亞哥花園

October 31st, 2013

The entrance to Encore Garden, an abandoned amusement park in the hills above Taichung.

Encore Garden (亞哥花園) is an abandoned amusement park in the hills above Taichung in Taiwan. I learned about this urban explorer’s dream after reading up on Katoli’s World (卡多里樂園), another abandoned amusement park in Beitun. I was dismayed to find out that Katoli’s World was demolished years ago but then I found this post confirming the existence of another abandonment nearby. With the clues provided—and some Google Maps sleuthing—I was able to identify a likely target in the hills above the main highway, and set out to visit in September 2013.

Cooking up a storm in the entrance. Is this the caretaker or just some random squatter?

I arrived at the entrance to Encore Garden after a challenging ride into the hills of Beitun. There was almost nothing else around—just a tree-lined embankment obscuring the insides of the amusement park and one or two concrete homes to either side. I let my hands slip off the brakes and cruised downslope, noticing a cloud of smoke rising next to the boarded-up entrance as I made my final approach. Pulling into the small parking lot in front of the entrance I stepped off my bike, threw down my helmet, and wiped beads of sweat off my brow. Now to find a way inside!

The first building I ventured into appeared to be some kind of office or clubhouse. There were trophies in glass cabinets, desks and chairs, and an assortment of clerical supplies scattered across the floor. It smelled like mould and decay but the building itself seemed sturdy and sound. What plans and schemes were laid here? I wandered on, thrilled to be here.

The next complex was almost completely unrecognizable beneath the overgrowth. I suspect several of the buildings in this area were once greenhouses—which means this part of the park must have been a botanical garden of some kind. Unsurprisingly, nearly every surface was covered with an explosion of plant life. Weeds exploded from cracks in the asphalt while vines dangled from skeletal rooftops. These organisms were no longer in service to human aesthetics. Nature was flourishing here, wild and free.

There is a building beneath the foliage. Everything in the park is being reclaimed by nature.

Through a dense tangle of plant life I noticed a painted mask suspended in the air. I recognized it immediately—a photo of it appears on the blog that originally introduced me to Encore Garden. Intrigued, I looked for a way through, but the most direct path was overgrown to the point of impassibility. I circled around, scanning for another way in, but found nothing. The entire area was terribly overgrown. Eventually I resigned myself to pushing through. Brambles and thorns dug into my naked legs as I passed. If only I had a machete!

As I approached the darkened doorway of another mysterious building it occurred to me that it would have been wise to bring the flashlight in the side pocket of my bicycle bag. Since I wasn’t about to return to the roadside I did the next best thing—I used the focus assist light on my camera to illuminate the interior. Despite all the trash I could see that the building was filled with educational displays, many of them about animals. I saw what appeared to be a phylogeny—a tree of evolutionary relationships—on the inside wall, a reminder of my university days. The other walls were adorned with fading photographs, posters, and placards. I chuckled to myself when I noticed cut-out pictures of insects as I left—surely there were a few live ones lurking in the ruins.

I wandered on, blood singing in my ears, and spied several amusement park rides further down the path. These rides were neither extravagant nor unique. No, they were standard-issue, mass produced rides commonly seen at the carnivals that spring up in empty parking lots around the world. My thoughts drifted into the deep past and I imagined the park in its heyday, metal contraptions spinning and whirling in a twilight fugue, the sound of children’s laughter echoing into the subtropical jungle.

Years of neglect and exposure to the elements had infused the rusting hulks of these ordinary amusement park rides with a special kind of charm. This was particularly true of the merry-go-round and its frozen tableaux of whinnying rainbow-hued horses. I stepped onto the round to take a closer look and startled myself when I saw movement—but it was merely my own reflection in a mirror mounted on the inner hub. I couldn’t help but break into a wide grin after scaring myself so—what foolishness!

A derelict amusement park ride in the hills of Taichung.

I went deeper into the park, moving with cautious deliberation, mindful of potential hazards like broken glass and rusty nails. I was particularly wary of venomous snakes hidden in leaf litter. On several occasions I froze in my tracks after hearing a telltale rustling in the undergrowth. I couldn’t be sure what had been slithering away but I might have caught a glint of snakeskin.

I reached a crossroads and went left, hiking up toward the “tea village”. The path steepened and narrowed, leading me into the hills at the back of the park. The forest closed in, ever watchful. I went around a bend and an eerie calm returned as the rest of the park passed out of view behind me. Up ahead I saw a brown wooden building looming over the path. It looked dangerous, as if it was about to collapse, and I did not attempt to scale the rickety stairs to take a closer look.

A silent sentinel stands guard over the far edge of the abandoned amusement park.

Beyond the old tea house, in the far reaches of the abandoned amusement park, the pathway came to an end. Here I encountered something easily as bewitching as the painted mask in the botanical garden. A strange stone statue was standing at the other side of the clearing, almost as if it were guarding the park. The grim-faced leonine sentinel stared down at me with regal eyes, daring this lowly mortal to request an audience in his otherworldly court.

And then I noticed the pikes lining the approach to the silent sentinel deep within Encore Garden. They were topped by weathered and cracked disco balls! The solemnity that has possessed the moment began to evaporate as I realized the absurdity of this decorative flourish. Disco balls? Really?

Looking back from the end of the path through the paifang to the amphitheater beyond.

I turned around and faced a gateway opening onto an amphitheater. There must have been shows here once upon a time—the skeletal metal frame of a weathered old bandshell protruded through the opening. I ducked underneath the tea house, which is mounted on stilts, and followed the wooden stairs down to the concrete floor of the amphitheater to get a better view. The show was about to begin.

The haunted bandshell by day. Imagine what spectral scenes play out here by night.

I channelled my inner Hayao Miyazaki and let my imagination run wild. Time accelerated, gauzy cloud cover swept across the darkening sky, and as night fell in earnest a yellow crescent moon rose over the horizon, illuminating the bandshell with a spectral glow. Spirits emerged from the forest, reanimating old props and costumes. A ghostly pantomime was performed for a rapt audience of faceless figures that had sprung into view. And then, blinking, I let the scene fade into memory as I turned and left the amphitheater behind.

The swollen sun was hanging low on the horizon as I walked back down the hill to the middle of the park. An ambiguous mix of conflicting emotions churned beneath the surface of my outward cool. I wasn’t sure what to think or feel anymore, not after the last hour of wandering around this haunted place.

Warning: this location is abandoned, hazardous, or otherwise neglected and may be unsafe and even dangerous! Exercise appropriate precautions when visiting.

警告：此處已廢棄或長期無人管理，可能存在潛在危險。造訪時請務必提高警覺，並做好相關安全防護措施。

Map

Recorded On

September 15th, 2013

Themes

Urban Exploration in Taiwan (台灣城市探險)
Amusement Parks in Taiwan (台灣的樂園)

Series: Taiwan Huandao 2013

An incomplete series of posts about my first bicycle tour around Taiwan in September and October 2013. The complete trip around the main island is known in Chinese as huándǎo (環島), literally “around the island”, and is typically conducted as a rite of passage for young people in Taiwan. It took me a full lunar month to complete, but I was not in any particular rush, and it can be done in under a week if you’re in a hurry.

Note: this series is far from complete and the quality of each entry varies as it was originally drafted in 2014. Since 2024 I have been revising each entry with and redoing all the photos.