Mexican, traffic, and rats

Last night we went out for Mexican food and I ate cheese for the first time in three weeks. I hadn't really noticed that I hadn't eaten it, until we had some, and then I missed it! I also ate ice cream with chocolate sauce, and it was heavenly! We went to an all you can eat buffet and they had chips, salsa and sour cream (which is very very hard to find here) and tons of other good food. We were SO full when we left that place!

On a completely different note, I am sure that I am going to be hit by a car or, more likely, a scooter here in Thailand. Coming from Canada, and particularly Winnipeg where you jaywalk everywhere, it has become engrained in me that pedestrians have the right of way. This is not at all true here. In Bangkok, and Thailand in general, you have to look ALL directions before crossing the street. The direction of traffic here is just a suggestion...cars, scooters, tuk tuks, etc. go where they need to go, regardless of what the suggested direction of traffic may be. We rode a tuk tuk directly into on-coming traffic the other day, I thought we were going to die. The worst part is that I was filming our ride and I turned the camera off right before we turned, it would have been hilarious because we were all screaming and the driver was laughing at us.
Even if you are crossing a street where there is no traffic coming, cars will just start to turn and they will not stop, even if they do happen to see you. I actually saw a woman get her foot run over the other day because the car saw her and slowed down, but still kept driving and drove right over her foot. This all happened on Khai Sarn road, which is technically supposed to be a pedestrian road, and I don't think cars are even supposed to drive there but, as I said, traffic laws are just seen as suggestions.

I moved into my new apartment last night which is so much nicer than my old one! It is up on the 20th floor, so I can open my window and not worry about bugs, cockroaches, rats, etc coming into my room. Yes, I said rats. I saw my first rat here two days ago and it was massive! We actually saw it in the kitchen of the restaurant where we were eating...lovely. I guess that's why they store all of their food in large metal bins. I actually reacted much more calmly than I thought that I would, I was a little surprised. Just one of the many joys of living in Thailand!