Jacket Lost / Jacket Found!
Samoeng | Chiang Mai Province | Cool Season | 150+ KM Ride
(January 2016) Jacket Lost, Jacket Found: A mini drama…with a magical twist.…involving “homing pigeon” shoes, a beloved moto jacket, an orange shopping bag, and me.
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Contents
The Samoeng Loop Guide
A Magical Temple Ride in Samoeng Tai
Day 1. The Lost Jacket!
I took a quick motorcycle trip around the Samoeng loop, only to stupidly lose a bag I must have badly tied onto my bike (for the record I was wearing alternative armour!). In that bag was an awesome pair of beat-up flip-flops and my prized motorcycle jacket that fits me like a dream (we women of various shapes and sizes don’t find this easy to come by!)
So..tracing back my route 3 times and finding nothing, I eventually gave up. Handed in my number to a local police box and returned home despondent.
Day 2. The Search
Day 2: With a renewed resolve of at least ATTEMPTING to find my jacket, I made up some posters and flyers in English and Thai and I went back over the area on a very hot day to painstakingly hand people the posters and flyers and explain the situation.
I figured that if I didn’t at least try, I would end up kicking myself. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If I didn’t get the bag back, it wasn’t meant to be.
The nice part of the whole thing was that it forced me to interact with people (which I’m normally quite reserved about), who all turned out to be lovely and helpful. A bonus was some mahouts with baby elephants that I stopped to chat with.
Then, around 7pm that night, I received a phone call from the local police in the area, to say that my bag had been found! I couldn’t believe it! I was told to go back to the police station the next morning.
Day 3. Back to Samoeng
I set off early, and arrived at the box before 9 am, but when I arrived, I was told that the lady who found it had gone to work and forgotten to bring the bag in. So, I had to ride back 80k m or so home and wait to return later.
Around 2 pm I received a call to say the bag was handed in and to make my way back to the police box!
When I arrived, I found all the contents intact! The policeman (although not smiling in the photo) was lovely. I left an envelope with a finders fee for the lady who found my bag and a bag of homemade treats for the policeman. Really amazed and happy about the outcome.
The Magical Twist…
..Ok, so the flip-flops that were in the bag are really old beat up things that I have had for approximately 8 years. In that time they have been washed down a fast flowing river and retrieved (which I actually have a comical video of) ..fallen off on a road… fallen down a mountainside… and well, a number of things. Yet, they somehow let themselves be found. Because of these magical homing pigeon flip-flops, my bag and jacket came back to me!
To End…
Most people do like to return things. I could have made it easier for them to do so if I had put a number in the pocket of the jacket or used a marker on it etc. It’s a good heads-up to me to do this to my motorcycle gear and anything important to me. So…might be a good tip for you to do so too.
Have you lost anything important? Did you find it again?
I hope you enjoyed this Jacket Lost & Found story.
Leave a comment!
I’ve lost my mind numerous times but fortunately, so far, I’ve always recovered it! I hope my luck continues because I’m getting up there in age. 🙂 I like your new site. The only issue I’ve seen is that under trip reports there is a long way to scroll through blank white regions before you get to the links to the reports. -John
Hi John. Thanks so much for the feedback on the trip reports section. I will work on this. Sometimes can’t see the wood for the trees, so having feedback is so important. Appreciated!
I lost my new cellular phone, purchased the same day while riding to Kru Ba Sriwichai road. I called back to my phone several times, thought that someone might pick up the call and thought I already loose hope that I kissed it goodbye for good. The next day, someone returned my call and found the new phone by the flower pot. She found it early morning while jogged up to the Kru Ba status.
I love stories like that. Gives faith! Great that you got it back 😀
Great story.
Thanks! Great to get feedback too 😀