………….yes, that’s a place………….

………….and yes, I’ve been there………….

………….and yes sir’ee there were a lot of snakes there…….

………….cobras, mainly…….

…..back when I was traveling on the women’s tennis tour, one of our tournaments was in Taiwan…….

…..Taipei…to be specific…….

…..Bernadette was playing that event, while I was working it as the Tournament’s Athletic Trainer…….

…..which meant that our spare time could be spent in getting up to no good…….

…..and seeing the sites…….

…..and eating the food…….

…..and eating more food…….

…..and Snake Alley was also on the agenda…….

*****Snake Alley Explained*****

*******It thoroughly lived up to its name…..there were snakes everywhere*******

It was a tourist spot, as well as a local hang-out…

Apparently the snakes’ venom was considered some sort of a libido-booster of sorts…….

***Old New York Times Article About Snake Alley***

…..and if knocked back with a hearty gulp or two of some sort of brown spirited alcohol…….

…..then the libido-ridden gents would wander down to the “other end” of the alley and visit some heavily-make-up’ed/scantily dressed ladies…….

…..like I’ve said before…..I don’t judge…..and I try not to ask too many questions…….

…..But I did wish I’d had a copy of “Chinese For Dummies”…..because there were so many other local medicines and concoctions that were for sale…….

…..all the vials of oils and liquids (along with boxes of powders and pastes) were super interesting……..

…..I wish I could have read their sales descriptions or talked with the vendors…….

…..at that time, all those mysterious concoctions appeared to be predominately medicinal for youth-preservation or something professed to jump-start sexual functions…..of one-sort-or-another…….

…..like I said…..I don’t judge…….

But…..I did enjoy watching the mongooses (mongeese?) wandering around…….

…..Bernadette and I were told they were there to keep any of the cobras in check (who might happen to get loose)????????!!!!!!!!!!?????????

Wwwwwwwhhhhhaaaaatttttt!?!

Bernadette almost crawled up on my shoulders when “that” piece of information was explained to us!…..!

Fortunately…..while we were there…..the basketed cobras (and yes, they were only contained in wicker baskets—that were very, very close to us) remained where they were intended…….

…..and the mongeese (?) were left at their ease…….

…..and Bernadette and I had our names etched on “chops” to take home to remember our trip to Taiwan…….

*****What Are Chinese Chops?*****

…..or at least I think that my chop has my name engraved on it…..

…..I think so anyway…….

…..but regardless…..I’m really not sure what the stamp actually says…….

…..hmmmmmmm…………………