A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Chiang Mai, Thailand

It's a bad, bad day here in Thailand. Yesterday in Mae Sariang, a (formerly) charming little town in northwestern Thailand, I discovered that I had been robbed. And not just a little bit -- I was well and truly taken.

So I have learned the following lessons:

1. Do not carry over $1200 in cash
2. Do not keep it all in the same place.
3. Money belts are meant to be worn around the waist, not in bags where they can be removed silently by evil theives.
4. Do not get robbed on the Friday before a 3-day bank holiday in a town with only one bank and no Western Union.

There are some more positive points to the story. First and foremost, by some fluke I had stuck my passport in a different place this week, so I still have that. Lord knows I wouldn't be nearly so philosophical if I'd lost that -- I'm not so very upset about the money (though it would, of course, have been useful), but losing the passport would have put a severe crimp in my travelling plans.

Since I was in the back of beyond when all this happened, I was in a bit of a fix, not having paid for my food, lodging, or tour costs for 3 days at the place I was staying, and having only a few dollars in my possession. This was where my overwhelming air of Trustworthiness and Harmlessness came in useful. Though in the past it's been a bit of a pain that people (meaning weirdos) feel so comfortable talking to me, in Mae Sariang it inspired a bank teller to give me a personal loan so I could take the bus to Chiang Mai, stay in a hotel here, and get my replacement travellers checks before coming back to Mae Sariang to pay my bills.

So all is relatively well. I have some money in hand (not enough for my liking -- I really should have been spending through that cash instead of the checks), I have my long-suffering sister working on getting me a new ATM card out here ASAP, and I have enough money in the bank to keep travelling. And while Dad suggests that this is God's way of telling me to come home, I figure it's His way of telling me to cut back on the expensive ice cream cones and start staying in rattier motels.

Copyright 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 12:28 AM