money allow the lantern to float up into the sky, where the wishes will hopefully be communicated to the gods!
Follow the crowd that gets off at the railway station to the northeastern end of Shifen Old Street, follow the main highway until you reach a fork, and take the road to the right to get to the Shifen Visitor Center and, further on, to the magnificent Shifen Waterfall. After heavy rainfall, this 30-meter-wide curtain of water is awesomely powerful, hence its nickname, “Taiwan’s Niagara Falls.” After enjoying the waterfall, cross the Waterfall Viewing Suspension Bridge right beside the railway line and return to Shifen on the main highway.
Dahua 大華
Guanyin Temple 觀音巖
Jingtong (Old Street) 菁桐(老街)
Keelung River 基隆河
Pingxi (Old Street) 平溪(老街)
Pingxi Branch Line 平溪支線
Ruifang 瑞芳
Shifen (Old Street) 十分(老街)
Shifen Waterfall 十分大瀑布
sky lantern 天燈
Wanggu 望古
Waterfall Viewing Suspension Bridge 觀瀑吊橋
Rail Away: TAIWAN Pinxi-line (Taipei - Yilan / Sandiaoling - Jingtong) - English version
From the metropolis of Taipei in the north of Taiwan this train route leads eastwards over the so-called North-link. When arriving at the east coast, the waves of the Pacific almost reach to the train tracks.The final destination of the first route is Yilan, a city amidst the rice-fields. In Sandiaoling we take the Pinxi-line which takes us to our final destination, the beautiful village of Jingtong.
Rail Away tv produces videos on striking railways around the world. Every broadcast there is attention for a special track. Attention is paid to trains, landscapes and cultures. Step on our train en enjoy a journey to striking railways and unknown destinations around the world.
【Traveling Taiwan】Sky Lantern Festival in Pingxi | Chinese Lesson
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Join me at one of the largest cultural events in Pingxi Taiwan! ????I introduce Lantern Festival and the meaning behind these sky lanterns. Since street interviews are so popular, I interviewed people asking what they prayed for the New Year as they released their sky lanterns.
Did you catch what I prayed for in my sky lantern? If you do, write it out in the comment section. ????
These beautiful sky lanterns unfortunately do cause environmental pollution. I talked about the two solutions being implemented at the moment at 03:56
Special Thank-You-Shout-Out @Jennifer and @Steve for supporting me in the Dragon tier at 04:23 ????
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Pingxi Sky Lantern in Shifen Old Street
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Sky Lanterns in Pingxi, Taiwan
I visited Pingxi in Taiwan and experienced the Sky lanterns taking flight. Ever visited?
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Please watch: Sumlang Lake: Welcome to Sumlang Lake
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TAIWAN day5| jing tong and pingxi adventure
my trip to taiwan
day 5
mrt from haisan - ban qiao
TRA from banqiao - rui fang - jing tong - pingxi
jing tong old street: souvenir shopping, cheese meat bun
pingxi old street: sausage shop, ice cream shop, home made milk tea and boba, a-ke (taiwan food)
A Day Trip From Taipei | Jiufen, Shifen & Pingxi
Complete BLOG POST GUIDE ????
Riding the railway to explore three charming, scenic and lantern filled small towns northeast of Taipei. And eating lots of Taiwanese street food along the way.
The old mining town of Jiufen, shrouded in mountain mist during our visit, is a feast for the eyes and the stomach. Narrow alleys, steep staircases and the ubiquitous red lanterns strung up as far as the eye can see. Made famous by its association with the Studio Ghibli film, 'Spirited Away', this wee charmer is no secret but the crowds didn't deter us.
Rolling into Shifen and Pingxi on the Pingxi District Railway line, we were surrounded by lush greenery, old streets full of character and a sky full of glowing lanterns. And more street food. Score.
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Julian Avila | Cruisin
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Taiwanese Trains - Pingxi branch line with 3100 class diesel railcars. Shifen & front view of line
A day out on the Pingxi branch line, south east of Taipei. The line connects to the Yilan line at Sandiaoling. Footage includes some of the 3100 class diesel railcars seen on the line as well as a front view of the tracks on board for a few stations.
Pingxi, Taipei, Taiwan - 27 December 2017
Footage has been watermarked.
Setting Off Paper Sky Lanterns in Pingxi, Taiwan
Pingxi, famous for its annual Sky Lantern Festival, is one of only two areas in Taiwan where you can legally light paper lanterns. We venture to Pingxi Old Street to decorate and set off our very own paper lantern into the sky.
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Pingxi, Shifen, Jingtong, sky-lantern festival, Pingxi Railway Line 平溪小火車
平溪小火車:平溪/十分/十分瀑布/菁桐
Pingxi Railway Line:Pingxi, Shifen, Shifen waterfall, Jingtong.
Pingxi railway line is a branch line of TRA system in Taiwan with important history and culture. The famous Pingxi Sky-Lantern Festival also held in here every year!
Photo by First Stop backpacker hostel, your travel base in north Taiwan. Accommodation, Tour Planning, Paivate car hiring with tour guide or guide tour, feel free to contact right now!
JS #776 -【Taiwan】菁桐老街 Jingtong Old Street
5-9-18
CAN'T STOP THE FEELING - Justin Timberlake : jiufen, Shifen, Pingxi and Jingtong
6 August 2016
Taiwan PingXi Line:
- Jiufen Old Market
- Shifen Water Fall
- Jingling Old Street