Exotic Animal Market | Ambarawa | Indonesia

Welcome to the exotic animal market of Central Java. It takes place in a town about 20 minutes outside of Salatiga, every five days. Row upon row of strange and familiar animals abound as far as the eye can see.

This is a luwak (civet/ weasel). The luwak are famous in Indonesia for their poop. Yes, their poop. During harvest season, the luwak are let out of their cages to feast on coffee beans that are collected after being digested. Supposedly, the digestive process enriches the flavor of the beans. The final product is called Kopi Luwak, also known as the most expensive coffee in the world. If you want to know more about the process, you can watch this video.

This guy is a dukun (medicine man/ healer). He was selling various concoctions and herbal remedies meant to fix a variety of ailments. If you look down between his feet, you'll see an object resembling a black cucumber (it is not). During his presentation, this particular bull part was slowly extracted from the bag and explained to fix a certain male problem.

Remember the tokay that we found in our house? This is where you can sell it for a considerable amount of money, to get made into this stew, which will also "fix" a various illnesses.

Cobra blood is also believed to strengthen virility in the male gender. You can buy a shot and watch it drained from the snake, right in front of you.