Right, thanks for the pointer. Doing a little more digging, I found another article about the same place:
However, according to a 2018 article (for which unfortunately only the headline is available, not the full text), it seems that all of the snake shops seem to have closed down:
Reddit discussion here about closure of last snake shop: https://www.reddit.com/r/taiwan/comments/8kzuux/last_snake_shop_in_taipeis_snake_alley_shuts_down/
Some interesting comments in that thread, which is 6 yrs old now.
Ma yin jou’s idea of putting an underground mall in that MRT station were horribly misguided.
Wow i had no idea that area was relatively new. Its always looked very old and past it.
good. when do the prostitutes age out though? average age has to be around 50 by now. imho the longshan temple area will end up nice and cleaned up like asakusa in tokyo after all the old people have died off. it’s gonna take a while though.
The prostitutes are now young again. And seemingly imported from Vietnam etc.
Longshan temple area still ain’t looking all that clean. Although the area nearby the train station is improved and i see a lot of tourists around there.
As a child, Kuo recalled serving as a model to pose with snakes and a pet Orangutan named A-bao (阿寶), which was believed to be the only ape trained to capture snakes in Taiwan.
Only in Taiwan. I wonder if he was also the famous orangutan tommy used to see riding around on a scooter?
Have to agree with @Andrew. I see it all the time in SE Asia, even on those countries’ airlines sometimes (VietJet comes to mind), but very rarely in Taiwan. Perhaps it was more common here when the country was poorer and refrigeration harder to come by.
A bit of an exaggeration there. 50 odd quid for a west midlands monthly travel pass. Maybe you mean London? London is a seperate place now.
Well i can’t remember how much the bus and trains are so i made that up. But the point is its a massive rip off and the service is shit. The trains are the worst ones. The price of rail in England is truly extortionate.
Why is that? Profit?
Taiwan’s public transportation likely operates at a loss but government makes up the loss, because they know society revolves around it, hence the 1200 mega city pass. It’s also traffic management. People on the MRT means less scooters and cars.
Public transport is privatized in the UK.
I agree with Taiwan’s method. Its supposed to be a public service. Its called public transport not private transport. You have to deliver a good service at an affordable price or what’s the freaking point.
We don’t have any high speed rail either in the UK. Not only that, we actually developed a way to use high speed rail (tilting trains) on old tracks then decided against using it while other country’s benefitted. A shambles of a country.
If only they would listen to me.
I understand from British friends that the UK has some pretty serious economic challenges at the moment and is in a bit of a funk. I have to agree that that the current election is not characterized by bold new ideas.
But there is an argument that things were far worse in 1974. I found this series on Britain 1974 illuminating and very funny at times.
As for the topic at hand, I do miss the huge piles of garbage that used to appear at the corners of major roads and the lanes back before the current garbage collection took all the fun out of things. When every apartment bulding in Taipei had a red door and about 12 vespas parked out front. When there was so much betel nut juice splatted on the street that you could freak newcomers out by telling them it was blood from all the accidents or TB patients. The street vendors everywhere. Red taxis driven by convict veterans. Being accosted in the street to teach English.
I wonder if you have heard about George Monbiot’s new book on neoliberalism? It may provide some explanations about what has happened.
Guy
Drinking beer with ice cubes is still very much a thing outside of Taipei.
Pro tip: the real Taiwan beer in the blue cans tastes great in a cup with ice cubes. Best enjoyed while shrimp fishing or engaged in other similar manly Taike activities. Gold chain optional.
And, legend has it, being accosted in elevators to go out on a date!
Full disclosure: this has never happened to me. 
Guy
And yet, well ahead of Canada in the UN’s HDI index
Human Development Index - Wikipedia
Is that why Taiwan has a reputation for good street food? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it here, but apparently it’s good
I didn’t read past “years of schooling”. Sure, almost everyone in Taiwan has a 4 year university degree. Plenty of these universities have 100% acceptance rates and don’t want to fail students they can’t teach, so after wasting 4 or 5 years the students get a degree and shuffle off to 711. Human development, indeed.
Seeing what 7-11 employees are responsible for on a daily basis, one might argue that a university degree is the minimum requirement for employment.
Agree! The Family Mart folks in my 'hood completely amaze me.
Guy
He was comparing Canadia to the UK, not Canadia to Taiwan.
Oh, silly me, I thought the topic of the thread was Taiwan