Trick or Treat?

Tonight we went out to sushi with our friends the Lawrences who are leaving Hong Kong. After dinner we got frozen yogurt and were standing around the mall talking. This of course is very boring to Josiah so he practiced his new little trick. He has learned to walk into Chinese shops, flash his friendly smile and make some small talk ("what are you doing?"). If Josiah loiters long enough he is inevitably rewarded with a treat or two or five in the case of the "Santa Claus" in our neighborhood. These "treats" always come in Chinese packaging and usually contain seaweed, corn, sweet potatoes or something of that nature. So tonight was no different, except Josiah happened to wander into a Chinese medicine shop. First they gave him and "Mui Mui" (sister) some wafer candy. But when he came around again they gave him a taste of his own medicine, so to speak. They offered him a dried cicada, cockroach and wasp!
Josiah did not know how to respond and I thought for a moment he might eat it! Later they offered to break off a piece of dried snake for him and then he really started to squirm. I don't know who was laughing harder me or the shop owner (:



In case you are not familiar with Chinese medicine shops, allow me to introduce you. They sell everything under the sun to be used in soups and tea remedies. As you can see there are deer antlers, seahorses, deer tails, and dried worms to name a few