The Dog Green Mile

[Martin Hash]

Taking public buses in Third World nations is truly a test of Western sensibilities, and proves the meddle of a seasoned traveler. A scenario is probably in order: In Communist Laos, if you want a seat, even on long multi-hour bus rides, and even with assigned seating, you better board at the bus station because as soon as the bus is out of site of the authorities, it starts taking on additional passengers who either stand or sit on plastic stools provided by a guy who jumps on just as the bus leaves the depot. But even with overwhelming crowding, the bus stops for street food vendors to push their way down the aisles hawking rice, corn-on-the-cob & skewered meat. Plus, all overhead space & under every seat is commandeered for contraband packages. And at the border, it's normal practice to slip a large denomination bill into your passport & cut in front of everyone else in line. But that's not all:

Vietnam Overcrowded Bus.JPG

Vietnamese have an appetite for dog, and armies of dogs run free on the streets in Laos, a prime opportunity for the practice of clandestine Capitalism. Along our cross-border route the bus stopped in front of out-of-way shacks from which cages full of dogs, so many that they stand atop one another, are wheeled out on hand-trucks and loaded in the luggage compartments underneath the bus, where the dogs bark & yelp & howl for hours, until they end up in somebody's soup.

Vietnam Dogs On Bus.jpg

[Okeefenokee]

You ate some kid's dog, didn't you?

[TheReal_ND]

When in Rome.

[Martin Hash]

The level of corruption is total. At the Vietnam border, the Duty officials could hear all the commotion & were obviously bribed to ignore it. The cages were dropped off at a restaurant just before entering Hue. I'm an "animals are organic robots" person but the incident crossed my personal distaste threshold.

[Okeefenokee]

Yeah, dogs have the fortune of doing that to some of us. I guess southeast asianers are too far removed from their roots to remember the place dogs are supposed to hold.

[Fife]

Damn I miss DSL.

He'd be right in here arguing that dogs are human creations (which is obviously and demonstrably true), and that what is being discussed is in essence cannibalism, and in in practice evidence of the ultimate failure of the state in its profoundly stupid assault on the West.

[de officiis]

Damn I miss DSL.

He'd be right in here arguing that dogs are human creations (which is obviously and demonstrably true), and that what is being discussed is in essence cannibalism, and in in practice evidence of the ultimate failure of the state in its profoundly stupid assault on the West.

[Montegriffo]

Yeah, dogs have the fortune of doing that to some of us. I guess southeast asianers are too far removed from their roots to remember the place dogs are supposed to hold.

Actually, dogs have always been bred for meat. It's just some blinkered meat eater logic to suggest eating a horse or a dog is somehow worse than eating any other animal.
The main reason most regions stopped eating dog is that carnivorous mammals don't taste as good as herbivorous ones. Same with cats, no arsehole dentist ever ate a lion after he shot it for fun.