The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

No, we are not talking about the book by Mark Haddon and actually our incident didn't happen at night either......

I suggest that those of a delicate disposition do not read any further and Karen, you should most definitely not read this section to the boys.

We all know that the Vietnamese eat dogs right? Gav and I have seen one or two caged up and it has been apparent what lies in store for them. Apparently dog is quite an expensive meat and is therefore only eaten on special occassions although some like to eat dog once a month as it is thought that it brings luck. Sandy coloured dogs are said to taste the best. I believe it is an honour if a local asks you to dine on dog with him. We have spoken to a few travellers who have tried dog meat and said that in fact it is fairly tasty. Until recently it's fair to say that we have had no objections to the eating of dog, I mean how can we really? We eat animals so how can we judge? Don't get me wrong, neither Gav or I had any intention of actually eating any but surely us Brits eating our battery farm chickens is no better???

Anyway, back to the story. As I have mentioned we did experience some rain during our time in Ha Long Bay, in fact on the morning of Saturday 14th April we were subjected to severe thunder storms. Oh well, thats fine, we'll just stay in bed then is what we thought to ourselves.

The resort has a number of exceptionally friendly German Shepard guard dogs and at around 9am the dogs started going crazy. All of the dogs where barking at the same time and after around 10 minutes or so it was obvious that something was upsetting them.

I managed to drag myself out of bed to have a look at what was going on. At first all I could see was the young staff member, kitchen hands and the like, gathered around the volley ball pitch which was directly below our bungalow. One of the staff had a stick in his hand, similar to a broom handle. The dogs where all in the same area and seemed to be all looking in the same direction.....and so my gaze fell on what all the comotion was about.

On the sand volley ball pitch was a smallish sandy coloured dog. It looked like a greyhound type of dog although a little stockier. At first I could not work out how the dog's body was contorted in such a way although it was soon apparent that it's front legs had been twisted up behind it's back and tied together. The poor thing was terrified and was repeatedly lurching forward on it's hind legs trying to escape.

Oh God, it was awful. Gav told me not to look anymore as he knew how much I would be upset by what I was seeing. However I did once look back to see that the stick that the young staff memeber had been holding now seemed in someway holding the dog to the ground.

After some time, it became a little too much for both of us. The dog we squealing with fear and the noise of the other dogs barking at it and the staff shouting was overwhelming. What should we do? Eventually Gav shouted down to the group below that if they were going to kill the dog could they just get it over and done with and put the animal out of it's misery! We do understand that we are in Vietnam and whilst we are travelling we should respect the local customs and traditions and therefore maybe this was inappropriate action for us to take?? I'd actually like to know what other people's views on this are - what would you have done?

The group of staff then dragged the dog away out of view and, as Gav saw one of the boys pick up a meat cleaver, we assumed that was the end of it and that the dog would be killed and cooked. Erm nope! In fact what they actually did was just move the dog so that it was out of view and placed it into a shed area that was to the rear of the private beach. Throughout the rest of the morning we could hear the dog whimpering although stangely most acted as though they could not. I have no idea how long a dog would be left like that before it dies but it upsets me to think about it.

We have sinced been informed that the Vietnamese believe that the slower the death the tastier the meat becomes. They believe that the adrenaline released during death improves the flavour. Hence the treatment we witnessed and the reason why they were reluctant to give the dog a more humane death.

Chien, the owner of the resort, had asked us on the previous evening if we could email him with any suggestions as to how he could make his resort most appealing to western tourist. he asked for ideas or music CD's that he should buy, medicine that he should keep on-site etc. The resort had only been open since November and so was still a work in progress of sorts. At the time we imformed him that we loved it the way it was. It had a sort of rustic charm that would be lost if he tried to improve it too much. However with this conversation in mind we decided to approach him for a chat before we left (well Gav did the approaching). Gav basically took him aside and quietly said that we understand the dog is included in the Vietnamese diet however the treatment that we had witnessed that morning was hard for most Westeners to comprehend, whatever animal it might be. After initially denying he knew anything about the dog he was then very apologetic indeed.

If I am being honest I have come away feeling quite guilty as the guys at the resort tried so hard to make us as comfortable as possible and I think they felt that all their hard work had been undone. Maybe we shouldn't have said anything? However, if it stops the next guests having to witness the same thing, maybe we should have?

Gav and I wanted to go travelling to have new experiences and learn about other countries and cultures. We are certainly doing what we set out to!