Pingxi Gets a Post of it's Own.

Pingxi, Taiwan. Officially one of my favorite places on this little Earth of ours. This charming little town is situated in a snug little corner of the mountains about forty-five minutes from the center of Taipei. It also happens to be an ideal location for my new favorite holiday: Lantern Festival. I wish I could successfully describe how magical this place was but I am far too clumsy with my words to do it justice. Just make sure to put it on your list of places to see and things to do before you die. It is one of those things that must be experienced in person. No pictures, no videos, no words can accurately capture it. But here is my feeble attempt to do so...

I love being with two ladies who want to try every kind of food we encounter. We definitely made the most of this in Pingxi. There were countless food vendors lining the street. These candied strawberries on a stick were one of our favorites. Even the tomato at the bottom was delicious.

There were so many people. As always. Here are some pictures of the lanterns being set off into the sky. 

So quaint.

There was a constant stream of lanterns floating into the sky...

Cute little girl watching her family paint their lantern.

And here is our lantern! Natalie's side. She wrote a little message to her boyfriend.

We wished we could paint ours in Chinese because it looked so much cooler! They could have written the most mundane things and it would have looked good.

Lauren went with what we think is the traditional method of writing her hopes for the new year.

I used some old favorite song lyrics to decorate my side.

And of course we used the fourth side to do a little shout out to the M Team! Wish Ashley and Kamille could have been there!

And there she is before we released her to the skies!

We were told that it is s good sign if it floats into the sky. I'm happy to say ours made it safely beyond our sight and didn't burn up in take off like several others we witnessed.

View over the river.

Lanterns hung up along this wall ready to be painted.

More lanterns.

Every twenty minutes or so about two hundred lanterns would be released together from a spot up on the mountain. There were audible gasps from across the city every single time.

More...

View from the path to the mountain top.

Burst of lanterns.

After we watched a couple of waves of lanterns we made our way to the line for the bus. This was quite the line. Easily a mile long. Luckily we had the most beautiful little city to look upon and excellent food surrounding us to make it go by faster.

Also there was this little boy with a wonderful sword. 

I LOVE PINGXI.