"No matter what the product or service might be, you can find it somewhere else cheaper!" - E. Scrooge

    A weekend full of sight, sounds, and smells.  Saturday night we joined the Rajamany’s for dinner in “little India”.  As I have never been in India, I have nothing to compare it with.  It was full of Indians, crowded streets, and all the hawker’s wares spilling out into the boulevard.  There were colorful Christmas lights strung between the buildings like clothes lines.  There were no cows here, but some could be counted on to be roaming further up town.  Our olfactory senses were assailed by the aromas.  Shawn, our host, bought us a beautiful incense burner to ensure we would take some of the smells with us

We traversed many curio shops.  The girls really enjoyed shopping for jewelry.  We walked until most of the shops were closing down.  It remains one of the few places we plan to return to.

            Sunday, was our relaxing sleep in day.  It was pleasant to not have a “loaded” weekend.  After lunch we headed out to the Chinese hocker’s lane.  It is steeped in ancient backdrop of the temple and surrounding jungle hillside.  There is also a lot of poverty in the area.  There is an interesting dichotomy between the ugly of filth and the beauty of the architecture and hillside.  We did garner a few trinkets of interest.  There is an art to bartering with whose English is limited to wheeling the best deal.  The girls would likely have paid a fortune for items that could be found at our local dollar store if left on there own.

            As the heat of the day wore on we decided a cool off and dinner at the mall would be a great welcome.  Follow this with a kid’s movie and our weekend was complete.  We still have a few things we would like to see and do.  More than that we realized we are ready to head home.  Living for the weekends, long days, cramped quarters, and yes frayed nerves have us all planning a long awaited return.  Today marked the 1^st bag to be packed.