Sunday, March 1, 2009

Porkchops Are Good...

On the way home from work every Monday, I pass one of the best examples of Bangkok's duplicity - The Butcher of Bangkok Noi.

Being a predominantly Buddhist country, where killing any living creature (including ants, snails, and mosquitoes) is a sin, Thailand somehow finds it acceptable to have a full-on butchers shop on one of the main streets near Nuch's house. Granted, the pigs are already dead and not being slaughtered in front of the rush hour traffic or the innocent passersby, but the carcasses are dropped off by the truckload where guys with no shirts or shoes toss them on to the butcher's table to be cut into bits for everyone to see.

Certainly, when you buy bacon or a ham sandwich at the supermarket, you know that it came from a living creature that is no longer among us, but thankfully, the steps from the slaughterhouse to the meat section are kept hidden from us. Not in Bangkok.
These are two videos that I've spliced together while on the way home from work. While I'm stopped in traffic, you can get a good look at the trucks being unloaded and the buses and cars passing by. As I start to drive off, you can catch a quick glimpse inside - the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comes to mind.

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