Emily's Escapades

These are all photos that Esther took. We stopped by our local grocery store for a peek at some differences in Western and Eastern cuisine. She has been living in Thailand for 10 months, working as a tour guide, so I didn’t think these things would surprise her but they did.

This is from a male pig. Enough said.

Chicken feet

Not the pet store…. frogs. (yep, alive.)

Soft-shelled turtles – I’ve had them before.

A fish no one will pick – they need to be alive and well. It is very important to pick out the freshest and best animal, which is why the meat counter is so interesting to me.

None of the meat counters have glass in them. You can slap, pinch and poke each piece of meat before picking one. Then the next person slaps, pinches and poke each one too. The process is repeated all day (remember most public toilets do not have soap or hot water.) This is why we don’t buy meat at the local stores. (Probably, cooking the meat would kill any germs. Our western ideas of how meat should be treated still prevents us from purchasing it though.)

Durian – the famous fruit that is supposed to be wonderful if you can get past the awful smell! Most hotels even ban it. I haven’t had it.