Duck Embryo Anyone?

As beautiful as the landscape is and as friendly as the people are I'm glad to be leaving Vietnam. Budda and Gods harassed me for talking smack in a Pagoda the entire week. My beta camera broke in two, a dog took a chunk of my hand off, I caught a nasty virus and I cried my way through the Cu Chi Tunnels. As if that wasn't bad enough... On Day 2, our small boat had engine problems and left us high and dry in the middle of the Mekong and on Day 4 the bus we were traveling in popped a tire. Multiply everything by 100 degrees of hot, humid, sticky weather and you've got Vietnam. Sounds fun, doesn't it? I thought I was an omnivore and would try everything once but this culture proved me wrong. We watched in horror as our hosts, during our homestay, cracked open a duck egg, on the verge of hatching and ate it. A completely developed duck embryo about to draw it's first breath instead gets swallowed whole. If not duckling, then they eat thit cay (canine chow) or field mice or king cobra. These are nourishing foods that sustain life and there's nothing unusual about eating a still beating heart. There are millions of mopeds here that strap everything to their bikes, including live stock. As I waited for a ferry crossing, I stood behind one with two goats hanging in baskets off the sides. This especially disturbed me because when goats cry they let out an ear-piercing wail and these poor soon-to-be slaughtered we're being burned by the muffler. A swift and painless death is one thing but to me, this is torture. The economy is booming and health care is advancing but in rural Vietnam, orphanages still lack services. I visited one with several mentally disabled children writhing on a concrete floor unable to move or comprehend. Newborns with cleft pallets and other deformities are also left on the doorstep of charities all the time. With my spirits waning and my heart broken, I forfeit the rest of my dong to help feed a hapless little brown-eyed bundle I held for 40 minutes. Okay, Budda you proved your point - can I please leave Vietnam now?