Taipei Hwahsi Tourist Night Market, nicknamed “Snake Alley” is a night market full of exotic delights catering to tourists, from sex shops to foot massage places to places that sell snakes as food. Check out the photo of the snake eating a live rabbit!

The Martyr’s Shrine is dedicated to all those who died fighting for the Republic of China, from the revolution against the Ching Dynasty to fighting the Japanese to fighting the Communists. The changing of the guard happens every hour, on the hour.

Saturday, April 22 I took the Hello Kitty Plane from Fukuoka to Taipei. Just settled in and hung out with some English people staying in the same hostel as me. Sunday: Went to the Martyr’s Shrine, Longshan Temple, Snake Alley and Shilin Night Market. Also hit a hot spring bath in Beitou along the way. [...]

I’m headed to Taiwan, the small island country of my birth, tomorrow morning (April 22). I will be back in Japan on May 8. I hope to brush up on my Chinese, visit some friends and family, and (re)discover the country my roots, a country that I left when I was 4 years old, when [...]

From the NY Times Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/dining/19haru.html?hp&ex=1145419200&en=ea767b0bf44464c6&ei=5094&partner=homepage April 19, 2006 Empress of Domesticity Drops In By JULIA MOSKIN MY cat is going to be on Japanese television. When the most famous housewife in Japan arrived in my kitchen recently, she was not alone. Editors, kitchen assistants, translators, photographers, publicists and a cameraman — 11 people in [...]