2/17/12
So on the day of that first trip into the city center by Metro, I also managed to traumatize myself in the process of obtaining a new cell phone together with a SIM card. I had left home without the photocopy of my passport and had been warned not to hand my passport over to anyone. So the moment I stepped out of the Metro station I was approached by a peddle-rickshaw driver who wanted to take me whereever I wanted to go. When I turned him down on that it seemed he was (genuinely) more interested in practicing his English than in getting a fare. So he escorted me to a tourism office - not the official one- and then from there the guy behind the counter chose to escort me to (no doubt his friend's) cell phone place. Lo and behold I needed a passport sized photo as well as my passport, so the same guy escorted me across the street to a photographers to get my head shot taken. Back at the cell phone place he haggled with his friend a bit about which cell phone would be cheaper and better for me. Then came the SIM card registration form required by the government, and the scary part about my passport. As I reluctantly handed it over for inspection and kept a hawk eye on it as it passed from hand to hand, I almost died when the fellow charged with making a photocopy made his way towards the door, and I expressed my horror. Both the staff member and the tourism office guy assured me in a way that I believed and sure enough my passport returned to me after about five minutes. From there in was all straightforward, but I learned my lesson to check my checklist before leaving home and think through my day and what I need more carefully, and be sure to check it as I pack my bag. Such is the anxiety that for me accompanies traveling alone in a strange place. The other lesson of the experience was to see the graciousness of those who met me and worked with me with patience and pleasantness.
So on the day of that first trip into the city center by Metro, I also managed to traumatize myself in the process of obtaining a new cell phone together with a SIM card. I had left home without the photocopy of my passport and had been warned not to hand my passport over to anyone. So the moment I stepped out of the Metro station I was approached by a peddle-rickshaw driver who wanted to take me whereever I wanted to go. When I turned him down on that it seemed he was (genuinely) more interested in practicing his English than in getting a fare. So he escorted me to a tourism office - not the official one- and then from there the guy behind the counter chose to escort me to (no doubt his friend's) cell phone place. Lo and behold I needed a passport sized photo as well as my passport, so the same guy escorted me across the street to a photographers to get my head shot taken. Back at the cell phone place he haggled with his friend a bit about which cell phone would be cheaper and better for me. Then came the SIM card registration form required by the government, and the scary part about my passport. As I reluctantly handed it over for inspection and kept a hawk eye on it as it passed from hand to hand, I almost died when the fellow charged with making a photocopy made his way towards the door, and I expressed my horror. Both the staff member and the tourism office guy assured me in a way that I believed and sure enough my passport returned to me after about five minutes. From there in was all straightforward, but I learned my lesson to check my checklist before leaving home and think through my day and what I need more carefully, and be sure to check it as I pack my bag. Such is the anxiety that for me accompanies traveling alone in a strange place. The other lesson of the experience was to see the graciousness of those who met me and worked with me with patience and pleasantness.
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