It was late afternoon and I had left Lidy at the hotel while I planned to walk to one of the department stores to do some shopping. Part of the route to the shops led me through a narrow section of the marketplace where there were literally hundreds of people passing through in either direction as well as people shopping at the stalls on either side. It is normally difficult to pass through this area and it is common to be jostled by others as you move. There are also frequent halts as someone in front of you stops to haggle with a stall holder.
As I was passing through the narrow section, I felt someone pushing me from behind with their shopping bag. This wasn't unusual as different people wish to get through at different speeds. I tried to move to the left to let the person past, but they seemed to move left at the same time, still pushing me to go faster. I moved right and at the same time they also moved right. I continued on, trying to move faster and at one point, I put my hand in my pocket to check my wallet. I carried two wallets, in different pockets, in case of pickpockets and I checked them (and in fact all my pockets) regularly.
Imagine my surprise when I placed my hand into my right hand pocket and I found another hand in there! I automatically grabbed the wrist and yanked the hand out. Suddenly, a woman who I noticed was attached to the hand started screaming in Thai and pulled at my hand. I was so shocked that I let go of her hand and she literally disappeared into the crowd.
I checked my wallets. They were still there. My back pocket had suffered from a razor blade attack on the stitching of the fastener (supposedly so I wouldn't feel her opening the fastener.)
The thing that amazes me is that she was able to target only the two pockets that contained wallets and money. All my pockets were full of bulky items that could be mistaken for wallets, (camera, three phones, maps) she seemed to know instinctively which ones to go for.
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