6. Fruit Bat Soup
The fruit bat is harvested from forests on the Pacific island of Palau and immersed alive into boiling water. It's then served in a broth with its hairy wings stretched out across the bowl, and its tiny face staring up at you. If that doesn't appeal to you, order tinola, a ginger-based soup that originated in the Philippines and contains pieces of chicken and green papaya.

7. Jellyfish
Jellyfish in China is generally served cold and can be chewy and tasteless. Instead try the dish called Buddha's Delight (lo han jai), which originated with Buddhist monks and consists of a variety of vegetables cooked in a soy-based liquid.

8. Maggot Cheese
A traditional dish on the Italian island of Sardinia is casu marzu. It's made using sheep's milk cheese that has been injected with live insect larvae. The cheese is generally cut into thin strips and spread on flatbread. You have to hold your hand over the bread while eating it, as the white, inch-long larvae can leap up about six inches. The less daring can try malloreddus, a pasta (made from semolina and saffron) with ribbed edges served with a sausage sauce and grated pecorino cheese.

9. Mice Wine
This Chinese and Korean "health tonic" is basically rice wine with a mice infusion. Baby mice are placed (alive) into bottles of rice wine and allowed to ferment. You can still see their tiny pink bodies in the bottle, giving a whole new meaning to "bottoms up." What's more, the flavor of the wine has been compared to that of gasoline. Instead, consider a local beer: Hite, Cass or OB in Korea and Cheerday, Snow or Tsingtao in China.

10. Pacha
This boiled sheep's head dish is popular in the Middle East. Also popular and much less daunting is hummus, the appetizer made from mashed chickpeas, tahini sauce, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice and eaten with pita bread.

Also of Interest

• 5 things to bring on your next flight
• New taxes in 2013
  
  Visit the AARP home page for travel tips