ride of pig parts

Picture is of me cleaning up my car for the first of many times when I was on vacation at home.
I discovered that a local market street connects to a main street I use on the way to my tailor's last weekend. On the route I was thinking about all the local people getting their foodstuffs ready to prepare feasts for their families, and wondering which restaurants, if any, will be open for us laowai with little or no family with us here. And on the street I saw all sorts of things we don't have in our markets in the US, including live chickens and ducks, pig ears and pig stomachs. And I thought to myself the stomach is one of the most under-appreciated organs in the body. We only seem to notice it if we have abused it or it is taking care of an illness for us, in which case we still don't appreciate it enough. But it works so hard, day in and day out, every single time we eat and drink, it starts the process of caring for the rest of our whole bodies with the nutrients we have ingested. If I were a doctor I would want to specialize in the care and health of the stomach.

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