The Zhaos did not recover that night and barely slept. They saw this loss of camera bag and wallet as a sign, a bad omen or something and they should head home right away. Except they didn’t have money to do so, it was all in the wallet including their air ticket.
They insisted on keeping the light on all night to keep the thieves away. I didn’t think they were paranoid. I felt their method as a local was due to experience and common knowledge. I slept with my hat over my eyes and as usual with my ear plugs on.
They both got up at 6:30am to go and flag down all the buses and by 9:30am they retrieved their bag. It turned out that the very honest driver did not want to report to the police because he was afraid he would be accused of taking stuff from the bag. So he just hung on to the bag as he drove. This driver refused to give his name or take any thanks. So the Zhoas recovered slowly from all these excitement in gratitude. I recommended that they go ahead and report this good deed to the papers and this was a way to thank the driver and support virtuous behavior. .
