[Shiver me Timbers]

Thought you might be interested to hear what happened to me in the last 48 hours.

Basically, I was walking along platform 4 at Guwahati Station, going to my carriage for the train to New Jalpaiguri. As I was walking, the back of my neck started to itch, and within a minute, it felt like my whole back was on fire.

I ran onto the train, into the bathroom to pour water down my back. That eased it for about a minute. I found my seat, by the time I got there, my back was burning again. I grabbed a clean t-shirt out of my bag, gave the guy opposite me (in the side berths) a quick look to say 'look after that', and ran into the toilet to change t-shirts and pour more water on my back.

Of course, when I got back to my seat, my bag was gone, and only then it hit me that somebody had did this to me, putting some kind of itching powder down the back of my neck. The guy opposite said three guys came and took the bag, said he didn't stop them because he thought they might have been with me, and I never asked him to take care of it - fair enough, it was my fault for not saying it, but I really wasn't thinking straight what with my back in bits.

Anyway, I reported it to the police. I was left with just the clothes I was wearing, my passport and credit card which I keep in my money belt, and my camera which I luckily had in my pocket. Everything else - 400 EURO cash, 2 ipod's, all my pictures from Turkey, Iran and Nepal, plus my glasses, 6 books and all my clothes - was gone.

I traveled to NJP and got a hotel in Siliguri, cancelled my train ticket to Delhi, and booked a flight instead, extremely pissed off with everything and just wanting to go home. Checked my e-mail this morning before going for my flight, and there was a message from a guy I met in Shillong, telling me the police in Guwahati had found my bag in a ditch at a nearby bus station! The Shillong guy had given me his address and phone number, which was in the bag when it was found, and the police rang him.

So I cancelled my flight to Delhi, got a flight back to Guwahati, and got my bag from the police - minus 2 ipods, 100 EURO cash, 4 books and my glasses.

I reckon the police or whoever found the bag must have taken the 100 EURO, cause it doesn't make sense for thieves to just take 100 and leave 300 sitting beside it. Most importantly, I got the discs with all my photos on them back.

The ipods are gopne, but fuck it they can be replaced. Overall, this worked out pretty good for me. Has to be the weirdest 48 hours of traveling I've ever experienced.

[priya]

Was that the 'luck of the Irish' SMT?

You certainly had a lucky escape - and the itching powder couldn't have been a joke, to be sure.  I'm happy to hear you got everything back, well, ...... the most important things, of course.

[Shiver me Timbers]

I hope it was just luck Priya. But there is something strange about the entire episode - the things that were taken and the stuff they left behind, like the 300 EURO. But anyway, I'm just glad to have my photos and bag back!

[priya]

Whoever took your Euro100 and other goodies either needed them or felt pity for the poor traveller and left you with the important items.  You've been jolly lucky - especially not having lost all your photos.  

I wonder if the cops had a hand in all this?  Very fishy indeed.

[dzibead]

What a story!  I'm glad you got your photos back, and as you say, the other stuff is replaceable (even though it's a drag).

[iwanttogoback]

love the title of your post connor.

glad to hear you got your pics back, those are the things that can't be replaced.

cheers for the rest of your trip.