Hanging roots
From the roof.
Tze Chiang Hao — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tze Chiang Hao — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wpcpey — CC BY 4.0 · Mk2010 — CC BY-SA 4.0
An old warehouse of Tait & Co., a British firm that traded salt, sugar and tea through Anping port in the 19th century. Abandoned for decades, it was swallowed by banyan trees until their trunks and aerial roots became its walls and roof, a scene where architecture and nature merge. Roots hang from the vanished roof, wrap around mud and brick walls until they break through them, and knot overhead into a dense web that lets in green light. Raised metal and wooden walkways and bridges run over the ruins, so visitors look down into it from above. Next door, the company's old merchant house, an elegant white Western-style building, holds an exhibition on Anping's trading history, with a garden over the old canals. The ticket covers the warehouse and the merchant house, and sources differ on the price. It pairs with nearby Anping Fort. Southern Taiwan is hot and humid most of the year, so carry water and a hat; winter is the mildest season for sightseeing.
From the roof.
Over the ruins.
White building.
Anping District, near Anping Old Fort
It was a 19th-century British trading firm's warehouse, abandoned until banyan trees covered it with their roots.
