It feels like you could buy anything at this market! Remember that wild west feel of Lo Cai? A bit of that going on here. Certainly a journey through time.
Under the tarps people got drunk on corn hooch and ate horse entrails. It was rowdy, festive, warm, & smelled absolutely new. Not bad necessarily, but I can't say I've come across the scent of cooked horse entrails before.
The animal markets were simultaneously the most upsetting aspects of the market, and the most intriguing. Many of you know I'm an animal rights activist and advocate. I don't like seeing the buying and selling of animals. However, in this context, when neighbors who knew one another and lived much more intimately with these animals, traded in their neighborhoods and communities, it felt far better than puppy mills or factory farms. This is actually closer to how I would like to see my own community. I think it's important that practices that are often segregated from our everyday life-- animal harvesting, milking, trading-- be brought back into our vision. When that happens and we understand these processes more intimately we're more likely to work towards equitable and humane solutions. Well, I know that statement doesn't always hold up. Let's try this-- I think we're more likely to keep our involvement healthy if it's in our backyards and not hidden behind factory walls.
We left the market in the afternoon to head towards Lo Cai. We stopped at the border crossing with Hekou , China.
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