The day started quite nice with me sleeping in a bit and then enjoying the views while sorting through my pictures.
The surprise came once I arrived at Saigon station, it was also a lesson for the day. A lesson I knew but did not follow properly.
The lesson is that you should never leave your bags unattended in a train and especially never ever leave your camera with expensive lenses in this said bag.
During the train journey I decided to go to the restaurant car and get a coffee while leaving my big backpack in the compartment with my Ricoh GXR A12-M, Jupiter-8 and Heliar 15mm lenses in there.
On the way back, I had a chat with some locals and another traveler before returning to my compartment to find my bag in the hands of the train attendant. She was looking after it once she noticed I was gone a bit longer.
At first I was very glad about this and the great service provided, until I realized the bag felt too light. Upon inspection I noticed that my Ricoh GXR A12-M with both lenses was gone, together with my Surface power adapter and some small stuff.
I was pretty annoyed with the whole situation, especially after losing my Fonepad only a few days ago. Think the worst for me was losing the Surface power adapter as I knew there was little chance of me finding one anytime soon.
While I really liked my GXR A12-M and both lenses, they were less important for the immediate journey and also easier to replace once I will return from this trip. The loss of the power adapter meat that I could not use the Surface anymore for my pictures and for posting.
This whole thing also meant I spent the best part of the evening at the station police office trying to get them to look for my stuff and to get my statement recorded in the hope of getting a bit of money from my travel insurance back.
So overall it was not the best of days and now I will be without a GXR for the remainder of my journey. I guess the positive aspect is that I will be travelling lighter and don't have to worry about charging two cameras.
I doubt they will find my stuff, no matter how rare it is and how little chance the guy will have at selling this stuff on.
Now, if you wonder why I sound so calm despite someone stealing my stuff, it's because I learned that shit can always happen, it was mostly my part for not taking enough care of my stuff and it's only stuff so I won't let this or anything disrupt my journey.
Tomorrow will be a busy day with me running to the different computer shops in the hope of finding a new power adapter for the surface and trying to get some other stuff sorted before taking the bus to Phnom Penh in the afternoon.
That's a great attitude, my friend. Sorry to hear about your stolen gear and the unpleasantness surrounding that. It's hard, especially on a long trip, to remain disciplined about how careful you are with your possessions. I've been lucky so far as I've also let my guard down occasionally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Björn!
ReplyDeleteI think it's the only attitude one should have on a long trip or any kind of trip. In the end it's just stuff that can easily be replaced and having a great time is more important than getting worked up about things.