Snakes on a Train and other tails

My friend Kim sent me this hilarious yet terrifying article about a recent incident on a train to Hanoi. You can read the whole article here

Basically, the train had to be evacuated because someone found a few bags full of poisonous cobras that luckily had their mouths sewn shut, but they were still alive and wriggling about! The underlying presumption is that they were destined for a restaurant in Hanoi that specialises in snake meat.

In fact, weird meats are quite common throughout Vietnam. They serve dog, monkey, turtle, snake, goat, crocodile and more conventional ones such as pork, duck (today is a day of celebration which means that everyone meets up with their family to enjoy a huge feast of duck)and chicken. They also use these animals to make spirits, all of which are supposed to be 'good for man'. I've tried snake wine and monkey wine, both of which I will not be trying again, as it's not only morally dubious (most of these species are protected) but both of them also taste disgusting.


IN two weeks today my parents arrive and I'll be leaving Hue on the 25th, so I'm coming to the end of my time here. We'll be heading to Hanoi, where I'm attending a conference on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for 2 days. But first, we'll be visiting Halong Bay, which I am incredibly excited about! After Hanoi, we're heading to Ho Chi Minh City for a few days before making our way to Cambodia!!! As amazing as all these places will be, I'm sure to miss Hue which has really made a huge impression on me. All this amazing food, rich history, beautiful surroundings and fascinating people I've met, it'll be hard to leave!

But I've still got so much planned until then: we're taking the kids from the shelter to a spa/waterpark for the day; I've still got 2 weeks of teaching at the five star resort to go; the Hope Shop will finally open; one of my friends is returning to Hue after a month of travelling..... all is good!


PS new pics have gone up on my photoblog!