I Just Had My Shoes Stolen!

[gbt71fa]

We went to a temple in Bangkok so my wife could say thank you forhelp in getting her visa yesterday. When we came back outside the temple my shoes were gone! Somebody had stolen them...at a temple! So I had to walk around for an hour on hot marble and concrete searching for my shoes!!!! <deleted>!!!!!!! I though the temple was sacred ground?!?!?!?!? I have nice little blisters on my feet to show for the effort. I was steaming, if I caught the guy I probably would have sacrificed him there on the temple steps!!! There is something just SOOOOO wrong about that. You don't take a man's shoes!! I wear a size 13 wide and it is pretty hard to find my size in the states. I finally just went to siam paragon to get some sandals.

The flip side was that many Thai people at the temple, some vendors and temple caretakers offered me their sandals but most of them did not fit. Finally somebody gave me a free pair, just before my feed got a real good burn going. They seemed ashamed of the incident but I am wondering why the gare guard didn't notice a thai person carrying mammoth expensive looking shoes pass him. I wanted to thump him, too but the Thai person that all they do is just stand there anyways. From now on, my shoes or expensive sandals now come with me in the temple even I have to put them in a bag. My wife did force me to let her put lotion on my impending blistering "it puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again", which I said that it hurts and she said "you don't know the meaning of pain!"

Seriously, though, it shows the extremes that exist in this country. Where I come from, even the most hardened criminal usually won't mess with the sanctity of a church. It just makes those poor souls who were offering me their sandals doubt their changing Thailand. Those were really expensive shoes, too, dagnabbit, great for working out, great arch support....######.

[Tywais]

I wear a size 13 wide

Perhaps they mistook them for luggage. That is a little odd and don't understand it either. I've seen mistakes if sandal size was similar, but size 13?

[mellow1]

You are taking a negative view on what happened.

Try to look at it from the point of view,that you just helped out some poor soul.This will benefit you.Any bad karma you may have will benefit from this.Anyways your a rich"farang" and you can buy another pair.

Either way forget about it,and try to enjoy your life.

[Head Snake]

I have a vision of some water buffalo walking the fields in size 13 sandles.

Ok, I feel your pain. You were pilfered and of all places, the temple. There should be very few thais in need of that size.

Perhaps you can revisit the temple and see if they are returned perhaps by a mistaken temple visitor.

[soundman]

You are taking a negative view on what happened.

Try to look at it from the point of view,that you just helped out some poor soul.This will benefit you.Any bad karma you may have will benefit from this.Anyways your a rich"farang" and you can buy another pair.

Either way forget about it,and try to enjoy your life.

Are you saying that anything of mine that is stolen I should just adopt a "mai bpen rai" attitude?

Soundman.

[kopite]

Seriously, though, it shows the extremes that exist in this country. Where I come from, even the most hardened criminal usually won't mess with the sanctity of the church

stealing lead of church roofs? even the f***ing priests are at with the choir boys

[Prakanong]

I can remember having to leave my new Timberland boots outside one and looking at all the shitty sandals there and thinking - nah

I put them in the exes bag and she carried them ;-)

[joe1912]

I wear a size 13 wide

Perhaps they mistook them for luggage. That is a little odd and don't understand it either. I've seen mistakes if sandal size was similar, but size 13?

maybe an unemployed Thai ferryman was in the temple making an offering for a replacement of his old ferry that sank and then he came outside and hey presto his prayers had been answered double fold, check down the river...

[solo siam]

I'm pretty sure that either;

a) a dog took them (very common)

someone moved them

[meadish_sweetball]

Unfortunately, shoes being stolen outside temples is a rather common problem.

A friend of mine who is a monk warned me about this occurring fairly frequently, and ever since I only leave sandals outside, never any type of expensive shoes.

Sorry you had to learn it the hard way.

[colino]

QUOTE(gbt71fa @ 2007-06-18 12:18:36)

I wear a size 13 wide

Whats your nickname

----------- Skippy-------------

or the thai that took them thought they were a couple of canoes

Edited June 18, 2007 by colino

[Shrubbery]

Had to have a little chuckle while reading this thread.

The random ad banner at the side was for "heavily discounted shoes"

Edited June 18, 2007 by Shrubbery

[jdinasia]

sometimes instant Karma will just get you

[jetjock]

Unfortunately, shoes being stolen outside temples is a rather common problem.

A friend of mine who is a monk warned me about this occurring fairly frequently, and ever since I only leave sandals outside, never any type of expensive shoes.

Sorry you had to learn it the hard way.

These type of informative posts are a great example of what makes TV such great reading. I also wear size 13 and would never have thought that they would be a candidate for 'shoenapping' ! On future visits to temples, I will either keep an eye on them or carry them in with me as it is almost impossible to replace that size in LOS.

[kmart]

I can remember having to leave my new Timberland boots outside one and looking at all the shitty sandals there and thinking - nah

I put them in the exes bag and she carried them ;-)

Spot on. I remember taking off my Rockports to put down next to a ragged heap of left-foot-only flipflops and got the same "spider-sense" tingling of impending loss...

