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  • Writer's pictureattrillhelen

UFO buildings and space age rocks

Updated: Dec 10, 2019


I have habit of eschewing tourist package day trips if there is a possibility of reaching the same destinations using local public transport. After a decent amount of research I discovered that, although the Wanli UFO style village was not on any package tours from Taipei, it was possible to reach it using public transport. What has come to be known as the Wanli UFO Village, this place is a semi-abandoned holiday resort located in the north of Taiwan opposite a beach. There were two such sites built in the 1970s as holiday apartments. The one at Sanzhi has sadly been demolished but, at this stage, most of the ones at Wanli are still standing. The village contains Futuro and Venturo houses which are now quite rare. Designed by the Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, these houses resemble flying saucers and are retro futuristic pre-fab house models.


Despite Wanli's fame as a beach and paragliding location, when I arrived, I was greeted with an eerie emptiness which included a large empty parking lot, blocked off from automotive entry with large concrete bollards. This was ironically reassuring as I assumed I must be getting closer to the abandoned village. Interestingly on the left I viewed yet another abandoned building, a gigantic, castle themed seafood restaurant and hotel. And it was then, peeking through some overgrown foliage that I witnessed what was most surely a distinctive yellow Futuro building.


There they are! Both a Futuro and Venturo pod house!

it paid off to be on foot. bollards eerily block any car entry into the UFO site.

the strange, castle themed Pacific Resort at Green Bay (Wanli). It has a bit of a Shining ambience!

the abandoned Pacific Resort at Green Bay. The restaurant sign is relatively new, making me wonder just how long ago it was closed.

Venturo Pod overcome with growth

Front veranda of a Venturo, looking at to the abandoned Pacifc Resort.

funky yellow breeze brick fence leading to the UFO village

With only a handlful visitors down by the beach (mainly for the paragliding), I had the streets to myself and let my imagination wander as to what it would have been like to stay in one of these pods as a holiday house, or better still, live in one! I was able to peek into the windows of some and saw that many had been left as is, with small 1970s or 80s televisions and furniture still intact. Others were likely squats, with such trappings as floor mattresses and empty food receptacles strewn around.

It is interesting to note that this community of Futuros is apparently one of the highest concentration in the world. The development of them in the 1970s reflected the economic growth of Taiwan as one of the “Four Asian Tiger” economies; Taiwan was able to manufacture electronics for the global markets (don't we all remember products 'made in Taiwan') and this meant many Taiwanese could now spend more disposable income on holidays and leisure. This location however, became unsustainable as the economy slowed down and businesses closed.

Over in Sanzhi, the story was a little different. There were multiple spiritual and superstitious reasons justifying why the community was abandoned and eventually demolished. A dragon that had once served at the entrance was removed; this turned out to be a bad move as in Asian culture and tradition, dragons are symbolic of heroism, good fortune, and luck. So to destroy one could bring bad luck. Also, during the construction of the pods, a number of workmen with no previous history of depression committed suicide.

There is even more history to the story. Apparently over 20,000 skeletons that are rumored to be of 17th-century Dutch soldiers were found there. So like the plot in many 1980s horror films (has anyone seen Poltergeist?) I visualised these malevolent spirits rising from the boggy ground (muddy perhaps after one too many typhoons, and I had just dodged a typhoon that had caused a bridge collapse and several deaths not far from Taipei - but that's another story) terrifying the workmen, so horrified or guilty at what they experienced that they had no choice but to end it all.

The closing of Wanli's village seems less sensationalised and more related to overcapitalising in the holiday industry: another example of a failed Utopia. But I still think there is more to it than that; why are many of the interiors still relatively intact with furniture and even old food in the cupboards? Why did people leave in a hurry and not return for personal items?

Paradoxically, the abandoned village was often punctuated overhead with colourful paragliders and I found myself returning a wave to an excited paraglider homing in to land on the beach just over my head. Despite the stifling temperatures of 35 with humidity, no one was swimming. Perhaps this was due to the timing; September is Taiwan's Ghost Month, when Taoists (most Taiwanese temples are Taoist) and Buddhists believe that the gates of hell are opened for "hungry ghosts, or a soul sent to the underworld" to roam the world of the living in search of food, money, entertainment, and possibly souls. One of the rules of Ghost Month is to avoid coastal areas or streams. No one told me this when I visited Hualien and viewed the gushing streams of Taroko Gorge!


As the heat was rising I continued my journey towards my second destination, the far more touristed Yehliu Geopark. Rather than waiting for the next bus, I decided to walk the 40 minute journey between the beach and the road and found myself transitioning from abandoned buildings to eerily empty but huge mega hotels arriving alongside the Guihou Fishing Harbor which seemed to be all about the crabs. Locals and tourists arrived in cars and buses and queued ravenously outside the various seafood restaurants. Still not accustomed to choosing your own live crab to have massacred for your plate, I bypassed the dozens of tubs of live crabs and cartoon style crab statues in parks and continued onto the narrow footpath alongside the main road to towards Yehliu. Only overtaken by a conga line of tourist buses on my left, I concentrated my view to the right, taking in the changing shape of rocks and view of Keelung Island in the distance.

Cute crabs at Guihou Fishing Harbor

The view from the road between Wanli, Guihou Fishing Harbor and Yehliu Geopark with Keelung Island in the distance

I suspected I would not be enjoying the same sort of solitude that comes with exploring abandoned villages once I hit the township of Yehliu having experienced approximately 30 buses overtake me on the road, heading in the same direction. Luck struck again, however, and I arrived at the first cafe within the township to find it strangely empty, serving good coffee and inhabited by four pet cats.

Following the line of buses, I joined the masses to explore the distinctive hoodoo rocks and other strange rock formations that characterise this popular site. The most famous rock formation is The Queen's Head (for its likeness to Queen Elizabeth 2nd), but as most of the visitors are more interested in selfies than roaming, the provision of a replica at the entrance seemed a good move with patrons almost as satisfied to queue for selfies at this version. I dodged the sea of umbrella prongs and did my best to snap a few pictures without posers in front of them as long as I could stand it before escaping the crowds by ascending the trail to what turned out to be a birdwatching trail. It turns out that the Geopark is also home to birds such as ospreys and little egrets and I found myself alone with only my mango smoothie and the song of one of these delightful birds. I realised that the park continued on well beyond the rock formations and I enjoyed escaping the hoards, wondering why hardly any others bothered to venture further. Maybe they weren't into hiking or were time poor, having paid for a tour which included two other venues that they needed to tick off. I felt fortunate to again enjoy the hidden beauty at my own pace. After hiking for around 30 minutes I arrived at a lighthouse that reminded me of the UFO village with its pronged stand. The two youths who had waited there were however more interested in their phones than the gorgeous sea views in front of them. At least they had walked that far.

rock formations at Yehliu Geopark

One of the large vertical hoodoo rocks at Yehliu Geopark

the famous 'Queen's Head'.

Another view of Keelung Island from the beach at Yehliu Geopark

Under the lighthouse at Yehliu Geopark









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