We arrived at the dock to meet our ride to dinner (another boat we were afraid our fat American asses would destroy) just in time for sunset:
On our boat (by the way, the random Thai guy sitting next to Iain is the driver we hired for the night, who we dragged along to dinner- not sure how much he enjoyed hanging out with 7 Americans for 6 hours, but he came along anyway):
We took our boat to our restaurant for the evening, a soft shell crab restaurant on a soft shell crab farm. No, they don't plant them...instead there are these rows of boxes in water, with the crabs chilling in them until they shed their shells. As soon as their shells are shed, if I recall correctly, within 4-6 hours they kill them to prepare for food.
The farm:
We met the people who worked here, which involved 24 hours a day of manual labor (people worked 4 hours a day, crouched on wooden boards, an hour off, then 4 more hours) which also included a few little girls who stared at us, terrified of our glowing white skin, holding large knives (look closely at the little girl's hand in the second picture):
While there, Iain learned everything he could about how the whole operation works, so if you want to see an entire conversation in Thai, check out my video:
The dinner was amazing, and I even think Tracy enjoyed it (although she repeatedly lets us know that she thinks "fish tastes like crotch"). We ended up hanging out late into the night with Iain and Jen's friends, so our initial plan of hiking a mountain today kind of got scrapped. Instead, we had a lazy day at Iain and Jennifer's, then went for another amazing meal at the restaurant next door to their house. It was the spiciest meal I've had since landing in Thailand, so I cried a little through the meal, but it was really good and I always enjoy their cheap rum:
Tomorrow we have QUITE the unique experience planned, but I don't want to give anything away...but I'll tell you now, it's good. Small hint: it involves bird spit. We'll let you know all about it when it's over!
Tomorrow we have QUITE the unique experience planned, but I don't want to give anything away...but I'll tell you now, it's good. Small hint: it involves bird spit. We'll let you know all about it when it's over!
1 comment:
my relatives on my mom's side of the family tried to make me eat it. i think i had the same problem at the time i heard it was bird spit. but for the sake of health, I am now taking it regularly.
btw, i don't buy the super-expensive kind like old people do. the ready-to-drink kind at the stores are pretty affordable. (e.g. www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm)
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