Perils of Pick Pocketers

Tracey Bell and I arrived at our extremely beautiful and comfortable Hotel in Bangkok as scheduled. Even with all our airline sleep under our belt we slept some more. We started on on a market adventure with high hopes and energy.  We found a market where Tracey was able to find a seamstress to get to work on a costume, and I found a nice little merchant who helped me to find a purse I thought my Mom  might enjoy. We had become tired of shopping and were heading straight to a street vendor to get a cold drink when I realized my wallent was gone. GONE. G--0--N--E.  I had been pick pocketed! For the first time in my life. I was dumbfounded. In shock. Not happy. Stunned into silence. Rare indeed.

All my I.D., interac/ATM cards, my credit cards, and all my money is gone. GONE. I had several hundred dollars of personal cash plus several hundred dollars of donations from friends earmarked for the Cambodian Orphanage. Looking back it wasn't brilliant that I had ALL the cash on me, but the plan was to change the $ over into the proper currencies for Cambodia.

The good news is that I can cover all the donations with money of my own. DON'T WORRY, to all my generous friends - I have an itemized list of who gave what, and you know I'm good for it. The bad news is that I have no way of getting my hands on my own bank account. Several phone calls to several people, from VISA INTERNATIONAL to RBC has shown me what it's like to be held in bondage with red tape of the stickiest type. Do you know as a tourist if you lose your wallet you bank will require you to wait 5-6 business days before they can send you a credit card? Yikes! They cannot send money for food or accomodations - nope, even with RBC Travel insurance you will go homeless and hungry for a week, give or take a few days. The nice RBC man on the phone this morning asked me "don't you know anyone at home that has money they can wire transfer to you?". I said YES! He said "who?" I said "ME", why can't YOU send ME my money? Why is it possible for a friend to send me money,  but you can't send me mine?
Mr. Nice RBC man told me not to yell. I assured him "THIS IS NOT YELLING!!!!". I will say here that I was skyping with headphones on so maybe my voice was a tad SHRILLER and LOUDER than it normally would be when I'm on the verge of poverty and homelessness.  My good friend Tracey Bell had quietly slipped out of the internet cafe and was outside pretending she didn't know me. The Thai individuals inhabiting the cyber cafe all looked a little scared. For a moment I nearly took off the headphones to ask the poor scared little lambs if I could be of assistance. Then I realized I was the one  scaring the lambs. Ah! They aren't used to ASSERTIVE Jodie. I have heard from others she can be quite intimidating. The Thai custom is to be unassuming, grateful, polite, and quiet. EVEN WHEN YOU'RE FIGHTING WITH RBC, I guess. As I signed off of my "getting nowhere with Mr. Nice RBC man" a total stranger walked up to me and opened his wallet, showing me an awful lot of money. It was very touching, and I told him thanks, but no, I'll be okay. He said "are you sure - I know what it's like to be lost in a foreign land and having to deal with an unhelpful bureaucracy". I would have cried ... but I'd cried all my tears at the front desk at the hotel earlier that day, making quite the scene. I'm sure all guests trying to check in were wondering what could have happened to make me so upset. As I wailed at the Front Desk Manager, my mouth forming words but only uttering  barely human sounds  ... and coincidentally Tracey Bell had once again wandered off ...
The funniest part of this story though had to have been me reporting the incident to the Police. The hotel manager sent me in a cab to the police station and the cab driver nearly pushed me out of the vehicle as it rolled slowly but did not completely stop at the Police station. The police officer questioned what was missing from my wallet, and when I mentioned drivers license he asked me if I'd been riding a motorcycle? How he made this leap I'll never know.  A motorcycle?! I'd been shopping, I told him. But in his very broken English he continued to lecture me as to how I should never have been on a motorcycle in the first place. (I wasn't on a motorcycle! I was shopping! A man saw me come out of the bank after changing currencies and .... NEVER mind). I filed a report that I will be very interested in having translated some day when this awful story becomes funny - like, when I get my RBC visa card. Another funny! No cab would pick me up from the Police Station. Even when I ran up to a stopped cab and cried and begged for him to take me to my hotel, the cabbie sped off ... my hand still on the door. I walked in the general direction I thought I should be heading,  asking people from time to time which direction I should be going. (I was crying. My face was dirty from tears. I had no money. I scared little lambs. My shopping days were over. I'd disappointed the orphans. I should have wore more comfortable shoes).  Finally I cornered a European couple stopped at a red light. started to tell them my story "I need help" was all I managed to spit out when these people gave me a good piece of their mind. Their advice?   I should clean up my act, get off the drugs, get a job and stop asking strangers for money ... (I wasn't asking for money, I just wanted directions). Yes, that was day one of our trip to Thailand. More fun stories to follow!