The bus ride from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai today took about four hours. Across the aisle were four young men who sounded like they just met each other, perhaps at the hostel, or even at the bus station. One of them told his seat mate that he stole the headphones he was using. The guy asked, “Did you steal it from a store?”
“No, from the hostel.”
“You stole it from someone at the hostel? Was he at least a jerk?”
“No, he was a nice guy. He left it on his pillow. All these headphones look the same. He can’t prove it’s his”, the thief laughed.
“Well, you’re a bastard. That’s not cool. I’ll have to start locking my things.”

At the Chiang Mai bus terminal, our Grab driver responded immediately that “he’s there”. It’s a big terminal and it didn’t look like it has one main entrance. So, Kenric told him that we would stand in front of the temple and wait for him which we thought would make things easier. In front of the temple was a golden statue of the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin. I was not going to take a picture because statues of Kwan Yin are typically white while this one was gold. Besides the driver is already nearby, but for some reason I reached inside my bag for my camera.

“My camera! It’s on the bus!”

Another 15 minutes later, I got a text, “Coming!” (Yes, there’s a joke somewhere in there). Anyway, I couldn’t believe it. I looked up and he’s in the backseat of a taxi. I had stayed at the same spot in front of the temple. The driver helped us load our bags and we were on our way. Kenric said the driver will take us to the bus company’s main office where the bus is parked to pick up the camera and then, he’ll drive us to the apartment where we’ll be staying.

“That’s the one!”

The driver was so nice, he got out and asked where the specific office is and said, “Follow me!” Once he opened the door, a young man immediately knew what we were there for. He got the camera from a cabinet and asked Kenric for the bus ticket to verify the seat numbers. He was probably the one who texted the lady at the ticket counter a picture of the camera when they found it. Kenric said, when he saw the photo, he yelled “That’s the one!”

I thanked the young man profusely, and put two 100 Baht bills (about six bucks) into his hand as a small token of my appreciation. He refused, but I insisted. As I turned to talk to Kenric, I saw the young man give one of the bills to the taxi driver. The driver asked him to keep it all. We said “Thank you” again and left. As we were closing the door, a young girl of maybe nine or ten (the child of one of the ladies in the office) stretched her hand out at the young man. We all laughed.

I’m Sure He’ll Share The Tip

Earlier, Kenric asked to whom I would give the tip. “What if the person who hands you the camera wasn’t the one who went to look for it?” I said in work environments like this, especially with such a small amount, they’ll probably just spend it on some snacks that everyone could share. Seeing how the young man was willing to give half the money to the taxi driver, I’m sure he’ll share it with his coworkers. The four items we had for dinner (see photos) cost 190 Baht. I’m sure the young man will find something even tastier. Kenric said the people at the ticket counter were very kind too. Knowing that Kenric wouldn’t be able to communicate to a taxi driver where he wanted to go, one of them went outside with Kenric to find a taxi and explained the situation.

After being disgusted by the unrepentant headphones thief, I was very comforted and thankful for the bus company’s employees and the taxi driver. After writing “If I was a spiritual person……” yesterday, I think the Goddess of Mercy decided to teach me a lesson. Had she not somehow made me reach for my camera even though I wasn’t interested in taking a photo of her statue, I wouldn’t have discovered that I left it on the bus; increasing the chances of it being found by a passenger like that thief. It’s also notable that for the entire 30 minutes I stood there with my phone in hand, I never snapped a photo of that statue. And, the Grab driver actually cancelled on us because he didn’t want to drive around to the temple at the other side of the bus station.

Thank you, Kwan Yin

A big “Thank you” to Kwan Yin, and a big “Thank you” to Kenric, my Golden Retriever who’s always running around retrieving my things! ???

And, thank you to the employees in the Chiang Mai office of Green Bus Thailand for your help!