This is probably the most expensive food I have encountered in Asia while traveling. Bird's nest soup and sea snail.

Langkawi Island, Malaysia

Bird's Nest Soup

Bird's nest soup is one of the most expensive dishes in the world - you have to pay dearly for a bowl of this delicacy. A kilogram of bird nests can cost as much as $ 2,000. We found them at the market for 6,500 ringits per kg (1700 USD)

Pinanng Island, Georgetown Town in Malaysia

A bird's nest is a commodity that is very difficult to obtain - you need to have the courage to take it off the steep walls of Malaysian and Indonesian caves.

Video

Caves in Niah, Malaysian Borneo, in such conditions you gather nests

The nests are made of swallow saliva. There are two types of edible nests - white (the most expensive ones) and with dark saliva (shown here), which, apart from the saliva itself, may also contain seaweed, flies and sticks.

The main ingredient is dried swallow's saliva, which is very rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. Connoisseurs believe that the soup is very healthy, has healing properties, improves the condition of the skin and strengthens the immune system. Apparently it also works as an aphrodisiac. Some even think that soup can raise the dead.

Sea cucumber

Gamat, also known as TimunLaut or Sea Cucumber, is a sea snail from the class Holothurioidea. There are many species of Gamata, such as Stichopus variegatus, Holothuria atra, and Thelenota pineapple. Gamat is an invertebrate with a soft body. Its cylindrical shape is similar to a cucumber, which is why it is called a sea cucumber. Its prices are also high, because you have to pay a minimum of $ 150 for one piece (this is the cheaper version).
The length varies from a few millimeters to over two meters. These species come in various color combinations such as white, black, red and blue. Gamats are widely distributed around the world, including in Malaysian waters, on islands such as Pulau Langkawi and Pulau Tioman, Philippines. Coral reefs are the main habitat of these creatures. In the Philippines, we saw local fishermen on the seashore eating snails, freshly caught. They only doused them with vinegar. As you can see, what has no value on the shore, there is already a huge on the restaurant table :)

For the Asian community, Gamat is synonymous with traditional cuisine, prepared as food or used in medicine.