Mar. 19, 2006 - Patience is a virtue.
After visiting a temple in Angkor Wot (Cambodia) we decided to sit down and have some lunch across the road from the temple. We noticed the cutest little puppy and I asked Amy if I could grab my camera out of her bag. She goes through it and says
"Don't you have it?"
"No I don't think so".
I go through my bag. It's not in there. Amy and I both begin to empty the entire contents of our bag on the table. No camera. Amy runs towards the temple to have a look where she had been sitting down. There is a shop we had been to before we sat down to lunch and the owner now approaches me,
"Is something wrong?"
"Our camera is missing".
She hurries off to look for it in her shop. She comes back soon after and says
"I'm sorry, its not there. If you lose camera in my shop, I would give it back to you".
"But if you lose it in the temples?"
"You do not get it back," she says looking sorry, "Sometimes it is the people who work there who take them".
Amy comes back with a man in toe looking massively pissed off. The man takes a seat next to me, sits facing me while two men in plain t-shirts and uniform pants stand behind him. He smugly asks "So where is your camera?"
"I don't know".
He starts laughing and says something in Khmer to the other men who in turn begin to laugh as well
"So you don't know where your camera is?"
"It wouldn't be lost if we knew where it was". Fucking moron.
Amy looks at me and says "There was a man in a black uniform watching me for about 10minutes before when I was sitting down and I think he took it. I've told these guys that and he just keeps laughing at me". I can tell Amy is trying hard to keep her cool.
I decide to look through the temple with the man (who is the "boss" of the temple) and the two other men who are local police. They are asking me questions and continue to laugh at me. They have no interest whatsoever in helping me and I am getting pretty fucking sick of being mocked especially when my brand new camera, my pride and joy, that was storing 350 photos from our trip has gone missing.
The "boss" begins to tells me "tourists lose cameras all the time and they are worthless to them".
"They maybe worthless to tourists with money, but I'm a student. I do not have much money and this camera is A LOT of money to me".
"How much is it worth in US dollars?"
That's an interesting question to ask.......
This continues for another 15minutes until I'm getting close to ripping this asswipe's nuts off. I give them my details in case they find it (these guys couldn't find their noses if they had a map, compass and tour guide) and go back to where Amy looking worried.
I am later relaying this to Amy and she says "the one thing we didn't do was offer them money, that might be why they asked you how much it's worth". Spot the the naive tourist from an honest country. Even if we had thought to bribe them, I wouldn't have had enough money to pay them.
We head towards the Tourist Police office and as we drive there I accept the camera is gone, admit its a shame about the photos but move on. What can you do? There's no use in dwelling on it. When we get to the station, we notice photos up on the wall of police officers handing passports, cameras and other valuables over to tourists. Finally, someone to help us.
We sit down and the man gives us a complaint form to fill out. I've never filled out a police statement before and I start to wonder whether I will be still covered by insurance if the camera was taken from Amy's bag or whether we're able to report the dodgy behaviour of the men working there. When I hand it to the police man, he says I must write it out again because I've crossed words out. I feel like I'm in Year 3.
For the next two or so hours, the officer questions us about the day's events, while also cross referencing my report. He is writing down all of this. Finally, he says
"In your report you have not said whether it is lost or stolen"
"Yes we said that we 'believe it was taken by the man in the black uniform' at the end of it"
"But it doesn't say 'stolen'".
" 'Taken' means the same thing".
"No, because if it does not say 'stolen' we treat this like the camera is 'lost' and we don't do an investigation. If you write 'stolen' we will investigate and give you a report in 3 days. Otherwise, we can give you a report saying it was 'lost' tomorrow".
We had hoped to have moved to another part of the country in 3 days but would need the police report for insurance. So I go to cross out the word "taken" to replace it with stolen when I realise he is passing me a new, blank complaint form. I forgot- not crossing out.
Eventually we leave the police station, exhausted and ready for a beer. We have one more day at the temples and then we think we may go to a town just north of Siam Reap (Angkor) called Battambung.
(Battambung- do me a favour and say this word outloud....its really fun.)
Anyway, so we book a boat to Battambung the next day. Apparently the boat ride has beautiful views and judging by the photo on the ticket, its a pretty nice boat. It leaves at 7am and should get us there in 5 hours.
The boat is a rickety old wooden piece of shit. They have over sold the number of places on the boat, so Amy and I are up on the roof with a very angry lesbian couple. They are spitting chips about the situation. It's not so bad. Downstairs where the seats are, all you can hear is the motor and smell the fuel. Amy and I are not too fussed about being on the roof. We put our iPods on and enjoy the fresh air.....(well once we get out of the harbour area that has poo and fish heads floating on the surface).
We enjoy the fresh air until about 9am when the sun begins to warm up. By about 11am, I am hiding under an umbrella knowing that I will look like a raspberry if I sit in that sort of sunlight for more than about 60seconds. It is probably about 37 degrees and suncream is useless when it slides off as soon as you put it on.
At about 12 we stop at a floating shop. We're informed that we are swapping boats. I take this as good news and put the umbrella away. As we climb down to the next level I see an asian tourist do a massive vomit over the side of the boat. This is also where we are supposed to buy our lunch and all of a sudden, I really don't have an appetite.
To cut a long story short, we changed boats however the long bench seats weren't long enough to fit everyone, so Amy and I were on plastic seats that were placed strategically down the isle. Not so comfy but at least we were under cover. On the way, we hit a shallow bank and almost capsized and I almost shat myself. For the next 3 hours we are tense and worried about capsizing.
