how to drive and how to be a pedestrian

I get a secret pleasure out of riding in a taxi in places like this.  Where people drive like bats out of hell, cutting each other off, squeezing in where there really is no room, horns honking.  And yet, no one gets road rage, it's just the way you drive here.  It's exhilirating! 

And then crossing the street.  This is literally a fun game-really.  It's a sort of chess game played by you and the cars, along with other pedestrians.  There may be crosswalks, but those are for show, they have nothing to do with where to cross the street.  And, get this, there are traffic lights, but they too are meaningless.  All of them.  All over this huge city, cars play an intricate game of chicken and some unwritten rules of navigation to pass through intersections.  I am fascinated by it.  So I watch the cars coming and calculate how many 'lanes'-I use that term loosely- I will need to cross.  I determine by the speed of the oncoming cars where there will be a break-in the first lane.  You cross that lane and stand between the moving cars and wait for the break in the next lane.  I'm telling you, its way more fun than any board game you can think of.  Fortunately most streets are one way, so you only have to watch one direction at a time.