Starting in Bangkok

I've arrived in Bangkok. It's warm and sunny, and very "big city" feeling. My first days have been a bit of a blur of meetings and schedules, but last night Susan and I had some time to relax. We went to the last sky train station, On Nut, to look around for available apartments. We ended up following an old man over a "bridge" over a canal, which was very scary to me, to see a house (which was way too nice for us to afford.) On the way back, we walked down a lane to see if anyone was in this building's office, and were chased out by a large, angry dog. Susan and I grabbed each other and sped-walked out, and I actually felt the dog nipping at my heels. We decided to celebrate our success (well, our independence, at least) with a Thai meal at a nearby food court. I ordered fried rice, but it tasted plain, so I put a few drops of something red on it, and some salt. I soon discovered that the red stuff was potent! Even my lips were burning, and I was gulping water. I also discovered that what I had thought was salt was sugar. This meal gave a whole new meaning to "sweet and spicy."