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06/04/2006: "TOMB SWEEPING DAY ....a public holiday"
The streets are quiet and it's 33 degrees at 10am - the start of spring in the northern hemisphere at Taiwan.
Later the equivilent of an Australian southerly cools the place off. Note the scooters and big billboards with western style advertising (and model on the left).
As families crowded countryside cemeteries to honor their ancestors, many marked the traditional tomb-sweeping festival by visiting their dead pets.
At Merciful Pets Paradise, a pet cemetery in suburban Taipei County, animal lovers stood before rows of cabinets filled with urns containing their dead dogs, cats, parrots and other pets. They lit incense and burned stacks of paper money, intended to ease the burden of the deceased in the afterlife.
Some prayed amid thick incense smoke before a gilded Buddha statue on an altar, flanked by more urns.
Peter He opened a small door to remove the urn containing the ashes of his pot belly pig, Dongdong, before a memorial service.
He placed the urn on a desk alongside a photo of Dongdong and a selection of his favorite foods, including bread and apples.
"I prayed to the Buddha that Dongdong will reincarnate into a man, not another pig who lives a miserable life," He said.
Next to him, Jan Hsia-ping cried for her best friend, Baby, a five-year-old Pomeranian who died last year.
"I brought Baby's favorite noodles and steamed egg," Jan said. "I prayed that she could forgive me for not providing her the best care when she was sick."
Pet owners can honor their dead animals with Christian, Catholic or Buddhist services, he said.
