The Lantern Festival

Saturday, February 7th is the Lantern Festival here, so we headed to PingXi with our friends Matt and Kristin where they have an annual celebration. PingXi is in the mountains just east of Taipei, so we had to take a bus to Taipei, then hop on the MRT to the Taipei Zoo area, and then a shuttle bus up the mountain for 45 minutes to the final destination. In total it was 4 hours of travel time each way, so we spent 8 hours traveling and probably 3 hours of actual celebrating.
But the festival was definitely worth it. It is one of those sights you would never see in the United States because of the obvious dangers and lack of appeal to the average American. So we were dropped off on a road with thousands of other people near PingXi, and we had to walk to the city on foot. While we were walking we could already see the lanterns from the distance, and it was quite amazing. If you have ever watched the discovery channel and you have seen when thousands of electric jelly-fish are mating in the ocean, well the sky kind of looked like that. There were thousands of lanterns floating around in the night sky. As we got closer we found that groups of people were releasing lanterns in waves, so all of the sudden a couple hundred lanterns would fly up into the sky and everybody would gasp in awe and cheer. Many people were also setting off lanterns on their own, so the sky was constantly filled with glowing orbs of fire.

The main street in PingXi was the location of the night market which we walked down and grabbed some food to eat. I got a corn dog, which was okay but definitely not authentic. I also bought some mountain pig on a kebob and a banana covered in chocolate with sprinkles. Carolyn got tomatoes and strawberries covered in chocolate which also looked very good. This area was extremely crowded and I was more or less pushed along in the crowd down the street. This celebration was by far the largest gathering of people I have ever seen in my life. There were people everywhere, people stacked on top of people for miles and miles.


We decided to have the full experience so we bought a lantern for ourselves. The lady who sold it to us also helped us set it up. We got to write whatever we wanted on it. Usually people write their wishes for the new year on it and then send it up into the sky. Originally the lanterns were used to warn the townsfolk of invaders but now it's all just for fun and tradition. I wished for a new job. The lady who sold it to us also ran and bought some fireworks for us to attach to it as well. After we finished writing on it she came back and we held it up while she put the fire into it. The lantern quickly filled up with hot air and started floating. The lady attached the fireworks to it and we let go. It took off and then the fireworks exploded right over our heads. It was pretty interesting.

As we walked around we found a ton of these lanterns caught in trees. Luckily it had just rained so it was unlikely any would cause a fire. Some lanterns whose fires went out came crashing down back into the crowds. They usually fall slowly though as they cool down and they don't weigh much so I doubt there were any injuries.
After we had finished eating and sightseeing we decided to get back on the bus to Taipei. The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall had an exhibition on Andy Warhol that we wanted to see before it closed, and supposedly they had a lantern show there also. So we walked to where we originally got on the bus only to discover the longest line I have ever seen in my life. Forget about the 2 hour lines at Great America. This line stretched forever and for the first 30 minutes it did not move an inch. Luckily it was well organized and they had hundreds of buses so after 30 minutes it started to move quickly and we were back on a bus within an hour and a half. But by this time it was late so we skipped going to the exhibition and just took the bus back to Taichung. It was a great experience though and if you ever find yourself in Taiwan for the next Lantern Festival, I highly recommend going unless you have a phobia of large crowds.