first 2 motorbike taxi rides in Vietnam, clutching the shoulders of 2 nice people taking me to the police station.

The image of my purse strap flying ripped away from me keeps replaying, the sudden sense of loss when I realized what had happened and immediately had no hope for getting any of my belongings back. A girl from my hostel went to the police station with me this morning to translate into Vietnamese - everyone at my guesthouse has been really kind. The police tried to blow us off and tell us to come back when they weren't so busy, but we finally managed to write a report and translate the story. It's a common one. Dumb tourist girl walking late at night with a loose hanging purse that I knew was a bad idea. If it weren't that I'll need evidence that I was robbed in order to obtain a new Korean Alien Registration Card, I might not have even bothered to go. They had me write a fairly detailed description of my belongings as a matter of course, but I've not the slightest illusion of ever getting them back. Chase cards cancelled and new ones on the way in the mail, and almost the only thing I'm still stressed out about is my Korean debit card, which for some reason has no emergency phone number to call. I won't even be able to report it stolen until Monday. I'm trying to be optimistic and think it won't work on the machines here, or that they'll assume I've reported the card and won't try to use it, but if I call my bank on Monday and find that my entire salary for January is gone, I won't have much reason to be surprised. After my initial shock, panic, and distress, I feel pretty calm about the whole thing. I've reconciled myself to the loss of $400 and my ARC, and have partially prepared myself for the possible loss of about $1500. To me, it's been a lesson in how well-off I really am, to realize that all of that loss is just an inconvenience to me, that it doesn't change the trajectory of my life or even my travel plans in any major way. If I can bear with the loss of it so easily, then why did I ever have it or deserve it in the first place? There are many, many people around me who needed that money more than I did, and one of them took it. I don't feel as angry as I might have expected to. I travel too much to be able to reasonably expect that I'd never be targeted for robbery as a tourist - yet until 1 AM last night I had still maintained the idiotic "It won't happen to me, I'm being careful" mentality. Clearly I was too confident. Next time I'll be more careful. Not leave all my valuables in one place. Make a copy of my ARC. Not keep so much cash on me (I'd withdrawn a lot just a few minutes earlier to prepare for the long New Year holiday). Etc.

At least I still have my passport and phone. At least my bag snapped cleanly and didn't drag me along the street. At least I have friends to help me here. There are things to be thankful for.