It was bound to happen. We knew in the planning phases of this expedition that even though you can minimize your exposure to theft, you can never fully protect yourself from it. We expected that we would become victims of theft at some point on the expedition, but it still does not make it any easier when it happens. It plain Jane sucks.
Last night, our last night in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the alarm on Little Pepe went off at about 3 a.m. Both cars were parked on a well-lit, main street in central Almaty across from the hotel where we had been staying. There was some traffic on the street and we looked out of our window but did not see anything out of the ordinary and assumed that a passing truck or bus had set off the alarm as this had happened in the past. About 45 minutes later, the alarm went off again and this time we saw someone in the shadows pawing through the truck. We ran down from the 5th floor of the hotel, Steve barefoot and in his pajama pants and I fumbling with my shoes shirt and jeans only to encounter a security guard who could not figure out how to let us out of the door. After a few minutes the sleepy security guard figured out how to open the door and we ran to the Sequoia in time to see the individual jump in a newer model Mercedes and speed off. We found that the rear, passenger-side window had been completely smashed out and at first glance the only thing that appeared to be missing was a shoulder bag containing our Panasonic HVX HD video camera. After further examination, it was obvious that the main objective of the thief was to steal the car, as both visors had been flipped down and the glove box and center console were open in an attempt to hopefully find a spare set of keys. The thief did take a spare set of keys we had for the Thundra, which he most likely thought was for the Sequoia, but luckily it was parked far enough away and was left untouched.
The staff at the hotel we were staying at was completely unhelpful and uncooperative and was more concerned about us waking them up in the early hours of the morning and why three people were staying in a room intended for two than assisting us with the current situation. They even refused to call the police or give us their number. We did find a security guard who helped us call the cops and they arrived about 45 minutes later. The police were actually quite friendly and were genuinely interested in helping us out. Still visibly inconvenienced, the lady working at the front desk helped us interpret since none of the cops spoke English and we started the process of filling out a police report. They even brought out a K-9 dog and fingerprint kits to analyze the crime-scene although I don’t know what the dog could have done or what they could have collected off the filthy handles of the Sequoia, but it was a nice attempt. About half-way through the process, the police officer taking the report informed us that in order to complete the process we would need to remain in Kazakhstan for another three weeks. Staying this much longer in Kazakhstan was obviously not an option, so we stopped filling out the report, although the cop really wanted to continue taking it, apparently convinced he could potentially recover the video camera. To make matters even more disturbing, the lady at the hotel snapped at us that this is why they do not call the police… irritated that she also had to fill out some paperwork.
Steve slept in the Sequoia the remainder of the night to ensure it remained secure and that the thieves did not get smart and try and come back to potentially steal the Thundra since they now were in possession of the keys. At first light, we examined the Sequoia further and determined that the crooks had also taken a Kata bag containing some of our production equipment including two of our 500GB hard drives containing photos and video footage from NZ, AUS and parts of Thailand. We do have most of the photos and footage backed up, although we are fairly certain that our interviews and story on the Wild Asia USAID project in Thailand as well as the AUSAID school project in Indonesia are now gone. We still have another HVX camera and the HD Sony but now need to get new sound equipment in order to continue to professionally film stories… that will have to wait until Europe.
Any sort of replacement for the shattered window will most likely have to wait until we arrive in Europe
Although I am still physically sick to my stomach, I guess it could have been worse… we still have our laptops, our spare cameras and 60 percent of our production equipment, but it sucks when someone cleans you out for about $8,000. It sucks even worse when people who potentially witnessed the crime take place did nothing to break it up and our "hosts" at the hotel were only concerned about their own inconveniences as a result of it. At least we still have the trucks. If one of the trucks had been stolen, it would be pretty safe to assume that the expedition would essentially be over. It was bound to happen, but knowing that definitely does not make it any easier when it actually does. The only thing left to do is to get out of Almaty, which we were looking forward to doing anyway, and move on. Next stop Kyrgyzstan… hopefully we will encounter more positive individuals there because Kazakhstan has definitely left a bad taste in our mouths.
Oh and by the way, if you happen to be reading this and are the individual who stole our equipment, at least give us the hard drives back. Photos and video of our trip are of no benefit to you. If you are smart enough to read, I assume you may have looked at who you screwed over last night since you also seem to have gotten away with some of our TWBR website t-shirts.
