Stealing from the thief

January 2, 2006

I woke up a bit late on January 1st in Hanoi, as I am sure most people around the world did as well. I made my usual coffee in my room, and started to get slowly ready for the day. I looked through my things, and at once noticed that my laptop computer was not in its bag. Panicked, I looked around the room, thinking I might have moved it or put it somewhere, even maybe hid it in my sleep. In the past, I have always been a little paranoid about my camera, computer and valuables. I often wake up in the middle of the night, thinking it is gone but sure enough, it is always where I left it. Not this time. It was really gone…

I arrived late last night, on the eve of December 31st at Hanoi Airport. At the stroke of midnight, I was on the minibus on my way downtown to my guest house. I arrived at around 12:30, and threw my bags on the bed. Usually, I take time to hide my valuables in the room, under the bed, behind a cupboard, anywhere really just to keep it out of sight. This time I didn’t bother. Why should I worry so much all the time. Chill out Ben!

So off I came down the stairs, meeting the guest house staff at the reception having a few drinks and inviting me to join them. I refused politely since the Vietnamese sake gives me stomach burns and decided to head for a pub not far away. When I got there, I was surprised that there weren’t many people. I guess they had all gone to a better and bigger party, so I went to another place, the Funky Monkey. Not many people there either, except that I bumped into two colleagues from our project. I tried to make small talk, but my words fell in a void and were met by fake grins and one-way conversations. Soon, I went off on my own to sip my overpriced beer and just take in the surrounding. Younger crowed, fooling around, dancing, laughing… and I felt a little out of place. I don’t really enjoy bars, especially if I am alone. I would much rather go home, and daydream about being a dad. Upon finishing my beer, I decided to head back to my guest house.

Half way there, 2 friendly guys on a motorcycle stopped and started talking to me. A red light should have gone off and probably did, but I was alone and ignored any warning signs. So I invited them back to my hotel for a few beers, assuring them that I would not be giving them any money. Of course they agreed, and off we went. Back in my room, we had a few beers, turned on the TV and started chatting about nothing in particular. I was careful to toss aside my camera that was on my bed and sort of hide it a bit, yet I wanted to believe that this was all good and honest friendship. At one point I had my back turned to the other guy, tho this only lasted a few moments. I usually had my eyes on them and my room the whole time they were there. Winding down and finishing the last beer, they got up to go. Before, one of the guys offered to leave me his phone number and suggested that we meet again the next day. I answered that I would call, and then he insisted that I walk them downstairs to their motorbike. So I did, and off they went. Back in my room, I went to sleep with my last thoughts on Rémi, and how I would welcome having a father/son relationship and not be alone so much.

Then the realization the next morning over coffee of the laptop gone missing. When I finally was able to stop starring and truly realized that it had been stolen, I started to review each detail of the previous evening. What happened? Who could have taken it? How? On the plane? Did I have it when I reached the hotel? Could the guest house staff have entered my room while I was gone? One of the 2 guys? How? How did it happen? I went down to the front desk to inform them and find out who had a key to my room: 2 guys who do the cleaning, but no theft has ever been reported. They swore by their honesty. We checked around the guest house, living quarters of staff and turned up nothing. Back in my room, I went over the evening in my head like a movie that one plays and replays over and over. Then the clues started to come together about my two new found friends. I couldn’t imagine how they had gotten the laptop out of my room, since I saw them both put on their jacket. Then it dawned on me – they had come in the room with a small black satchel bag, and that is how they got it out! Plus other clues - I had my back turned to one guy for long enough while talking to the other; he was smoking a lot, as if nervous; his insistence that I go down with them and not stay in my room as they were leaving; his friendliness to cast away any suspicion.

Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, VietnamI was devastated. I do not own much, but my computer is so important to me and personal. It has a French keyboard, and many documents, pictures and music. I did some meditation for some time to try to calm my spirits down a bit, then I decided to hunt the guys down. I went back to Ho Hoan Kiem lake where I had met them the night before, and remembered also having seen one of the guys there before. I hung out and sat on a park bench for hours, trying to look inconspicuous so as to see but not be seen. No sight of them. From time to time, I went back to my room and tried to phone him, but his mobile was off all day. Not surprising really. A thief leaving contact information! I couldn’t eat dinner, so I went back to the lake. Low and behold, there they were, both of them! Funny enough, they looked happy to see me but I got straight to the point and asked the “leader”, Son, about my laptop. Of course he denied taking it, with the little English that he could speak. I insisted, and even offered to buy it back for 50 US $. He answered that he could get me a good laptop for 150 US $. I said no. I wanted my computer. Finally, he made a few calls, and with the little Vietnamese that I can understand, I knew that he could get it back. But the guy who bought it from him wanted 170 $. Finally I agreed, unsure if I would actually carry through and give so much money for something that was already mine, and not such a good computer to begin with.

Son had left his bad quality digital camera at my room, and kept insisting, ironically enough, that I had to pay all that money plus give him back his camera. So we went back to my hotel room with his motorcycle. I got his camera and kept it, and took with me my computer bag. When he wasn’t looking, I unloaded my pockets of all my money (except the 170$) and hid it in my room before leaving for fear of being mugged. Off we went, and as divine protection, we got a flat tire. He took it to a street corner to get it fixed, and I suggested that we take a moto taxi. We eventually got to the computer district which was a dark and quiet at this time of night (9 pm). I was completely unsure of how this would unfold. We arrived at a closed shop, and Son got the owner to open up. They had talked on the phone prior to our arrival, so this was no surprise. And there it was on a table, my laptop. I have no idea how the next moments unfolded, except that I definitely had divine protection. I was able to take the laptop, put it in my bag, and run for the door with both of them too stunned to stop me in time. Once in the street, I quickly crossed it to a bar where a few people were hanging outside. Everyone was watching, including the moto taxi who didn’t know what to do. Lucky for me, Son ran away and didn’t try to take the computer back, nor did the shop owner. The bystanders didn’t interfere, even tho they could easily have decided to side with their Vietnamese counterparts. In this situation, I was the one looking like a robber and running away with a computer! Not wanting to stick around and see my luck turn, I was able to convince the moto taxi to take me back to my guest house. Had we come by Son’s motorcycle, I would have been stuck. As we rode away, Son yelled at me, mad as hell.

I got back to my room totally stunned that I had succeeded. I just couldn’t believe my luck. But sure enough, there it was in front of me, and I still had all my money. Wow, what a blessing! Ironically, when I tried to turn on my computer to see if they had had time to reformat it and erase everything, it didn’t turn on. The age old problem that I had had with it till now persisted, heaven’s way of winking at me. I tried the gentle slaps on the computer’s back which always brought it to life, to no avail. I tried countless times, and still nothing. As I looked at it, my name was still on a sticker, so the shop had not had time to try to erase signs of previous ownership. Anyhow, he wouldn’t have gotten much for it. The next day, I called a computer repairman who had worked with our project before, but he couldn’t fix it. It would cost 500$ to repair it, so in the end I got the disc data downloaded on a CD and said goodbye to the computer. I learned a few lessens from this, and will act accordingly and more responsibly in the future.