[candoman89]

Yup; I lost mine at the temple (bought the day before) when I went to witness one of my staff becoming a monk. I just couldn't believe it; I didn't know whether to get mad or laugh at the ludicrousness of it. I figure if I went to the nearest used shoe stand I would find them.

My other staff were extrememly embarrassed by it and they spent a long time looking for the largest shoes they could buy in the area............largest around were size 8 flip flops (I wear a size 11).

Hilarious walking around in too small flip flops with my socks on (people must have thought I was Italian).

Not a great financial loss; 300 Baht from Pratunam shoe store.

[sukanyacondo]

You are taking a negative view on what happened.

Try to look at it from the point of view,that you just helped out some poor soul.This will benefit you.Any bad karma you may have will benefit from this.Anyways your a rich"farang" and you can buy another pair.

Either way forget about it,and try to enjoy your life.

The word "nuts" comes to mind??????

[sukanyacondo]

"You are taking a negative view on what happened.

Try to look at it from the point of view,that you just helped out some poor soul.This will benefit you.Any bad karma you may have will benefit from this.Anyways your a rich"farang" and you can buy another pair.

Either way forget about it,and try to enjoy your life."

Ah now I see you mean like your post then ??

[chatette]

The last time I went to a temple, someone unzipped my bag and stole my wallet during the few seconds I took my hand off it to wai phra. It was a popular and very crowded temple in Ayutthya that we'd taken my MIL to on a religious day and i was well aware of the risk of pickpockets, so it's not like i wasn't paying attention.

My MIL commented, without a hint of irony, that you have to be careful of thieves in a temple. So, to avoid the risk of my belongings being purloined again, I haven't been back to any temples since. The threat of shoe thieves is a welcome reinforcement to justify my decade-long boycott.

[qwertz]

The last temple I visited in Chiang Mai had a contingent of cute kids picking pockets under the watchful eye of their parents.

[gbt71fa]

You are taking a negative view on what happened.

Try to look at it from the point of view,that you just helped out some poor soul.This will benefit you.Any bad karma you may have will benefit from this.Anyways your a rich"farang" and you can buy another pair.

Either way forget about it,and try to enjoy your life.

If I ever got a hold of that "poor soul" than he would be just that, a soul. Man, I had to put cream on my feet from the heat blisters. And, I ain't a rich Farang! It was a temple for Jupiter's sake!

[gbt71fa]

I have a vision of some water buffalo walking the fields in size 13 sandles.

Ok, I feel your pain. You were pilfered and of all places, the temple. There should be very few thais in need of that size.

Perhaps you can revisit the temple and see if they are returned perhaps by a mistaken temple visitor.

They were a size 13 (wide) shoes, not sandals. I don't see somebody mistaking them for their own. If it was a buffalo that took 'em, I'd eat the buffalo.

[gbt71fa]

Seriously, though, it shows the extremes that exist in this country. Where I come from, even the most hardened criminal usually won't mess with the sanctity of the church

stealing lead of church roofs? even the f***ing priests are at with the choir boys

Yeah, but they don't steal your shoes!!! Anyways, I'm episcopalian, I think.

[gbt71fa]

I can remember having to leave my new Timberland boots outside one and looking at all the shitty sandals there and thinking - nah

I put them in the exes bag and she carried them ;-)

That is what I told my wife, the shoes go in with me next time, in a bag.

[tijnebijn]

I can remember having to leave my new Timberland boots outside one and looking at all the shitty sandals there and thinking - nah

I put them in the exes bag and she carried them ;-)

That came in my mind also. When somebody is such scared loosing their shoes, just make sure you can't loose them, put them in a bag . But to make you holy shoes more valuable then a holy temple, indeed goes a bit too far my fellow member !

[gbt71fa]

I'm pretty sure that either;

a) a dog took them (very common)

someone moved them

a) no doggies in the immediate area.

my wife and several thai people looked around the area and found nothing.

[gbt71fa]

I can remember having to leave my new Timberland boots outside one and looking at all the shitty sandals there and thinking - nah

I put them in the exes bag and she carried them ;-)

Spot on. I remember taking off my Rockports to put down next to a ragged heap of left-foot-only flipflops and got the same "spider-sense" tingling of impending loss...

My spidey-sense must have been turned off, damnit.

[Nebukanezar]

It would have been nice if you could have cought the person stealing them so you could have smacked em in the head with the shoes he wanted so badly.

I wear a 13 as well, and it is a night mare finding our size in BKK ( usually a 47). Fortunetly nobody robbed my shoes yet.

[gbt71fa]

It would have been nice if you could have cought the person stealing them so you could have smacked em in the head with the shoes he wanted so badly.

I wear a 13 as well, and it is a night mare finding our size in BKK ( usually a 47). Fortunetly nobody robbed my shoes yet.

The best I could find was a size 45 sandal...for 940 baht. I wasn't in the mood to argue considering the condition of my feet. Somthing about walking around in bangkok with small flippity-flops and half of my feet dragging against the clean bangkok ground...

[jayjayjayjay]

I wear a size 13 wide

I'll report any 13 wides comming through Chiangmai most likely was a loser backpacking farang(there are good and bad, been there done that!!)