Ransom

So I’ve had a interesting week. In a nut shell, I somehow dropped the ball, and lost my wallet. We arrived at this bar, I paid for the motorcycle ride, and put my wallet away. Not ten minutes later, I realized it wasn’t in my bag. I freaked out. The only saving grace I had was that my passport was at the Vietnamese Embassy being processed. I’m in the streets of Cambodia, and it hit me…I’m never going to see my wallet again. I had $250 in it, with all my credit cards, health insurance card, driver’s license, and my address card for all the postcard’s I send. 

This is when the adventure started.

This security guard shows me this motorcycle driver, who goes by Mr. Chang, and he assures me that he can get my wallet back. He just needs to make a few phone calls. I’m thinking,…yeah that’s a good one. If I lost this in NYC it would be gone forever, and your telling me you can get my wallet back, from God knows where, here in the streets of Cambodia? I went back in the club, and found Adrian and Mike, and told them my wallet is gone. Mr. Chang came back to me, and told me to call him in the morning, and he’ll have it.

He shows up again before I’m about to leave, and said he found it, then asks me, “How much you want to pay for it?” He told me that the cash in the wallet is gone, but everything else is still there. He wanted to make sure I had my ATM card in my wallet, so when he gets it, he can get paid. He said we would go to an ATM and I would pay him $100. Stellar favorite part.

Long story short, I don’t know how he did it, but he got my wallet back. Three hours later I had it back in my hand, and I paid him a Benjamin. I lost $350 that night, but I got my wallet back with everything in it. I played the scenario in my head over and over, and I concluded that when I went to put my wallet back in my sack after paying for the motorcycle ride, it slipped down the side of the sack instead of going in it. I fucked up. I have no one to blame but myself. I’m just shocked that I actually got my wallet back. You know what is scary? $100 in Cambodia is enough money to murder someone.

Then two days later, Mike and I are chillin’ in the streets around four in the morning, eating some grub after a few beers, and this little street kid came over to us. You could tell he was definitely destitute. We didn’t know what he was saying, but eventually another motorcycle driver(I don’t know what is up with these guys)translates for us. Apparently he is living in the streets homeless, with some friends, and his parents are homeless as well, but living in the capital. Suddenly I noticed some gnarly cuts and burns on him. His toe had been smashed, and his back was burned, and you could tell it was infected. The moto man tells me he’s had it for a month. I immediately said he needs some treatment, and I have a really good first aid kit. Seriously though,…it’s a small hospital in bag. Next thing you know, the moto man says’, “hop on, I’ll take you to your first aid kit.”

We drive to the guesthouse, I run in and out, with the bag in my hand. I felt like a doctor running to the scene. Back on the bike, and we’re zoomin’ to the kid. We had a small crowd around us by now. You have to picture this. My kit spilled open on the street, Mike restraining the kid, and I’m putting Iodine and antiseptic on the kids wounds. Ten minutes later, and he was bandaged up, and we also bought him an ice cream for his courage. The Kid couldn’t talk to me, but the look he gave me when he was wrapped up was…..well, I don’t know how to say it. He said “thank you” with out saying it. It hella made my eyes tear up.

Funny enough we saw the kid again yesterday, and he’s doing well.

Other than that, all is well. We just got back from Bamboo Island yesterday, and the island sucks. We’re leaving for Vietnam tomorrow. Super stoked on hitting up a Communist country.

Can’t get enough food, it’s so freaking good. There’s also no sewage smell. Thank God for the French colonization.

Oh yeah, Adrian and I found a sweet little bar for sale. Only $3500. We’re thinking about it.

In the later time.