A close shave

Yesterday we booked into our first Dorm. in a YHA hostel and looked forward to meeting fellow penguin spotters. However, within two hours of our arrival our room was broken into from the street. It looks like a nice quiet street by day, but at night it turns into a more seedy area altogether. When we walked back into our room we found all our things thrown all over the room and the ugliest male transvestite pouting his lips through the window of entry. Not sure which was most shocking. Luckily for us nothing was stolen, however the Finnish guy we were sharing with had his passport stolen and all his cash. They were very clever thieves and knew exactly what they were looking for. I (Stuart) was very lucky as they hardly looked in my bag at all apart from the part of my baggage that I was using as my secret hiding place for 10 days up to only two hours before the event. (Just in case you are worrying at the moment, Martine and I are very careful and have back-up plans for such a thing happening again.) It was also the only night we have been out of bed after 10 so we are usually very close to our things- it pays to be a bit boring.