First I want to thank my wife for finding out about this place and sharing the information with me so we could arrange a trip. Now on to the post

Down in Jiayi (Sometimes also spelled Chiayi) in South Taiwan there’s a region with a lot of fish farms and oyster farms. In fact it’s so many that the GPS makes it look like the expressway is running on a bunch of islands and sandbanks out in the ocean, even though it’s actually on land. Over time the usage of these seafood farms has changed and some of the old facilities like pump stations, equipment sheds and roads between the fish ponds, have fallen into disrepair. In a place called Baishuihu (白水湖) there are so many disused little buildings and dilapidated old roads, several of them partially under water, that the whole area feels semi-abandoned.

One spot in particular is extra interesting. Here the road, normally on a high embankment, slopes down to the water and runs along a sandbank for a few hundred meters. The road is lined with bare telephone poles, most of their wires long gone, and there are a few crumbling buildings by the side. At low tide there’s nothing to really distinguish it from the other broken roads and abandoned buildings in the area, but when the tide rises, the road becomes submerged, the telephone poles and houses poking out of the water like the remnants of some lost civilization. I think this is really cool. Unfortunately this very spot has become popular due to it featuring in the movie My Missing Valentine so there are more people around than I would like but it’s still a really cool place to go if you’re interested in urban exploration and modern ruins. As I’ve already mentioned, there are several other abandoned buildings and semi-submersed roads in the area that are also worth exploring, and they are far less popular which is nice. That enough text, time to let you see for yourself:

A short clip of drone footage to give a bit of an overview
  • Getting down on the sandbank
  • The road at low tide
  • Further along the road, couple of abandoned buildings here

Random low tide photos

  • Forlorn electrical connection box
  • Me and my son out exploring

There’s a building near the sunken road that has a rather special toilet

We happened to be there at sunset and managed to get a few cool shots

  • It looks quite different at high tide
  • Me and the baby at the sunken road
  • Aerial view

Some mixed shots of the sunken road

Just a quick aside here: traveling with a baby does take some extra effort – you need to bring more stuff and plan things more carefully – but it is doable. I find that a backpack carrier is an excellent tool for making it work. My son can sit quite comfortably and just kind of ride around enjoying the view while I can do pretty much whatever I want without worrying too much about him. It’s basically like having a big backpack on that occasionally taps your head or makes a funny noise. Alright, aside over, back to the modern ruins.

Traveling with a baby

Near the main sunken road is another fish farm pool with two half-sunken buildings and a broken old road.

A short distance from the sunken road we found another dilapidated old road. This one was above water, only just, and there was actually an access ramp down to it so we decided to drive down and see where it leads. It turns out that it disappears into the water after a few hundred meters and we had to do a somewhat precarious three-point-turn to get back. That was a fun little bonus adventure.

  • Heading down the entrance ramp
  • The road to nowhere
  • Yiini in front of a ruined building
  • Close up of the building
  • Continuing towards the unknown
  • The road doesn’t exist on the map
  • Fallen telephone pole near the end

Here’s a short clip of driving down the road to get a feel for what it’s like

Like I said there are more sunken buildings and disused roads in the area for anyone who really wants to explore. Personally I think the ones we found were the most interesting, and I felt satisfied with seeing them. This was a fun little outing, thanks again to my wife for making it possible. I had a few more sunset photos I want to show off so I’ll end the post with that.