Unspeakable, unthinkable, and reasonably inedible.

I have a little to catch up on over the last few days. After a very pleasant Christmas day we started traveling again, and we are still behind on sleep. However, certain events are foremost on my mind and would be better aired, although I'm sure few will thank me for the sharing. Even now Hel is reading this as I type with a satisfied look upon her face - the guilty smirk of someone who has outdone themselves.

On our journeys we found ourselves in Surat Thani with a few hours to spare before the night train. This is probably the least tourist oriented town we have had the pleasure of visiting, and we were excited to note the presence of an excellent street market. We were soon cursing our lack of appetite, for we had unfortunately eaten recently, but were still content to wander up and down looking for a potential late dinner.

One stall in particular drew Hel's attention, as they were offering a small (but not nearly small enough) selection of delicacies. There were several varieties of beetle, a plate full of mealworms, another of grubs, and a bucket of grasshoppers, all delicately fried to some twisted idea of perfection.

Hel is adventurous when it comes to food, and was very enthusiastic to find something that she had not eaten before. Despite the many superb reasons that these items had yet to be sampled by either of us, the fact that someone was misguided enough to sell them was obviously good enough reason to go along with the ill conceived notion by actually buying and eating some.

I did not share in this enthusiasm, nor did I choose to look as Hel filled a small plastic bag with the critters. Neither did I look as she munched her way through them with mixed reactions. The "crisp-erpillars" (the mealworms look like caterpillars, and were evidently crispy when fried) were received very well - apparently.

I would rather not dwell on the subject any longer. Suffice it to say that Hel eats bugs. Charming.