In your face

That's how Vietnam is. If there were an award for overuse of the horn, it would definitely go to this country. It even beats out India I would say, and that is no small feat. I would love to see the authorities attempt to institute a no honking policy here... people would have no idea what to do with themselves. I've done a considerable amount of mumbling to myself here, things like, "Yeah buddy, I hear ya" and, "Dude, what is your @$! problem?" This of course accomplishes nothing, but makes me feel mildly better about getting beeped at constantly when I'm crossing the street.

The other way Vietnam is in your face is in the food markets. Produce I can handle, but the meat and seafood sections are just too much. If I were a hardcore carnivore it wouldn't be a problem, but as someone who flirts heavily with vegetarianism it is stomach-turning. Today a fish flopped out of its little bucket as I was walking by, a cry for help I believe. And then there were these three turtles, destined shortly for turtle soup I imagine, and one of them was craning its neck to reach the water that the fish were in below. So sad. I'm easily reminded of the first time I went veg, after spending a year in France and seeing the flagrant displays of dead animals in the markets there.

I couldn't bring myself to take any pictures of these animals on death row, so I focused on the spice section instead.



Ah, Vietnam's famous weasel coffee. There are other countries with variations on this theme, but it goes something like this: weasel eats coffee beans, stomach acids go to work on them, weasel passes coffee beans, harvesters pick them up and roast and grind them, then sell them to the coffee-loving public. Mmm...