Sunday

Wow. Yesterday, sunday the 24th of June was quite the day. The excitement all started after work at 4:30. First let me say that I hope I do not offend anyone with this post. Though the actions to be described are quite normal over here, it may seem a little strange or even disgusting to many of you back home. Keep an eye on your pets.
It all started in late April on the trip to Tay Ninh. Rick and I were sitting in the back talking to a Vietnamese maintenance guy named Quan. We both mentioned that notion of eating dog meat in the future, and Quan was keen to show us. Well it took two months, and Rick didn't even make it this time, but Quan offered to take me to eat dog meat. How could I say no. I was ready. And that's what we did. The restaurant we went to serves only dog meat, in several different styles. We tried four different types, being nuong (bbq), tap (steamed), long (intestines), and soup of some sort which consisted of the meat that could not be taken off the bone. And so I ate dog leg. It was interesting. As you might be able to imagine, it tastes quite similar to other meats. Especially the bbq stuff. The intestine was definately not as nice, with a pasty texture, but not as bad as I would have thought intestine to be. (INtestine is quite popular over here). All in all it was a good experience, and I will probably eat it again. And though this may be a point of contention, the dogs are raised for eating (like cows or any other farmed animals) so it's not like I"m eating Shado, or Vinny, or any other of our beloved pets that we all have. (I hear cat is really good too, and that may happen in the future).
Later that evening we had other plans for another animal. Snake. It is popular to drink the snakes blood, eat the heart, and then eat the meat. And so we did. After driving around to 4 different restaurants that were all closed, we finally found one that was open. We got to go to the cages, choose our beasts, and then watch as they choke it, slice it open and drain the blood into a cup, chop it's head off and cut it's heart out. I have a picture of the two hearts nestled beside the two gall bladders, while the hearts still beat. Interesting. And so we sat down as they mixed the blood with the vodka, and placed the hearts on teh table. The battle began, who was going to eat the heart. Well, I wasn't going to, but when I learned that I didn't have to chew it, I could just throw it down, well, I went for it. I coudnl't tell you anything because I didn't have to chew. It just went down. Craig and Alex polished the gall bladders, and Adam took the second heart. Then we got the blood vodka, and did shots of that. Tasted basically like vodka, with a different texture, like a thin film coating your mouth. Not bad. And then the meat came, and it was really good. Quite chewy, and with a really nice flavour. I really enjoy it.
So that was that. Quite a good night. Exposed to several new things. Tried some new meats. Oh this country gets more interesting everyday.
Peace.
Brandon.