9/13/10 My date with a pig

With images of an imminent death fresh in my mind I got back to living, which on a road like 193 meant corner carving, or as much corner carving as can be done with a 150CC cruiser in suspect mechanical condition.  I had gotten used to the sound of the centre stand banging on the pavement when I hit sharp bumps in the road; soon after that I also got used to the sound of the pegs scraping the road.  I really had this thing leaned over!  It’s funny, back home riding like this in shorts and a t-shirt would be considered sheer lunacy, yet here I was oddly comforted by my stupidity.  The intense heat had me dreaming of getting rid of my helmet as well, but even I have limits.

I was coming out of yet another fast corner when out of the corner of my eye I saw two men preparing to butcher a pig.  I second guessed myself but decided to turn back anyways to see if I could get some photos.  I used the universal hand signal for “May I take some pictures?” (Smile, put camera to eye, wait for response) and the men agreed to my request with a simple nod.  But my time as spectator didn’t last long; they asked me to take part.  While one man went over the carcass with a blowtorch, my job was to scrape bits of burnt hair off the skin with a cleaver.

The "thumbs-up" sign told me my technique was flawless.

With virtually no words shared a conversation still took place.  The pig was being slaughtered to be divided amongst four families.  The women were in the shade beside the two room house cleaning wild leek sprouts and cutting palm shoots.  They offered me a seat and placed a beer in my hand.  As if to test my resolve one of the men asked me if I would like to eat the pig’s testicles.  Obviously he was unaware of the two pronged attack of my willingness to eat anything and the “Philosophy of Yes”, and since I had essentially eaten every part of the pig except for balls and brain, I reasoned that this would be a good opportunity to reduce the list to one but only on the condition that I would split them with my host.  He smiled as the blood oozed from the wound in the pig’s neck.

The joker of the group decides he'd like to be taller.

My gracious hosts invited me back for a meal later on that day on my return trip from Guongfu.  As I mounted my motorcycle they waved goodbye in a manner that indicated friendly strangers had become friends.