花壇蝴蝶屋

December 20th, 2014

The window of an old house along highway 137.

There is an abandoned house hidden in the overgrowth along Country Road 137 (縣道137號) on the border between Huatan and Changhua City. I have seen it several times before but had not previously had the opportunity to stop and investigate. Today I took a closer look and my suspicions were confirmed—it was once a beautiful place. There are two floors, several bedrooms, wrought iron railings, and a balcony that wraps around most of the building. There is also a yard—a rare thing in Taiwan—that is now overgrown with plants, many of them sending tendrils in through broken windows.

Someone has dumped loads of bricks on the ground floor of the old house.

Webbing wraps much of the wrought iron barring the window.

One image in particular arrested me: the sight of this forlorn butterfly embedded in landing of the central staircase. The golden sun oozed in through frosted glass, casting it in a most splendid illumination. I stopped to think about how many little feet had pounded up and down these stairs over the decade and what their lives might have been like. Why do places like these get left behind anyway? People would rather live in sheet metal shacks or generic concrete high-rises? It is a mystery to me.

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。