An alien village, a queen, and a lighthouse, between Keelung and Taipei…
President-elect Lai Ching-Te. Photo: Zhen-Kang.
Distance
90 km
Ride time (with stops)
5 hours
Number of UFO villages
1
It was another good-weather day, as I rode into Taipei—the seat of Taiwanese democracy—on election day.
I didn’t notice any polling stations during my ride (although given I can’t read Chinese, maybe that was never likely). But I did notice election advertising’s still out in force. In New Zealand, it has to be removed the night before.
The first spot I visited today, however, wasn’t somewhere any of the parties campaigned:
Riding into Wanli UFO Village (萬里飛碟屋), I passed this abandoned hotel.Just around the corner, I saw the first of many abandoned mid-century ‘UFO’ homes.This model, the ‘Venturo’, was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1971.There was path leading to this one……Which looked like this on the inside.Suuronen also designed the ‘Futuro’. I saw five or six of them, but there are apparently 13 here in total.I climbed the steps for a look inside this one…The entrance reminded me of an aircraft cabin door.The interior was a bit rough.I was intrigued by the coffee plunger in the kitchen……And the Futuro’s famous built-in furniture, rotting, against the wall.This one had a great view of the East China Sea—but when I looked inside, it was eerily clean, and had a made-up bed against the far wall. I concluded someone may actually live here (despite the busted windows and lack of plumbing), so I very quickly left.My next stop was another deteriorating landmark: the famous Queen’s Head Rock (女王頭)—so named because of its resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II.Seems legit.The queen’s neck is continuously eroding: it’s expected to break within the next few years. There was a painted red line on the seaward side of the rock. A security guard blew a whistle whenever people got too close.The 350-meter walk from the visitor center was crowded the whole way. Most of the visitors were speaking Korean.My last stop was more remote: Fuguijiao Lighthouse (老梅里), at Taiwan’s northern-most point. It has a more utilitarian design than the lighthouses I saw at Taiwan’s eastern- and southern-most points.This pillbox was immediately next to the lighthouse.This shot is deceptive: the ceiling’s only about 1.2m above the floor.The walk from the carpark was a kilometer-long arc around a military installation, a reminder that Taiwan’s many pillboxes could (probably not, but potentially) be used again.The election outcome was clear by mid-evening. As I write this in my Taipei hotel room, president-elect Lai Ching-Te (who is the current vice-president), is addressing the media. He mentioned China in his opening remarks, saying today Taiwan has choosen democracy over authoritarianism. China previously said that if he was elected today, we’d be taking one step closer to war.
