Eating bugs in Bangkok

I have crossed several borders in my travels over the past few months. The Cambodia to Thailand border was by far the worst. There were tons of people, it was scalding hot, there was no food to be found (or atleast stuff I didn't want to risk eating) and the lines were endless.  After about 2 hours, I made it through to Thailand! Finally! Thailand has been at the top of my list for years, so I was super pumped.

I met some kiwis and a Californian couple on the bus and they were heading to Khaosan Road, party central in Bangkok, so I decided to tag along with them. Khaosan was a madhouse, but a fun one. There were tons of little shops selling weird shirts and street food stands as far as the eye could see. There is nothing like having pad thai whipped up for you in about 2 minutes. And it only cost 40 baht for a plate, $1.33. I stayed close to this road for the next 2 days while I waited for a bus south. It was a great time.

The highlight of course, were the vendors walking around selling insects to eat. There were trays of scorpions coated in soy sauce and one woman with an entire cart of deep fried delicacies.  After taking inventory, I decided I would sample a scorpion and a giant water bug (Bellostomatid). I had heard the giant water bugs taste like cinnamon.

First was the giant water bug. Excuse the slightly blurry photos, but I still think they capture the absolute revulsion on my face. It was disgusting. The worst texture ever, awful taste, really just disgusting. Someone lied to me, there was not a trace of cinnamon in there.

So excited

Thinking about it

Starting to taste it

That is just awful

For the life of me, I couldn't finish the little bug. I felt bad because it had died to feed a tourist, but couldn't bring myself to stomach the rest of it. Next up was a tiny scorpion. This was much tastier and I ate the entire thing.

There were several other creepy crawlers on the bug cart including grasshoppers and meal worms, but I decided that was enough for the moment. I will hit up the rest of the cart the next time I'm in Bangkok. Now it's time to head to the beach.