Stand and Deliver

I should start this post by saying both Em & I are absolutely fine, really.

Last night we had some drinks with friends in a bar just around the corner from our house in BKK1.  We left around 11pm to walk home with a friend who also lives close by; home was about 200 metres away from the bar, across the main road.  It is very quiet on the streets here at night, but this is our neighbourhood which we know well.  We had just said our farewells on the corner and Em & I were walking up the street to cross Sihanouk Boulevard to our apartment and I think we were chatting about what a fun night it had been, when two moto's swung around the corner ahead of us into our street.  What happened next was shocking and all a bit of a blur, especially as we were quite drunk and it was very dark, but this is what we've pieced together from talking to each other, and the police, today....

There were four young Khmer guys on the moto's.  Before we knew what was happening, the passenger on each moto jumped off.  The one closest to me pointed a handgun (maybe a Beretta ?) at my head.  I instinctively ducked and spun around, tripping over my slip-on shoes and leaving them behind as I tried to avoid the gun.  Meanwhile, the other passenger was trying to grab Em's shoulder bag.  She struggled initially, and then let it go.  As I realised Em was still there I turned around and started back shouting "Fuck you!".  Em grabbed my arm and said she'd given them the bag and we should go, but by that time they were already speeding off down the road on their moto's.  We made our way home afterwards, obviously shaken, but otherwise unhurt.

As with any intense experience, we had a sleepless night and have been replaying the event in our heads.  Did we react the right way ?  Did we place ourselves at risk through our behaviour ?  Would they have pulled the trigger ?  After initially struggling to keep her bag, Em kept her head (as usual) and did all the right things.  As for me, by trying to avoid the gun initially and subsequently getting aggressive at the assailants I essentially did the opposite of everything it says to do in our security manual.  All I can say is that having a gun pointed at your head doesn't induce rational thought, and particularly not after a big night on the tiles.  Does my flight response make me a coward ?  Was I shamed into aggression by my initial reaction, protective of Em or just drunk and stupid ?  If I had just stood there frozen, how would it have played out ?  My wallet taken as well I guess, or possibly worse.  In a rational analysis, I know that male pride and bravado are particularly unhelpful in an encounter like this, and the cool, calm, measured response is the right approach, although it takes some not inconsiderable composure to react in that way with a gun pointed at you, and the knowledge that life is cheap here.

Anyway, I suspect it doesn't help to think about things too much.  At the end of the day, Em lost a phone, a pair of glasses and $40, and we're both still here.  We didn't report it to the police until this morning, but more of that in the next post.

...and, we're both fine, really...