Taiwan 4: Sandioling Waterfall Hike and more balloons

I slept in after yesterday's hike.  Today, I took two and a half bottles of water for the hike, even though this hike was much easier than yesterday's.  We started at Sandioling Station, which is pretty much just a little walk from a small set of buildings.  Our final destination was Shifen.

We went under the tracks and took a small trail up into the mountains.

A short distance in, we saw the first waterfall from an observation deck.  It was quite far away.

There were two tiny rope bridges, that were only a few feet off the ground.  We saw a small river with fish as well.

Then, we encounter the second waterfall.  Afterwards, we went to a small observation area to the side of the waterfall.  I climbed under an outcrop to get some pictures from behind the waterfall.

We climbed a little more and found another waterfall on the top of that waterfall.  I also found a beautiful dragonfly that refused to open up its wings.

Past this waterfall was a crossroads.  Turning right meant a supposedly better hike, but I wanted to see Shifen, so we went left.  We followed roads, small trails, and through a tiny village.  Out in the distance, I saw a super cool looking building.  I have no idea what it is.

We walked past a park that had been destroyed by a typhoon.  The only thing left was a mural of what the park had been.

Here is another neat bug that we encountered past the park.

Eventually, we crossed a bridge.  We found another balloon.

A little ways further and we were back to civilization, at The Shifen Waterfall.  This is a very popular tourist attraction and people were everywhere.



Fish were being fed in a nearby pond.



We reached Shifen after three and a half hours.  I am glad I brought the extra water.  In town, even more people than in Pingxi were launching balloons.



I had a mango smoothie and hot chocolate.  Stephanie had "texas toast" with peanut butter.  While waiting for the train, we browsed a souvenir shop.  There were post cards that had directions on them, to make little animals out of the cards.



As we arrived back at the hotel, we caught a beautiful sunset.  We are exhausted.  Tomorrow, we go back to Taipei.