Last things first, some piece of human filth has stolen my PSP. I think I know where my bag was when it was rifled and there’s a security camera in the area. We can’t check it till morning and by then it may be far too late, but you never know. It just sickens me (as it did the many other times I’ve heard similar stories) that a fellow backpacker can rip someone off. Hopefully, if this person who did it is still in the hostel I can rip them a new one. I’m not a forgiving person, though a trusting one (too trusting…), and you can rest assured if the individual is caught they will suffer.
Through legal channels, obviously.
Anyway. I didn’t do a lot more today other than check out some options for where to go next. I do want to do my Dive Master and Sihanoukville is looking good for it. I’ve got a very good feeling from one dive shop, though they’re not cheap. However, they’re very above board and seem a lot more professional than just about everywhere else I’ve been. Every. In any country.
The problem is the dive season starts for them at the end of next week (weather depending) which gives me some time to kill. One option was to get to Hanoi and work my way down Vietnam (again!) and into Cambodia. This would work out right timewise, but the flights to Hanoi are pricey and I need a visa in advance. I located the Vietnamese embassy (it’s on Pesiaran Stonor, square D3 of the Lonely Planet Golden Triangle map) and walked up. Unsurprisingly, it’s closed on weekends with business hours being 9-12 and 2-4 weekdays. It was also closed yesterday, so I’d still not have been able to drop my passport off.
So, Vietnam would involve kicking around (or travelling locally) for 4-5 days to ensure I had time to get my visa and then heading north on an expensive flight.
Another option was to head down to Melaka for a day or so, then get the ferry over to Sumatra. Only I gather the oil port I’d land at is a bit of a hole and then there’s a lot of travelling involved to get anywhere else.
Fly to Bali? Far too expensive at the moment. Flight prices are silly, especially last minute.
So… I’ve got a ticket to Jakarta booked for tomorrow. Maria’s going the same way and we’ll work our way through Java to Bali where we’ll catch up with Steff who’s meeting a friend from home. There’s apparently a great boat/snorkel tour that runs across the islands which we’re hoping to jump on. And I’m tempted with East Timor after that. Just… because.
Depending when that lot finishes, I’ll hop up to Sihanoukville via KL – and this time book the flights a reasonable time in advance. All theory and subject to change as flipping usual!
Dinner was an expensive one with Maria, Steff and one of the Aussie guys. We went to a Lebanese place which was high on price but also on quality. In fairness, I still spent less than a tenner and I was stuffed with some of the best food I’ve had recently.
That’s when I got back to find my PSP missing from my bag. Hey ho. Life goes on. At least it means my bag’s slightly lighter now. Annoyingly I won’t have time to buy a replacement one before I leave for my flight tomorrow. Time to fire up the old thumb drive MP3 player…
Hi Iain, That SUCKS! Why do people steel other peoples stuff??? It’s not like you got it for free, everybody has to work to get by… Sigh. Hope you catch the bastard!
Sorry to hear that Mosher, but it was nearly twenty-four hours ago and as I write I am hoping you caught the bastard red-handed.
You’re still making me mighty jealous with this trip, regardless of the light-fingers.
To both of you: annoyingly I had to leave at 10am the next morning for a flight, and at that time the manager of the hostel wasn’t available – and I found out they needed to call in some technicians from the security company to look at the footage anyway! As it was a Sunday morning, that wasn’t going to happen and would have to wait till the next day… Pretty useless having a “security” system that the need trained staff to use, and given the purpose of the system in a building with a high turnover of residents…
As of today, I’ve not heard a thing from them. I don’t even know if they’ve bothered to look at the video or if the camera was even working. I really wanted to see the video and hopefully find the person still in the hostel, but no joy.
End of the day, the only thing I really “lost” was my saved position in one of the games and I’m not too fussed about that. Everything else is replaceable. But I’d still like to break their fingers and burn their passport.
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