interacting with the local wildlife

This post should be entitled "I'm sorry mom." First off, there's a lot of new and exciting wildlife in Thailand. Geckos infest the city, trying to sell you cheap car insurance and eating bugs. My first couple videos are of one such resident of our apartment complex... (who I happened to chase into someone's room).

In the last video... you'll see us being more like the gecko. And no I'm not talking about selling cheap car insurance. Yes... that's Vanessa eating a GIANT grasshopper. And yes, we ALL ate one. In fact, I ate two. Brian ate three. I had three maggots also. Now, to explain how we got into this situation. Basically, we were chillin' on Khao San Road and saw a bug vendor. Now... this bug vendor was sporting some pretty gargantuan insects. Namely, some 3 and a half inch long grasshoppers. I hate grasshoppers; I figured this was my chance to get back at them. They were lightly fried (but you could still clearly make out their eyeballs and mouth parts and all). I saw a little Thai lady with some American friends buy a bag; not as a cheap party trick, just to eat them. I figured I could too. So, Vanessa bought a bag (yeah, we paid money for these things). I grabbed one, and about a moment before you put it into your mouth, you have some pretty serious thoughts of regret. I bit the head off and chewed; not that bad. Tastes like a potato chip mixed with a piece of beef jerky. The seasoning was quite good. The grubs or maggots or whatever were better (though I might not eat either for a snack).

The funniest part of the night was yet to come... Brian and I had just started eating ours and one of our peers who decided not to eat a grasshopper, but who had had a little too much to drink, threw up on the street. Brian looked at me in amazement, still contemplating the grasshopper torso and legs in his mouth and said:

"Man... that makes ME want to throw up!"

Sorry to subject you to this video everyone! I guess I'm really trying to submerge myself in this culture!