Wild Goose Chase

Back in Oregon we were those people who did not have a cell phone or smart phone.  Neither one of us felt the need and did not value it enough to pay the expense. It was very irritating to our friends and family. However, once we started traveling in Asia, we quickly discovered how useful and necessary a smart phone was.  Our life is very dependent on the internet while travelling.  We arrange accommodation, communicate with our volunteer hosts and connect with friends and family both back home and here.  I purchased a Samsung Galaxy 7+ in Vietnam and my life was forever changed.  There is no going back.  Since I have not used smart phones for these last ten years, my learning curve was steep.  However after having it for almost two months, I have learned how to use it and find it invaluable in my daily life.

So last night, we took a GRAB car home (Asia’s Uber).  When we arrived home at our guest house, I did not have my phone.  Panic!  I felt near tears.  Realizing it was in the GRAB car, we looked up the company, emailed a lost item request.  Not having a phone, I had a friend call it, but the ringer was off as we had been in a movie (Jumanji–which was a super fun film).  I felt hopeless.

Early the next morning Aiden, our friend and roommate at the guesthouse, saved the day.  We were able to locate the last location of the phone through the miracles of GPS and Google.  It pinged in a neighborhood about 30 minutes outside of Chiang Mai.  We hopped on the motorbike with only GPS and optimism. 

In retrospect we should have at least downloaded the GRAB receipt with the driver’s name or some translated Thai phrases indicating what our goal was.  We found the neighborhood and proceeded to walk around looking for a Mitsubishi (all I could remember). We asked newly awake Thai people who walked by us or curiosly emerged from their houses to look at us,  if they spoke English and mimed driving a GRAB car and losing a phone (difficult to convey through hand gestures).  The task at hand seemed both ludicrous and impossible.  However, Aiden was not daunted, having had experience working at an NGO in Sierra Leon during the Ebola crisis, finding a cell phone in a random Thai neighborhood without a shared language, no wi-fi or additional information about the GRAB driver was just a fun morning activity.

we traveled many of these roads

two women we harassed into helping us

Laughing is better than crying

Eureka, I remembered the license had a 7 and 4 in it

However after three hours, and with the help of strangers, and the luck of whatever god is out there looking out for lost items, we were able to locate the car, wake up the girlfriend, and at last, the Samsung phone was returned to me.  It was an unbelievable adventure.

My faith in the kindness of the Thai people remains steadfast.

Sweet women that tried to help us

And a big thankyou to Aiden, who was unhesitating in his willingness to help me and never faltered in his belief that we would find the phone.  In fact his words were, “I think we have a pretty good chance of finding it, I feel confident.”  And we did find it.  Crazy.  The power of positive thinking and GPS.