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Jan 24 2009
What was my worst dream scenario? Being robbed and losing all the photos
of my trip. Yes, it happened!
Khao Look Chang is a tiny village
but it is experiencing some of the same problems as other areas of
Thailand. Non- Thais are seen as the rich folks and are targets for
robberies. Ever since arriving here I have been riding one of the very
bad bicycles or walking into town to use the internet and buy a few
extra groceries. It has never been a problem until Friday.
I had
been doing a small project for the center, taking photos of all the
different fruits and veggies fed to the animals to create a small
identification booklet. Friday I had my camera, cables and memory cards
in my special theft-proof purse at the internet so that I could copy
photos onto a memory stick. Once that was done, I put the somewhat heavy
purse in the basket of the bicycle and pedalled back to the center. It
only takes 5 minutes or so and there is very little traffic on the road
as it passes through the Wat grounds. Half way to the Center, a
motorcycle approached me from behind and slowed up, as if to pass
safely. Instead, the driver came alongside and snatched my purse from
the bicycle basket and sped off ahead of me. I shrieked and pedalled
ahead only to see the driver veering off on a dirt side road. I had lost
not only my purse and a small amount of cash, but my camera and memory
cards with all the photos I had taken since leaving Canada in
mid-November! There were no other back-ups!
I continued on to the
center and hollered for help. I got on back of the motorcycle of one of
the Thai staff and sped off down the route taken by the thief. The
problem was that there are many other roads emanating from there so we
saw nothing. The Police were waiting to take my statement by the time I
returned to the center, but I had little to help them find the thief.
Ray thinks we all need training in observation but it is difficult when
the only view you see is the back of a person on a speeding motorcycle.
The next day Edwin Wiek, the Center director, who speaks fluent Thai,
took me to the Police station to make formal charges. Edwin had been on
the phone with everyone of influence he knew to make sure the theft is
given top priority. The police have a suspect in mind but whether I get
my belongings back remains to be seen.
One day there was a report of a pack abandoned in the
forest. Noi, Edwin's wife, took me on the back of her motorbike for a
wild ride through the forest. We followed other Thai staff searching for
the pack. Alas, it was an old green backpack, not my PacSafe purse.
In the meantime, I used my one remaining camera memory card to store
whatever photos I could of my experiences at the Wildlife Rescue Center.
I managed to copy photos from a CD I had created for Lonnie, another
volunteer and I got a good selection of photos taken by some of the
other volunteers. I was lucky to have loaded a few photos into the blogs
I wrote for our visit to Borneo, Otherwise I would have no photographic
memories of that adventure. I also emailed my daughter Erica to keep all the
photos I had downloaded to her computer while in France in November.
Now we are not allowed to go into the village alone. I have to drag Ray
or a friend along. The lessons learned that day are:
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Make extra backups of your photos
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don't carry the backups with you
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don't put anything of value in a bicycle basket
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wrap the strap of a purse or bag around the bicycle handlebar
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my bag is only theft-proof if I have it slung over my shoulder!
Meanwhile life goes on, unrecorded on my camera!
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