A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
While lost in Cholon, a Chinesier area of Saigon, I happened upon the most remarkable street. Just one short block long, this street appeared to function as some kind of poultry clearing house. Sort of like a market, but more like a place where restaurants would call and order up 50 chickens and they would gather them together and send them over. The aroma was farm-like, and not in a good way.

There were thousands of chickens, ducks, and other birds, mostly lying on the ground with their legs tied together in long rows that appeared to be arranged by size. They were all still alive but making no attempt to move, perhaps resigned to the fruitlessness of the effort. It was a madhouse, with people carrying around 20-30 chickens at a time, all strung together by their feet. Some basket cages had so many ducks or chickens crammed inside that half of them couldn't touch the ground. It wasn't exactly "free range", if you get my drift.

But the most amazing thing about it was the transportation method used to ferry the live chickens around town. The Vietnamese have convinced me that the motorbike is the most versatile mode of transportation on earth. There were bikes leaving chickenville with 50-75 live chickens tied together by the feet and draped over the handlbars, over the "backseat", and crammed into the space between the driver's legs. The ducks got more deluxe treatment -- they were stuffed into big woven plastic shopping bags which were lashed to the sides of the motorbike like multi-headed quacking saddlebags. Really, it makes taking your wife and 3 kids on on your Honda look like childs play.

© 2002 Katy Warren



posted by Katy at 5:24 AM