A Playful Misconception, A Childhood's Dream

See? That kind of title will get anyone’s attention and it’s these kinds of information that will help travellers going to Greece, specifically Athens. When you know how it’s done, you’ll have a better chance of preventing it.

I’ve received three warnings before my Canon 450D got stolen. First was a friend who warned me on Facebook about how dangerous the place called Omonia is. Since there never was a plan to visit that place, the name meant little to me.

Second was on the first day at the city centre, this Swiss tourist whom I met queueing for the toilet in a cafe told me his wallet got stolen. He described that he was “accidentally” pushed from the back and his wallet got snatched right out of his back pocket. I thanked him for the warning and wished him a safe trip for the rest of the way.

Third was on that eventful day of last Sunday, 13 Dec 2009. We have just visited the Athens flea market at Monastiraki and was about to take the subway to another museum, but we had to interchange at Omonia. There was a guard at the Monastiraki who told me I couldn’t take photographs of the rail tracks. He then took the initiative to tell us to be careful of our belongings and be careful of getting pushed – as that’s how they steal.

But at Omonia, once I stepped onto the next train, I was a little surprised that I didn’t have any room to move anymore – it’s as if I was almost pinned to a corner just by the doors. I turned around and found three Incredible-Hulk-looking guys (I embellish, but one was really like Lou Ferrigno) around me. They were so smooth that nothing felt out of place except how Lou Ferrigno was a invading my personal space a little.

Now at this time I was thinking that I should be careful. So I stuck both hands into my jeans pocket, one had my mobile phone while the other carried my wallet. Then I swung my camera bag in front of me so I could see it. I did think of swinging it to the back and have my back against the doors but I don’t know why I didn’t do it. Lou spread his arms. One to the side on the glass panel behind a seat, and the other right in front of me resting on the glass panel of the door. He looked really relaxed so I didn’t want to bother him. Another guy who looked like Roberto Carlos was right in front of me. He was carrying his jacket in front of him by having it cling on both hands. The third guy looked like Sendhil Ramamurthy who played Mohinder Suresh in Heroes, and he was standing behind Roberto Carlos just filling any other empty spaces.

There were a number of things I could have done to prevent this personal tragedy. I could have just squeezed my way through when I first got on the train, ignoring the impending human wall. I could have told Lou Ferrigno to let me through when he had his arms up. I could have listened to myself and swung the camera bag to the back instead of thinking it’s also safe in front of me as I could see it. Yes, I could have done a lot of things but I didn’t.

Lou Ferrigno’s right arm resting on the door blocked my line of sight to the front of my camera bag. Mohinder Suresh was the decoy. When I just glance around, his eyes would be there to either intimidate me or make me feel uncomfortable, or he could have even just smiled and make me feel that the situation isn’t dangerous to me. And Roberto Carlos with his soft hands unclipped my bag, and removed the camera right before the train stopped.

I immediately felt something wasn’t right. I put a thumb into the bag and realised the compartment where the camera was supposed to be was empty. I immediately knew what happened. I looked at Roberto Carlos’ hands and they were still under his jacket. Lou Ferrigno said, “Excuse me”, as he wanted to get off. I couldn’t see Mohinder Suresh’s hands at all. The camera was nowhere in sight and I didn’t like the outcome of accusing three Incredible Hulks of taking my camera. All I could do was watch their backs rush off into the abyss of the never ending train tunnels and into the never-seen-again.

Yes, I was pissed off. At first, at them. I started cursing them, hoping a bus will run them down or they will fall into the train tracks or just some horrible deaths. As long as they die, kind of thing. Then I realised the one person that I was most pissed of was at myself.

One because of the above, two because I at the start of that morning wanted to transfer my pictures of Acropolis into the computer, but felt lazy and didn’t get to doing it. So everything was gone. It’s as if I have never been to Athens. The camera was an expensive lesson to be learned. But the pictures were priceless.

What if I had confronted them? What if I had tailed them? What if I had reported to the security? What if I offered to buy the camera off him? What if I pleaded for the memory card? What if I got into a fight – or more like I turned into a punching bag? Will any of these possibilities bring back my camera and its memory card? I’ll never know.

So, this  is how the Greeks steal your valuables. I hope this post will help other travellers be more cautious if they ever do find themselves in similar situations, no matter where they travel to. Because with all the warnings above but without the knowledge of how it was done, I wasn’t the wiser.