New Friends

New Friends, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

After dinner we called one of those little open taxis to take Krista, Joyce and Eden back. India and I set off on foot to explore the night market.
It was nothing at all like Chiang Mai's. It was entirely for the locals and featured everything from tools to shoes and weird food. Kind of like a flea market back home.
I actually bought a pocket watch there. It was really hot and muggy! We started walking down the food aisle where vendors had hot oil going and god knows what cooking in it. The smells became a bit overwhelming for me (I was still pretty full from dinner). We also encountered three different fried bug vendors. It was a bit much.

On the way out we were hailed by this pretty woman and her two shy kids. The little girl had been in that school group we'd encountered at Wat Si Chum. She remembered us and asked her mom to flag us down. It was a beautiful moment for us. The warmth of their greeting has stayed with me.

But on the way back to Paulo's I was wishing I'd had something to give the little girl. Some sort of little gift from America. When I went back to Bali last year I took along some little toys and balls to share and was very glad I had them.