Christmas morning sucked!! I awoke only to find my bike was stolen from the lobby of the Nghi Ckke hotel in SV [Sihanoukville, Cambodia]!
A nefarious Grinch had put a pall on the day!
Without friends in Cambo or a decent knowledge of the language, one can easily be lost when things like this happen!
Well my heros of this tale are my friend 'Laud John' and his wife. My plight was a surely major interruption to their wedding reception plans on the 28th, but never-the-less, they dropped everything to help remedy my situation.
LJ rode around scouring SV, contacting and alerting some of his friends along the way. His wife devoted her time to contacting the police and acting as my translator as we worked through the necessary paperwork.
We learned that another of the hotel guests (a local named "Scottish Lennie") had brought a fellow drinking companion back to the hotel and it was the latter that stole the bike. So much for hotel security! We became aware that the culprit, a Brit named 'Baz', is well known in the area as a neer-do-well druggie who has scammed a number of locals.
With the word out alerting some of local barangs, the theft came to a positive ending later in the evening. Mark, at the Corner Bar on Victory Hill saw both my bike and the thief and contacted LJ who rode to see Mark. LJ contacted me and the police. I arrived to find my bike, minus the Thai license plates and ID, but in running order. Shortly thereafter the police arrived, but 'Baz' had already slithered away from the area. 'Baz' is now high on the list for the police to catch and permanently deport.
Without LJ and his lady's assistance, surely I never would have recovered my bike. I feel very much in debt to them for sacrificing their pre-reception plans to help me!!
And, hopefully, with some (unusual) do diligence, the police may catch 'Baz' and escort him to jail and later to a flight back to England. So there may be two happy endings...return of my bike and one less barang a**hole in Cambo.
What is surprising to me is that 'Baz' still has his arms and legs intact, as well as a beating heart after scamming so may local baranga and Khmer. However, hunting season has just been re-opened...
BTW...anyone have an idea what it might cost me to get a replacement license plate and bike ID once I return to Thailand??
A nefarious Grinch had put a pall on the day!
Without friends in Cambo or a decent knowledge of the language, one can easily be lost when things like this happen!
Well my heros of this tale are my friend 'Laud John' and his wife. My plight was a surely major interruption to their wedding reception plans on the 28th, but never-the-less, they dropped everything to help remedy my situation.
LJ rode around scouring SV, contacting and alerting some of his friends along the way. His wife devoted her time to contacting the police and acting as my translator as we worked through the necessary paperwork.
We learned that another of the hotel guests (a local named "Scottish Lennie") had brought a fellow drinking companion back to the hotel and it was the latter that stole the bike. So much for hotel security! We became aware that the culprit, a Brit named 'Baz', is well known in the area as a neer-do-well druggie who has scammed a number of locals.
With the word out alerting some of local barangs, the theft came to a positive ending later in the evening. Mark, at the Corner Bar on Victory Hill saw both my bike and the thief and contacted LJ who rode to see Mark. LJ contacted me and the police. I arrived to find my bike, minus the Thai license plates and ID, but in running order. Shortly thereafter the police arrived, but 'Baz' had already slithered away from the area. 'Baz' is now high on the list for the police to catch and permanently deport.
Without LJ and his lady's assistance, surely I never would have recovered my bike. I feel very much in debt to them for sacrificing their pre-reception plans to help me!!
And, hopefully, with some (unusual) do diligence, the police may catch 'Baz' and escort him to jail and later to a flight back to England. So there may be two happy endings...return of my bike and one less barang a**hole in Cambo.
What is surprising to me is that 'Baz' still has his arms and legs intact, as well as a beating heart after scamming so may local baranga and Khmer. However, hunting season has just been re-opened...
BTW...anyone have an idea what it might cost me to get a replacement license plate and bike ID once I return to Thailand??