After a total 10 hours of unpleasantness, Amy and I arrive at Battambung, tired, thirsty and hungry (we hadn't eaten since 6am and it was now 5pm) as the sun is going down. We have to leave early the next morning to get back to Siam Reap, go to the police station and catch another bus that night to Pnom Penh. Not happy, Jan.
We decide to get a private taxi back to Siam Reap. It costs the same as the boat. Is airconditioned and gets us there in 3 hours. Ahhh the benefit of hindsight.
The next day found ourselves back at the Tourist Police station. We have wasted precious days and money back tracking to Siam Reap but knowing I will get money for my camera from the insurance company is a fairly big motivation. We greet a new police officer and explain that we are there to collect a report. He hands it to me
"It was found that the Australian tourist lost her camera when she left it on a rock in the temple".
What. the. fuck.
We had spent about a total of 3 hours writing reports and answering questions the other day. I was pretty close to chucking a proper, foot stamping, hair pulling, tear dwelling, over-reactive tanty.... The policeman we had seen the other day comes past and sits next to the man we had been speaking to. The following conversation was between mainly me, sometimes Amy and the two cops......
"How could you possibly give us this report when we said it was stolen?"
"Because you don't know for sure"
"If we knew for sure, then we would have seen him do it and I would have gotten back off him there and then".
"We don't know for sure that it's stolen"
"Then why did you make me write out my statement again using the word "stolen" when you were going to give me a report saying I left it on a stone?? NO WHERE in my statement does it say ANYTHING about me leaving it on a stone"
"Yes but this is what lots of tourists do. They sit down and leave their camera next to them".
"NOT ME! That camera is worth a lot of money to me and I KNOW I didn't leave it on the fucking stone!!!!"
"We can not give you a report saying it's stolen"
"Why not? We spent so much money and wasted so much time coming back to Siam Reap just so we could get a report saying it was stolen. You said the other day we could report it lost and get a report the next day or come back in 3 days and get a report saying its stolen. We have come back after 3 days because we reported it stolen and want a report saying that".
"But my boss has signed this saying it was lost. I can't change it to say it was stolen".
"How could you possibly extract......take out from my statement and your questions that I have lost it. It's not true. How did you get that?"
"We can't say it's stolen because its bad for the economy of the temple"
"If you don't give me a report saying its stolen, its going to be bad for the economy of the temple, because I am a writer and I will write that people should not come to the temples because the police won't help you!!!!!!"
"I need my boss to change the report"
"Well is your boss here?"
"No"
"Do you know when he will be back?"
"Maybe today"
"MAYBE? Well we will wait here until he comes back. We have travelled from Battambung today just to get a report saying it was stolen. I'm not leaving without one".
The two cops don't really know what to do.
I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself down. I get out a piece of paper and a pen and write
"On the 19th of February, Lissie Pissie reported that her camera was stolen at Angkor Wot".
I slide the book to their side of the table and say calmly "This is all I need the report to say. I am leaving Cambodia tomorrow. I know the camera is gone. I don't need you to investigate it. All I need is a piece of paper from this police station saying what I have written there".
The man we had spoken to the other day takes the book and walks to a room next door. While he was gone, the other cop says
"How long have you been in Cambodia for?"
"5 days"
"And you are leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes"
"You haven't stayed here very long. Why are you leaving so soon?"
"Well we have to meet friends in Thailand and then I have to go back home for university"
His eyes light up.
"You are a student?!"
"Yes"
"What do you study?"
"Im doing business but major in accounting and finance"
"I graduate from Pnom Penh university last year in accounting!!"
"Why are you a policeman then?"
"Because I love being a policeman. I like working for the Tourist Police. I like to help tourists when they have a problem".
I think he needs to re-check the definition of 'help' because he hasn't quite nailed that.
"So tonight, what are you doing?" he asks
"We are going to Pnom Penh by bus".
"Tonight?"
"Yes"
"Oh so I can not meet up with you tonight?"
"No, sorry".
"Oh, OK"
He pauses while I sit there still in shock
"Well, can I get your email address so I can write to you?"
You have got to be kidding me. I have just been yelling at this guy for the past hour and he wants to go on a date and be penpals.
I give him a fake email address and try to bat my eyelids as much as my pride will let me. I just want to get out of this fucking station with a report saying my camera was stolen. A couple more frustrating hours of excruciating, illogical conversation and he could have scored himself a blow job......fortunately his colleague walks back into the room from next door and says
"OK we give you the report. My boss says its OK"
"I thought your boss wasn't here"
"He said OK" and shows me his boss' signature at the bottom of the blank report page. I guess he is here.
For the next 30minutes, both officers sit hunched over the report page focusing on writing neatly and not making mistakes. They do not have a photocopier (or land line phone or computer or anything) so this is their method of producing duplicate copies. After they are done they hold their page up each and ask which one we would like. They are both smiling and the keen one says
"My writing is nicer"
Oh dear God. It's now a writing competition. I take the one with the darker print and leave while the policeman tells my back that he will email me.......
Within a week of sending off my claim for the camera I had a cheque. Let's put that memorable time spent at the police station down to 'character building'. Yes, patience is a virtue.
EDIT: I just got my new camera delivered. I bought it from the same dude on ebay except I managed to get the next model up (Canon Ixus 55) for only $15 extra!.
If you ever need to buy a digital camera, get it off tdimensions .
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