Balut!

Was going over my photos today and couldn't help but smile at the photos of me with guys I met during an international forestry conference I attended in Leyte, Philippines in June 2007.

I thought I'd post it here as a reminder of that fun night when I challenged guys from Germany, Ireland and a fellow Filipino to eat the famous Fear Factor favourite - balut!

On this interesting balut encounter, where I was enjoying (hihi sorry guys) watching the facial expressions of my male contenders decipher the strange egg in front of them, and which I won't go into details here as it will spoil the fun for those who haven't tried balut yet, my fascination switched to the balut vendors who handed to me what I thought was the greatest balut accessory innovation of all time! I just finished gobbling up my balut and was fumbling for something to wipe my hands with when our balut vendor readily offered a bottle of water to sanitise my hands! And it was not just an ordinary water, it was scented water! (how clever is that? never seen that in other parts of the country before!). The water - mixed with fragrant fabric softener, effectively leaves your hands free from the foul smell of the balut!

While it was indeed fun watching some of the guys brave their first encounter with a balut, I'm not sure if my new friends found it as interesting as I did... err I am not even sure if I earned new friends after that challenge... hehe