My favorite city in Taiwan is a small city near the south of Taiwan, called Tainan. It was the first capital of Taiwan, and was it's first "modern" city (well modern for hundreds of years ago). I like it because many parts of that old city still exist, albeit in the middle of the city surrounded by more modern conventions. So yes you might see a 600 year old temple next to a macdonald's.
It being so old is great because it has some things that you can't find anywhere else on the island, mainly because they have been phased out. One great example of this is a temple that is devoted to the Buddhist god of hell, and to demons. The walls of the temple are covered with paintings depicting hell and the various tortures there, as well as sculptures of demons.
It was a temple where people thought they could go to communicate with the dead, and nowadays people will go there just like they go to any other temple, to pray for good luck and other wishes. I find this quite refreshing that people can go and basically pray to the ruler of hell and/or some demons and nobody bats an eye. I definitely don't see people in the states being so nonchalant if their neighbor goes to pray to Satan every few days, and brings Satan some food as a gift.
Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that temple, so I am giving you the next best thing. A picture of a print out of a copy of a painting of the stages of hell from that temple. If you can't make it out clearly, the ground is covered with spikes. I choose to believe that the artist is saying that acupuncture is a type of hellish torture.
