David Astley's website - Older albums (scanned prints)

Older albums (scanned prints) > Taiwan (7)

Taiwan 01

On Saturday mornings, the car park of the National Concert Hall in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, is turned into a racetrack for young roller-skaters.
Taiwan 02

Lungshan Temple is one of Taipei's busiest and most colourful Buddhist temples. The tables are are covered with fruits, flowers and other offerings to the spirits.
Taiwan 03

Worshippers at Lungshan Temple, Taipei, where the air is heavy with smoke from burning incense and candles.
Taiwan 04

Taipei's night markets have many food stalls offering just about every part of animal's anatomy. I won't describe what this stall is selling - but it's definitely not halal!
Taiwan 05

Snake meat restaurants abound at the Huashi Night Market - more commonly known as Snake Alley. Note the very large (and definitely alive) python keeping the receptionist of this restaurant company.
Taiwan 06

Restaurant patrons watch a snake being skinned in Snake Alley. The process is quite gory and not for the squeamish. The handler first hits the snake on the head with a hammer, then slits the underbelly with a knife, and peels the skin back like a banana. He then cuts the still-beating heart out of the snake (and leaves it sitting on a bench for patrons to ogle at) and then squeezes a mug full of blood out of one part of the snake and a mug full of bile from another part (that is what is in the glass mug on the bench - it is not beer!). The blood and bile is then offered in small shot glasses together with small servings of snake meat and/or snake meat soup for an exorbitant price. These ingredients are supposed to act as aphrodisiacs and/or cure various illnesses.
Taiwan 07

I took this photograph in one of the subways of the Chiang Kaishek Memorial MRT station in Taipei, as I was fascinated to see an exhibition of art on the walls of an underground railway station, with no visible security around at all. The paintings were hanging only on a hook and could have been easily removed. There are not too many cities in the world where these paintings would stay on the wall of an underground subway for very long.

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