You never quite know what to expect when walking down the streets of Taiwan. From the people to the buildings to the cars and scooters on the roads, the Taiwanese urban environment is always surprising me in new ways.

A while back now I was walking through downtown Taichung and perched high up above street level I spotted these little guys keeping watch.

I’m certainly not versed in architecture but even if I was, I think I’d be struggling to explain what exactly the designers of this building were going for.

The entire building was different shades of pink (pink seems to be the de facto color for residential buildings in Taiwan) and perched on the third floor of the building were these little anatomically correct golden gladiator statues.

Maybe it’s some kind of superstitious thing and the gladiators are meant to keep the occupants safe while they sleep.

I’m not sure how well I’d sleep with a bunch of naked gladiators outside my window…