Please Keep Your Hands And Arms Inside The Ride And Hang On To Your Purse!

So, I was going to write a message and I noticed that we have about 5 unpublished posts!  These are stories/comments that we have started writing but have not had time to finish but they need to be shared.  So instead of writing something new right now, I am going to post something a little less new.  This happened a couple of weeks ago and I am happy to report that nothing else like this has occured since then. 


This experience occurred when Trip and I went to dinner.  We went to this place that Dad had taken us to on our first day.  It is in a shopping mall that is massive, it has a theater and two food courts and is 5 to 6 levels high.  Like I said, massive.  So, we are sitting alone at a table eating our food and I had my purse with my camera sitting on the chair next to me between me and the wall, which seemed safe enough.  Well, we are just eating and talking when out of the corner of my eye I see my purse move, so I look over and I could have sworn I saw fingers pulling it.  So I cry out "Hey!" and turn around.  At the same time the hand releases my purse and returns to the table behind us where a man and woman are sitting.  Before Trip and I can fully register what just almost happened they get up and leave, looking very worried and I check my purse.  "Good", I think "nothing's missing".  About thirty seconds later it hits me, holy cow, I just almost got pick pocketed!  That guy is lucky it took me a minute to be sure I saw him grabbing my purse because when I confirmed this to Trip, he was mad!  So, we talked through the scam this couple is most likely pulling and have come to the conclusion that the purse must always be either on the table, in my lap, or left at home in the future.  I have to admit, I am super lucky I noticed him because he could have easily slid it off the chair, given it to the woman and left without either of us even noticing they were there.  Neither of us have lived in a country where you have to pay such close attention and we didn't really realize that was the way it would be here.  Luckily, we have learned that lesson the somewhat easy way and we haven't had any trouble since then.