Tension and sensation!

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So today was the day I went to return to Chiang Mai by scooter. To make sure everything went smoothly, I woke up early and was on my scooter at 9:30 or so. I felt I was getting quite adapt at scootering, so I was looking forward to the trip. The idea was, that if I arrived as quickly as it seemed I was going, I'd have time to see Doi Suthep, the temple on the mountain, I wanted to mountainbike to, but didn't, on the last day in Chiang Mai.

On my way there, I ran into Alice, on her own scooter. I was going just a bit faster, but couldn't pass on the busy road, at that time, so I stayed a bit behind. Wasn't even sure it was her, until I signaled to stop at a coffee place and she did too. Decided we could meet up later in Chiang Mai. She was going for fuel, I went for coffee. Thought I might pass her again on the way, but after an hour, no luck.

I decided to stop for food and found a nice stall. Not sure what was there, but I wanted to find out, get some local food. No one there spoke any english, but with hands and feet, I was shown a pot of stew with some strange meet in it and she said 'noodlesoup'. Couldn't be too bad 😊

With a full stomach and a queezy feeling about drinking a glass of water too, I checked the route, put the phone in my pocket and found the road again. 'Run trough the jungle' from CCR and ' rock, paper, scissors' from katzenjammer took turns playing in my head and before I knew it, I was in the outskirts of Chiang Mai. And noticed that I could not find my phone anymore 😞

After going through all my possessions twice, I was sure it had fallen out of my pocket :/ :o :X

Back! Turned around, found the right way back after looking for it, a bit and slowly drove back to the foodstand. No phone :/. Also, not at the foodstand. Nor other stands. Got back on the scooter, going slow, looking at the side of the road. Returned when I didn't find anything for a kilometer. Tried conversing with the food lady, made a drawing of trying to phone home, to get the Thai phone number. Had no luck getting the thought accross, when a passing Thai soldier arrived at the scene. His English was quite good and he offered me to use his phone. Couldn't get a connection to outside Thailand :/ . Maybe the international access code from Thailand was not 00?

Tried Facebook next. Who should I try? Only my family has my Thai number. Thanks mom, for really wanting it! .. So, who would be awake at 7:30 and have Facebook on their phone. I tried my sister, but didn't get a response before the soldier had to leave again. .. Even had a chance to use a local toilet when waiting. It was a squatter, with a bucket of water beside it. I managed 😊

Mr soldier told me how to find the local police station and if I had no luck there, the regional station, near Chiang Mai. The local station was closed, so I moved on. Asked a local which building was the police station. I found a stairs in and walked into a confusing building, with signs about detective work, data processing and a waiting room, with 10 or 15 locals, filling all the chairs. I took a stand near the entrance and talked to a guy in uniform when he came by. Asked how it worked here and that I lost my phone. The guy didn't really understand, but one of the kids in the other chairs offered to translate. The guy said to 'follow him' after that.

I was brought to another waiting room. He told me to wait.I waited. And tried to get on the internet with my tablet. The free police wifi was broken and my AIS superwifi account was only available on my phone :/.

And I waited. After 20 minutes, I walked up to an officer at the desk, to ask about the procedures here. He told me that he did not speak English :/ . I enlisted the help of other people in the waiting room. I got three people that tried to help me get online and a lady that tried translating. Despite a lot of Thai going back and forth, I wasn't able to get them to make a report or to leave my address. A fourth lady came and helped. Her English is very good. I told her what happened and she explained it to the police officers . I also told about my train deadline, nerves. It was good to finally speak to someone that understood me 😊. It turned out that one of the police officers was her boyfriend. That one took my passport and asked for more details with her help. Finally. Still no internet though. Then I thought about asking to make a call. I gave her some money for the expensive call and tried again. No connection. Maybe with just +31 then? Yes! Got trough to my parents, one of the few numbers I still know by heart. Then got my Thai phone number by sms. And she tried calling it for me. Someone picked up!

We got a location! The lady, Nata cha, offered to guide me there. We took off! Me on my scooter, she in her car. 15m later, we arrived at an outdoor shop where people worked with iron. The guy didn't want any money for finding the phone and neither did Nata. I was so happy!! I rushed trough heavy Chiang Mai traffic, navigating traffic queues, one way streets and stalls on the side of the road. Finally, at 16:35, I arrived at the scooter rental place, safe and sound. They were as happy as I was, with this fact and helped me get a tuktuk to the trainstation. Finally found my train at 17:00, with an hour to spare before it left, for a 13h journey to bangkok.

Got back to all people online tot tell me I was fine. Then, just when the train was leaving, I noticed the passport was still at the police station :X ...

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