Thoughts from the orient.

I've never eaten trung vit lon (pronounced chiin yit lownge). It reeks and doesn't agree with my whitey upbringing. :) My wife eats it behind my back. On account of me making gagging noises that one time. Hee.

Then there's dog. Ummmm ummmmm UMMMMM! Kidding. I never ate any. My in-laws and some of my relatives don't either. Just like here, not everyone has the same view. Most folk don't eat the ones they keep as pets. If you're dirt poor though, protein is protein. The funny thing is I overheard the Catholics, in order to entice the locals, serve dog meat every Sunday. Snakes, cats, rats, you name it. If it's edible - it's at the market.

I don't 'get' the asian fascination with numerology. It makes us seem less creative. The calendar is all referred to by numbers. Days of the week can also be locations. I drove past Thursday on my way to Tuesday. Shops are numbered. You wouldn't go to McDonald's. You'd go to Eatery #4, after you've bought some pants at Tailor #6. The number 9 is everywhere as it's a good luck number.

Lotto tickets are sold everywhere you go. By that, I don't mean kiosks. I mean there are folks who'll ask you to buy them. The divide between the haves and have nots is pretty big. You'll see the Hilton right next to slums. Guns aren't a problem though. The commies don't let ordinary citizens have em. Easy to quell rebellions that way. But on a much more positive note, gun deaths are rare. Knife deaths however... :)