bumpy road to paradise

We're now as south as we're gonna get, on Phu Quoc island off the southern tip of Vietnam. It is officially the most beautiful place Ryan and I have ever been. However, getting here takes considerable effort, which is probably why the place isn't a typical boring western-type resort. And did I mention that there are sunsets? We're very happy about this arrangement.

The journey south started in Can Tho, unofficial capitol of the Mekong. It was here that Ryan exercised some culinary bravado and (plug your ears mugs) ate some half developed chicken fetuses. This may not sound crazy to some who have traveled in Asia, but the whole scene was really a crackup. Walking into a clean looking restaurant that smelled good, we were confronted by a menu in Vietnamese only, and with items we hadn't seen before. Instead of trying to guess, we simply pointed at the table next to us where they were cooking up a savory soup and throwing things in. The bubbling savory broth was delicious (I picked around the chopped up bits of pig? stomach) and you could throw in noodles, lots of greens, squash blossoms, and eggs. I threw in a whole egg, just guessing, and our waitress came over about 10 minutes later to fish it out and open it, apparently we were cooking it too long. Inside was a fully formed chick, right down to the little feet. It stayed in its egglike form and Ryan motioned to fellow diners as if to ask 'so, I just pop it in my mouth?' They nodded and he threw the whole thing down the hatch, everyone watching, and retched a few times before having to spit it back in his bowl. No bueno! This elicited some thumbs down responses and laughter from our neighbors. Ryan eventually did retry and swallow his ABC fetus, but no one was watching so he couldn't redeem himself. He said that the weirdest thing was the combination of egg yolk and meat, not the little fully formed chicken parts. I abstained. And, we forgot the camera! Although perhaps not many would be interested in regurgitated food anyway...

Beyond the surprise eggs, we also took in a floating market on the mekong. I'm a food and market nerd, and I was kind of excited. Vendors flew fruit and veggie 'flags' to show what they sold. This formidable flag flew above a huge boat, apparently a one stop shop for all you could need in the world of produce:

Ryan contemplates the flag. His favorite was the melon flag.

Leaving Can Tho, we were packed into a minibus for the 3 hour ride to Rach Gia. We had the misfortune of sitting next to a sick woman who vomited and retched the entire ride. My weak stomach was maxed out, and Ryan and I kept searching through our bags trying to find empty plastic ones for this woman to fill. How so much could come out of one small woman, we haven't figured out. Our driver cared little as he laughed on his cell phone, blew cigarette smoke back into his human cargo, and careened recklessly through traffic. Everyone else adopted a particularly "dee de dee" attitude (in the words of Carlos Mencia and my mother), as she retched away beside me. It was only on leaving that we realized she had left her (very full) bags of vomit to ooze all over the floor. Awesome. From now on, we're paying attention to who brings an empty bag with them on the bus - they know in advance that they're not gonna make it.