Thank heavens for tea.

We're going to yet another market. I had asked our guide if he had any ideas on what to get my son and son-in-law. He gave me some ideas and our local guide offered to get them for me. I didn't realize that they would be at this market. It certainly didn't smell like a place you might buy electronics.
In fact, as soon as we entered the market, we were hit by the smell. A kind of unpleasant cooking oil smell. Thankfully, we got used to it, but on our way to the centre of the marketplace, we passed what had probably impaled our nasal cavities. I couldn't even guess, until our last day, what they were.

And then there was this thing, sitting in the window where they made dumplings and pasta thingies and other exotic delicacies. Made of black rice, maybe? I couldn't help but recall a documentary I watched once at a museum about the dung beetle...

But I won't go into that now. 
One of the local guides hands me my electronics, and we decide that we will test them as soon as possible. We do, during supper, and they work great. I'm happy. All our gifts are bought.
We are given some free time to shop and meet back at the tea house upstairs. My husband barters for a tee shirt, and all the while, my throat hurts, probably from the smells of all the cooking. I cringe at the assortment of food, but welcome the tea house. We make our way back to it.

It's actually a pretty market if you can get past the crowds and the smells, and I enjoy just sitting up in the tea house sipping jasmine tea. 

Our trip is winding down. But our guide tells us he has one more surprise up his sleeve for tonight.