The People We Meet

We have met so many wonderful people on this trip. It's interesting how they weave in and out of our vacation. You say goodbye, and then two islands later, maybe a week or two in between, and there they are again.

We've made friends from Sweden, England, Japan (actually a New Yorker teaching English in Japan), France, Sweden, Australia, Austria, Sweden (yes, there are a lot of Swedes on the islands), South Africa, America, etc. Harry and Karen from Austria left Ko Adang and I told Scott I almost cried because they were the last of the people we knew to say goodbye to. He told me not to worry, there'd be other new friends. Of course, he was right. We ran into a family from France that we had been on Ko Adang with and I cried when we said goodbye to them.

The most amazing thing happened yesterday, though. Back when we were in Prachuap Khiri Khan (early December) we met two young women who were from Prachuap, Nid and Kwang (pronounce "nit and juang", respectively). They just happened to be riding by on their motorbike with a golden retriever onboard. They stopped to talk to us. They just liked the kids.

We hung out with them several times while we were in Prachuap: at the beach, at a local festival/fair, a dinner, etc. They were so friendly and it was nice to be taken in by a local family (Kwang's parents and siblings were at the fair with us and at dinner).

Anyway, we were walking through a GIGANTIC mall near the hotel we are staying in in Bangkok, when all of a sudden, someone was following us saying, "Hallo, hallo, hallo." It was Nid. I cannot tell you the odds of this encounter. Very small indeed. Remember, Bangkok is a city of nearly 9 million people. We thought we'd never see them again. While we stood there and talked, Kwang came running up. They have both moved to Bangkok to practice speaking English and both work in that mall.