Headlines in today’s Vietnam News, the local English language newspaper:
WILD ELEPHANTS HAVE DESTROYED MANY HOUSES AND CROPS
TOAD EGGS DEADLY FOR CHILDREN (Story on page 4)
ONE HORNED RHINOS ON VERGE OF EXTINCTION (Story on page 6)
FOUR JAILED FOR TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE STATE (Page 1)
I had no idea toad eggs were deadly, so that was good information. The article went on to say that not only were the eggs deadly but that “toad flesh does not contain many highly nutritious elements that are good for children.” I didn’t know that either. Without treatment both toad elements “could lead to death.” Well, it wasn’t on my diet anyway.
Living in Saigon it is also easy to lose sight of the fact that there are still elephants, rhinos, and tigers out and about in the countryside. I just finished a Vietnam war novel by Karl Marlantes in which a Marine at a forward listening post is carried off in the night and eaten by a tiger. Personally, I think crossing the street in Saigon is dangerous, so I’m going to ignore the tiger menace, let the kids deal with the toad eggs and give myself over to focusing on traffic safety.
