2 Legs Good! 4 Legs Food!

Now that we have already visited the handicraft market on a weekday, we had the weekend free! And with some prompting from our new friends Adeline and Nicolas, we decided to wake early (6am is really early when you don't have to go to work!) and join them for a quick jaunt to the animal market nearby.

A great-looking couple from France

A great-looking wife from Singapore - wearing the GREY jacket she bought

We hopped into a cab for a USD 1 ride to the market, and upon arrival, we were greeted by noisy squeals from pigs, as if they were being led to the slaughter. Well, actually, they really were.

You have to give George Orwell credit for his portrayal of pigs in Animal Farm. The pigs were really the ones who seemed most aware of their cruel fate. They fight against being led away, trotters splayed in the dirt, and had to be literally dragged or bagged away.

There goes Squealer!

Gruesome reminder to the pigs what they were in for

You can get away! All you have to do is jump!

Animal Farm was also spot on for sheep. The sheep seemed perfectly contented to be marketed and sold. To make them look tougher and more energetic, they were prodded to stand instead of lying on the ground. And they stood with nary a bleat of protest. Sheep are easy, I tell ya!

Presenting the Apple iSheep. Do anything you want them to do!

Animal Farm did not feature guinea pigs though. These were sold near the entrance of the market. Not as pets, but as food! The wife challenged me to eat guinea pigs during our trip here, and I replied,"Ah, but how do you know that what they serve you are really guinea pigs and not rats? To make sure that we eat guinea pigs, we should get the locals to show us the guinea pigs, and cook them alive right in front of our eyes!"

After turning green like the the Wicked Witch of the West in Oz-tavalo, the wife said that maybe we would not be eating guinea pigs after all. Disaster averted! :p

Why would anyone want to eat guinea pigs...

...when chicken is easily available?

We also saw food that we thought might appeal to our French friends, but unfortunately, at that time we saw this, we had actually spread out a bit and I couldn't ask for their confirmation.

I could have supplied these from my pond at home!

I looked at the slice of lemon in the bag along with the snails, and heard a sizzling sound in my mind. Then I remembered that it is salt that makes snails sizzle and melt into nothingness. Anyone knows what lemon does to snails? Other than to make them sour?

Those with 2 legs really seemed to have it better here, because while wandering around, it did seem like most of the 2-footed beings were not for consumption. Not immediately, anyway. The homo sapiens (heh, heh, I said homo) were obviously not being sold as food. And the little chicks can't be sold as food either. They are too cute, and need to uglify themselves by growing up, then they will be fit to be cooked.

2 legs? You're safe. Sell leashes? Even better!

Still cute now, but they'll be broaster within the month!

Chicken watched Happy Feet, and thought it'd try to tap-dance its way out of certain death as well

I was totally ready to leave the animal market within 15 minutes of arrival. I guess I was expecting it to be a little like what you see at Chatuchak in Bangkok, with cute little puppies (and iguanas!) to be sold as pets. I was just not mentally prepared to see a market place where live animals were being traded while they pooped all over the place! Perhaps buying food from NTUC Fairprice has blocked us from the reality of the lives we kill when we eat meat. Sobering thought. Almost makes one want to become a vegetarian, when you consider the savagery of it all.

Ah well, sobering thought over, and I'm hungry. Time for some broaster!