Culture shocks & food with rocks!

I think we anchored this post a few days ago when we said we'd write a post called the Harsh Realities of Travelling. Well we decided to go for the new title "Culture shocks & food with rocks" because yeas we have had food with complementary rocks, and despite the fact that we are now pretty accustomed to the ways of South East Asia, there have been a fair few culture shocks!
You might have other friends who have done similar trips to ours, and when they get back and you ask them how it was they'll all say "Amazing! Had the time of my life!". Now whilst that is probably very very true there are some things these friends of yours don't tell you about travelling, and we are beginning to feel this sort of amnesia about the darker side of travelling already. So before we forget them all we'll tell you about a few of these culture shocks, and ths week our hot topic is....food.
The cooking conditions are....less than unhigenic to put it very very mildly. Usually you have to walk throught the kitche in a restaurant to get to the toilets, and now days we try to avoid making pi pi until after we have eaten. Why? Well often you'll see the washing up on the floor and a dog licking out of the bowl you're about to get. Or a rat may run past you and under a kitchen unit, or the cook will come out of the toilet before you (you know what he's done in there) and you know there's no sink to wash his hands and then he makes you a nice club sandwich...it really does get an awful lot worse than this. In Vietnam in particular, spitting and picking your nose is something you'll even see the most beautiful sophisticated woman do on the street.
So, whilst most of the food is good you do sometimes get a few surprises. Here are some examples:

a) Hair: 90% of the time you'll get the odd complementary hair in your food, and you just have to pick it out and carry on eating. If you didn't then you would go hungry. But I remember a particularly bad time when I swear someone had had a shave in my fried rice!! It was awfull, the found about 30 little hairs like the ones you boys might leave in the sink after you've had a shave. I did send my food back that time.

b) Rope: Yes rope. An Australian girl we met in Vietnam was happily tucking into a spring roll when she nearly chocked on a substantially large piece of rope!!

c) Fresh bread: To our friend Laura the idea of a lovely fresh baggette filled with chicken salad sounded very appealling after a long bus journey. She nearly ate the whole thing when she spotted these black dots inside the bread, on closer inspection we discovered that the break was riddled with what looked like a nest of ant eggs! I left my baggette after that.

d) Markets: Sometimes the food itself is less than appetising. Walk through the markets of hanoi and find that it is not chicken breast that is the most expensive part of the chicken, but it's feet!
You think you've seen a nice leg of lamb and then you get closer and realise it's a chiuaua thigh on the BBQ. Skinned frogs, deep fried spiders the size of your hand, big fat honey fried worms....and so the list goes on.

So yes it is "Amazing" and we are "having the time of our lifes" but if you ever decide to make this trip remember to be prepared and we guarantee that you become immune to it after a few weeks. Sooooo, have a nice lunch and think how lucky you are not to have to look at every mouthfull you take.

Bon Appetite!