Robbed at Kanching!

At the Kanching waterfalls you always have to watch out for the  monkeys who are looking for food, but also can grab your belongings.

Snatch thief

And at the entrance there is a clear sign warning for snatch thieves.

So we are always wary, keeping an eye on our belongings, checking if monkeys or other people are hanging around our stuff.

However we were not prepared for somebody following us secretly and hiding in the jungle

When Aric and I visited Kanching two weeks ago, we were ROBBED ! Here is our story.

After being back in Malaysia for a few weeks and having recovered from my jetlag, I felt the usual urge to visit a waterfall. Kanching waterfalls! Easy half-day trip. Aric wanted to test an app for his iPhone, that can take long-exposure pictures. Suitable for waterfalls, as it can create the “cotton-wool” effect.

We went on a Monday, only a few visitors at the lower tiers, nobody at the upper ones. Here are a few pictures.

Actually we met one guy on our way to the top fall.  An Indian, in his thirties, dark complexion, small moustache, didn’t look like a hiker. After we passed him, we watched him and saw that he was going down. And that fooled us! 

When we arrived at the top fall, Aric installed his iPhone on a tripod, while I took a short video of this 7th tier, just above the tall cascade (tier 6).

Here is the top fall, twice. The left picture is a “normal” one, the right one is taken by the app, using an exposure time of 4 seconds.

2016-05-014

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During the preparations and the taking of pictures, we were only a few meters away from our backpacks. However, Aric wanted to take a last picture with both of us in the water, using his remote control.

That was the moment the thief had been waiting for. Apparently he had secretly followed us, hiding in the bushes. From the corner of his eye, Aric saw him grabbing our two backpacks. Of course he shouted, the guy ran away, nothing we could do.

I lost my GPS and my watch, fortunately my wallet and phone where in my pants, he had no time to search those. But Aric lost his wallet and his camera.

When we told the rangers in the office about it, they said it happened more often. And when I was collecting info for this blog on the Internet, I found this review of Kanching on Tripadvisor, written 19-1-2015 :

Beware at the top, two of us left our bags only meters away in what we 
thought was a safe place, within a minute or two of getting in the water 
they were gone, along with our phones, wallets, slr camera. 
We think we were followed or someone was watching from the jungle. 
Enjoy but be aware.

I have already added a warning to the Kanching page on WoM.

 

10 thoughts on “Robbed at Kanching!

  1. Vreselijke ervaring. Prachtige tocht natuurlijk, maar dit was een ‘dumper’. Waren jullie verzekerd? Hopelijk wel. Maar behalve het materiaal zullen er ook foto’s en/of films verdwenen zijn, vermoed ik. Ik weet, hoe dat voelt, want in de metro in Mexico-stad stal men mijn videocamera. En ik had juist zulke mooie scènes geschoten ! En je GPS weg….. heel vervelende ervaring.

  2. Oh dear, sorry to read about this. So even remote areas are not safe from snatch thieves now. Sounds like that thief has been operating there for a long time.

  3. Bloody Hell Jan & Aric, that’s must be so annoying . Did you get a good look at the thief enough to give the Police a good description. I guess the rangers did reminded you about the warning notices they had displayed then showed a lack of enthusiasm in doing much about it . Hopefully you can claim on your insurance. You just have to be more careful next time.
    Take care now.
    Robert

  4. So sorry to hear about the theft of your backpacks & personal belongings.
    The upper tiers are not so popular with most of the people …i think they are not keen to walk/hike up.

  5. Sorry to hear that. That’s quite some valuables. For me, my extreme valuables stick with me inside my waist pouch. Thanks for this note — it will help many to be more cautious of their personal effects.

  6. Those low level beings again …. why can’t they just get a job like everyone else, I cruse all of them really; to be eliminated from the human gene pool … sigh!

  7. Not nice to hear about the robbery. But look at the bright sight, you were not hurt, that would be much, much worse.
    Hopefully the backpacks and other belongings can be replaced.

  8. Dear friends,
    Nice to get so much support!
    It was a bad experience, although, as one friend said, it was not really a robbery. Because we were not attacked physically, the guy just stole our stuff.

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