...and a Rat-a-tat-tat

Continuing on the theme of pests. I not only had an encounter with a cockroach but I also had a meet and greet with a rat. Once again I should quantify that rats are not small little things but rather large, almost cat like, creatures that seem to thrive in this neck of the woods...or should I say city...Anyway, I will set the stage.

After a long day of apartment shopping which, as you know from previous posts, was horrible, hot, humid, hunger inducing, and simply hateful, a group of us bewildered expats decided to go get something to eat. After wandering aimlessly looking for a place to eat, Krista and I decided that enough was enough and we were just going to stop at a nice looking restaurant, fitted with beautiful Chinese lanterns and a good sized patio. We left the others and took a seat. We initially thought it was a sushi place but once we were seated it became abundantly clear that it was not sushi after all. Being the adventurers that we are we decided to stay anyway and the waiter was hovering over us (the Vietnamese waiters and waitresses, I have learned, tend to think that as soon as you sit down you will be ready to order so they exhibit helicopter type behaviour until you actually do place your order). Clearly we were taking too long to decide and our waiter was getting a bit flustered. The problem was, we were trying to find something that we thought might be worth trying (remember we were extremely hungry and discouraged at this point). Finally, he decided that he would choose our meal for us. "You like this" (pointing at menu) "This very good and this, yes". So without really knowing it we ordered fermented shrimp rolls and rice. Exactly what you need after a super shitty day.

Anyway, our dinner was served and Krista and I both ate a piece of our fermented shrimp roll. Now, I have been known to use the expression "I am so hungry I could eat the South bound end of a North bound skunk" but I honestly think that skunk ass would have been better than this shrimp roll...I have never eaten anything like it before and I pray that I never have to again. Gross does not even come close to explaining what it tasted like and I believed at that moment that even if I sandblasted my palate I would never forget the taste. The frosting on the cake was as our dinner was being served I noticed a cat like creature on the sidewalk. "What is that?", I asked, but as it drew nearer I realized it was a rat, a very big rat, very, very,very big rat. I was fine with the rat actually, I mean clearly it is on the sidewalk, it is not going to bother us, right? WRONG! Next thing I know the fearless rodent is running along the patio right at us, and I mean right at us. It was so close I could have touched it. Krista actually shreaked and we both pulled our feet up on our chairs. Not the kind of dining experience we were hoping for after our awful day. Anyway, we took it upon ourselves to move to a table further away from the rat runway and ate rice in a highly alert state.