Blackcrusader
Contributor
LOL she was naive! One mans Toyota is another mans Porsche.
Worst thing you can do is underestimate the knowledge of people in a foreign country. Many of the things western people take for granted is the equivalent to six months of wages for people in poorer countries. In Taiwan a Perdix is equal to an average persons monthly income. Probably a lot more for an assistant in a dive shop.
Years after I was a victim of a robbery on a dive boat by one of the staff, I was on another boat with my iPhone playing a card game as the time passed. I soon noticed a crew member looking at me and then later looking at me again as we neared the dive site and I was putting my phone into my bag. A minute later I took it back out and asked the Captain to hold onto it for me, I just did not want a repeat of the previous incident.
Yeah she wasn't in a foreign country and neither was I lol. But she was in a dive shop with lots of customers and other people walking about. Sure in places like Indonesia Thailand or Philippines people get gear stolen and not always by locals some are visitors from other countries. Fact is if you leave expensive kit around people might not resist the temptation to even just pick it up to look at it not with the intention of stealing it. Many people ask me about my DIY camera tray and rig and will ask can they pick it up. They are interested in how it will be in the water.