During our visit to Simen Elementary School in Anping District we had the distinct pleasure of being taken on a tour of the Anping Treehouse.
After the students had eaten their lunch we headed over the road to the Anping Treehouse.
The treehouse itself is not a house in a tree, but a tree in a house. The house was a warehouse built by the Japanese, but after they left the warehouse was left behind this tree started to grow and eventually took over. The house is now filled with the branches of these trees.
Tony and I were accompanied by Maggie and our three student tour guides Hanson, Irene and Yannie.
Although there were three guides, Hanson and Irene were a little nervous about doing the tour in English. They usually do it in Chinese and I imagine are really good at it, but switching language is pretty difficult. Yannie, however, is from the US and despite not having done the tour in English before managed the whole thing with ease.
Much of the original asbestos roof has been destroyed.
We headed through the rooms.
The roots from the tree excrete a kind of acid that makes them stick to the walls of the house. The central doorway in the picture above was originally only partly obstructed by roots. However, after one politician squeezed through the gap, everyone started doing so. Because of fears that the constant thoroughfare would damage the roots some extra sticks were added to block the passage.
Apparently the picture above looks like an octopus. I must lack imagination.
Parts of the original roof as still intact.
We finally headed out to a lookout over the river, where we got a long view of the mangroves which are a popular spot for people to take boat tours on the weekend.
A big thank you to Simen Elementary School and our tour guides for the great treat.
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