No it’s not, it’s raining and raining hard, and there are these flashes of light in the sky ( maybe thats what the candles were for ?).
Any ideas of going swimming were put on hold (well in the pool at least), myself and Swiss Miss set off on various Tuk Tuk rides around the city.
So what does one do when it rains , stay in doors and read a book noooo, if your female then one goes shopping……
We sally forth, without a care for the rain ………
A tuk tuk ride along the coast road and we find ourself in an area that is called “Fort” there are armed police and army everywhere, after 30 mins we alight the tuk tuk and go for a walk … only to be approached by a local who kindly tells us all the batting averages of the local cricket team, I think this guy would give Peaples a run for his money with his knowledge of cricket and not a Wisdens in sight .
However this was not getting us anywhere nearer the shopping and on his advice another tuk tuk was taken and we set forth to find a gem store via a temple which had an elephant tied up out side and lots of 19th printing presses.
So after a mear 58 mins and 26 seconds (according the the stopwatch ) of leaving the hotel we find ourselves outside a gem store. A little guy complete with beard comes to the door and with eyes of the snake from jungle book , an entranced swiss miss is lead into the store, however we were sitting at the wrong table, this was the cheap stuff…. so 30 mins later and the owner of the store serving us, we walk out many dollars poorer in exchange for a little bag of rocks and Swiss Miss feeling very pleased with herself.
After lunch at an art gallery, which was full of Tai Tai’s (thats women who have nothing better to do than lunch and spend money, yes we fit right in here) we find ourselves holding a painting, well the assistant is holding it and we are there thinking how do we get this back home , if we take it off the frame then the paint could crack, we could ship .. but the customs duty on it would be horrendous …
So we ask assistant to work out shipping to home and we will think about the purchase over night.
Now I am thinking surely mission accomplished for today, but Swiss Miss reminds me … we have another 8 days to shop !!!!!!
Waddamire !!!!!