Most Memorable Moment Awards

To celebrate the arbitrary two-and-a-half month mark of my time in Thailand, I have decided to begin giving special awards some of my most memorable moments thus far. The award series shall be known as the "MMM (Most Memorable Moment) Awards", and each award shall be given to the most competitive nominee in each category. Let’s begin with…

Most Ironic Robbery

My first apartment was located directly next to the main rallying site of the Red Shirt protestors. It was becoming dangerous for me to live so close to the site, so I decided to move in with a friend that had an apartment in a safer part of town. Because I was moving out two weeks early, I would be losing half a month’s rent, as I had paid up-front for all four weeks. As I was unemployed and attempting to find jobs in a mid-revolutionary job market, things were a bit tight. That half-month’s rent would have lasted me, well, half a month, and I was not going to let it go without a fight. I spent half an hour at the reception desk, crying and pleading with the poor clerk to call the landlord (who was conveniently “on holiday” in “France”), asking him to take pity on a poor single American girl who was living in a big bad revolutionary world.

After terrorizing the clerk with the idea that I would die hungry on the streets if I did not get my rent back, he finally called the boss and asked if they could work out a refund for me. No dice. I may or may not have thrown a bit of a tantrum at that point, and at least managed to get back the six-thousand baht deposit I had paid upon first moving into the building. The friendly clerk was fairly traumatized by my behavior- I guess he didn’t expect the calm American chick to go crazy on him. But he just didn’t know how bad I wanted those baht. He only calmed down when I finally agreed to leave if he gave me back my deposit, assuring that I would never, ever be back.

Fast forward to six hours later. It is seven PM and I am walking down my quiet new soi to the supermarket, where I plan on putting the cash from the deposit into the ATM before grocery shopping. I hear a motorbike speeding up behind me, but don’t think anything of it. Motorbikes in Bangkok are extremely common- terrifying for the pedestrian, but excellent when you need to get somewhere in a hurry. Suddenly, I feel a sharp tug on my bag, and before I know it, the driver of the motorbike has grabbed it straight off my arm, and is speeding up towards the corner at the end of the street. I yell and run after the dude with arms raised like a crazed Neanderthal, but soon realize that it’s no use. My purse, and the deposit that I begged and moaned to get back from the poor desk clerk, are gone. Along with my iPod, my cell phone, and any bank cards that I had brought with me to Bangkok.

All I can think of now is the terrified look on the clerk’s face when he relayed the message from his boss that I would not be getting my half-month’s rent back, and his sheer joy when I finally agreed to leave forever if I could have my deposit back. All to get it stolen just a few hours later. Karma’s a bitch.