Victim of a Snatching
Monday, October 1st, 2007Location: a dark but charming street in Luang Prabang, Laos
Time: Sep 30, 7:10pm
Scene: I was leisurely riding back to my guesthouse on a blue 1-speed bike built for a midget, complete with a basket and a ding-ding bell. JR was following. My huge 15 lb tote-bag was in the basket…with my wallet, camera, 4 books (including my Sudoku!), a Chanel lipgloss, 2 bracelets I just bought, a shirt and a pashmina I bought in Nepal. And a new journal with a good 20 pages of writing. A man was parked on a motorbike, which he kick-started just as I passed. He sped up next to me, snatched the bag out of my basket, and sped off.
Aftermath: I started screaming bloody murder “PURSE STEALER! THAT MAN STOLE MY PURSE”, JR was shouting “YOU F’R!” and we both followed in hot pursuit, on our 1-speed childsize bikes. (Just take a moment to imagine a pedaling fury chasing a man on a motorcycle. It was like Dennis the Menace vs. Evil Knievel) I pulled over at a corner store, loudly and dramatically crying. A brave civilian with a long black pony tail drove up on a motorbike and told me to hop on, and we made a brief attempt at catching the motorbike thief ourselves, but we lost him. She spoke English and translated at the police station, then brought me home. Some kids (alerted by my loud white woman screams) had run out to the street and managed to get some numbers of the license plate.
We’ve offered a $50 reward, but nothing has turned up yet. I’ve also employed two techniques to entice the police: flirtation and bribery. They said the “investigation” will take “a few weeks” and that they’ll email me if anything turns up.
Bastard.
Signed,
Brooke
Routine Crime Victim
brooke.pearson8