Nasty Food Update

One thing there is no shortage of in Taiwan is stinky food. Erin and I decided to take a walk through one of the more famous Night Markets here in Taipei about an hour ago. The market is more commonly known as Snake Alley Tourist Night Market. What they get major recognition for is snake blood shots. The Taiwanese carny (Who usually is shy a few fingers on each hand) will first wow a crowd by handling a dangerous snake such as a Cobra. After he has their attention he will get people to put money up to take the shots. He then whips out a non-lethal snake and slits its belly open, throwing the beating heart on the table. The heart is usually purchased by another Taiwanese man as it is thought to prolong life and give you a more potent sex drive. Then he mixes the snake blood with vodka and down the hatch for all who paid. I personally am not into this as a reptile and animal lover but it is interesting to see how other cultures treat animals.
Enough with the Night Market etiquette and on to some nasty mystery meat photos. Unfortunately our photog Erin has not perfected the art of still digital photography so the pictures are not all quite in focus. This first photo is a doozy, who knows what it is and it smells worse than you can imagine.



This next shot the only item I can make out is the thousand year old egg.



Here is a shot of the actuall Snake Alley. For those of you who have seen "The Beach" this place reminds me of that movie.



Outside of Snake Alley and down the street about a block is a very cool Temple. When Erin and I stopped in they were having some type of ceremony. There was lots of cool atmosphere and crazy singing / chanting. Here is a shot of the entrance to the Temple.



The actuall temple was beautiful.



The last shot is one of Erin's coolest in my opinon. It is a little "artsy" but cool.