Making friends with Arthropods

Hurray for the weekend!  I kicked it off with this AWESOME all-you-can eat BBQ at JD's, a fun expat hangout run by a Brit named Harry.  The BBQ featured Western quality meats, great potato salad, and traditional Vietnamese dishes prepared by Harry's wife (like those mint-rolled beef skewers and a delicious curry beef stew). Most worthy of your jealousy were the jumbo prawns, which started on a bed of ice and were then thrown on the grill while I waited.  Now sometimes shrimp creep me out because they are related to bugs, but I had no problem tearing off the head as well as the segmented appendages to devour the sweet meat inside.  
 
All that and two beers came to $10. Who's coming to visit??

It was funny because the night before I had been watching Anthony Bourdain eat sausage and beer in Prague, and some other food program about Malaysia. So during this buffet, I totally felt like I was on the Food Network. :-)


Maybe my comfort with the shrimp was the result of my battle with another arthropod.   Though my hotel room is huge and pretty luxurious, there is often a lizard running down the wall.  But that's all fun and games. As a true test of my commitment to Vietnam, the first night here, I turned on the bathroom light before going to bed to find crawling all over my sparkling white bathtub the biggest cockroach I've ever seen. As Indiana Jones would say, "Cockroaches...I hate cockroaches."

What did I do? Went running down to the front desk, of course. I don't go anywhere near cockroaches. The cleaning lady came up (intending to smash it, I presume...ugh) but it was gone by the time she got there.  The next time he came out, we got him with some Raid, which they graciously left with me.  I've seen only one more, which I single-handedly nailed with the Raid.  I sleep with the bathroom light on, and inspect carefully before entering, but I almost feel like I have made some peace with them.  I think their huge size makes it easier for me to think of them as "animals", and I feel a bit of pity when I see them wriggling to death.  I still prefer not to see them at all, but those who know me might be surprised that I have not fled the country yet.