Jon over at the The Final Word...in Saigon blog has posted beautiful pictures of preparations for the Tet festival and holiday here in Ho Chi Minh City. His posting is entitled "Tet Prep : Pig Crazy" since this coming lunar new year is the Year of the Pig.
There is another side to celebrating the pig, however. Pigs are the prime ingredient for Tet dishes, as they are at all times of the Vietnamese year. Pigs have to be prepared to be sold in the market.
We took a leisurely Sunday drive out to Thu Duc yesterday.
Thu Duc is a rural District north of the inner districts of HCMC.
It is home to one of the largest universities in Viet Nam, Nong Lam University, with 11,000 students.
While primarily an agricultural and natural resources university, there are many other academic centers there.
While looking for a café, we came across a farmer slaughtering pigs. This was primarily a "city kid sees a rural phenomenon" experience. As you can see from the kids in the picture below, this was a common experience for them.
This was a rather public venue -- no walls or fences, except for the barn the pigs were kept in (and electrocuted in). This was a drive-up opportunity.
I love to tell stories with photographs in these postings, but the remainder of the story and accompanying photographs could be offensive to many people. Therefore this story is continued on my Flickr photo site at http://www.flickr.com/gp/24221644@N00/81K32K
Please be warned that these photos show blood and gore, so don't go there if you may be offended by such content.
