Philippines and Balut

I arrived in Manila a few days ago. My first night was spent at Mabini Pension on Mabini St. It was a decent budget hotel with a fan and private bathroom (WITH OVERHEAD SHOWER! AND HOT WATER!) The next day Redie came to fetch me and brought me to Edna Sotomayor's home in Pandacan, Manila. This is Julious' family, who is in Guam with Jakobe. They are super nice and have helped me so much already!

My first room at Mabini Pension.

Balut, well, in short it is a delicacy and also known to be an aphrodisiac here in the Philippines. The balut is a half developed embryo of either chicken or duck that is boiled and served hot. Last night the Chicharon Boyz put me to the test! A street vendor came by rythmically chanting baaaLLUUT! BaaaaLLUT. The Boyz put down the pesos to give me a real Filipino initiation, as if the many liter bottles of Red Horse Lager the night before wasn't good enough.
The egg is peeled half way just like a boiled egg, then salt and vinegar is added. The entire embryo should be eaten at once, which made me think of an oyster but larger.
I did it! As featured on Fear Factor.