Be aware of pickpockets!

I had heard from many sources about heated pickpocket issues in Paris. And if you are exploring famous sites like Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe or Notredame, you can see signs like “Attention Aux Pickpockets.” Oh, yes, you would not miss to notice such signs in public vehicles like trains and trams as well. So we were careful and luckily nothing happened to us.

It was a surprise that I was about to have my second encounter with a pickpocket. First one was in Nepal where I caught someone’s hand trying to open my bag on right time. I was alarmed since I realized it was the pocket that I had kept my money in. That day onward I grew cautious, especially while walking in a crowd.

As for my second one, early in the cold freezing morning, inside a train station I had my second encounter. It was jawdropping. We were at the Brussels station waiting for our bus. There were four other women waiting for their bus (traveling together). Two of them went somewhere. So it was me, my husband and the women’s bag and then two women on the bench consecutively. There were definitely other people waiting at the station. But not many since it was too early.

Suddenly when we turned to our right, we saw a man closer to the women’s bags. He was standing there with his hands on the bags as if touching the back of the bench. We perhaps turned at the right moment. The man moved away outside the gate. We thought of alerting the women but saw that they were leaving and moving towards the bus.

However, we saw that the same man was walking behind the women. We didn’t know what to make out of it. But we kept an eye on him until the women had their luggage safe in the bus. And shockingly the man was still behind them wondering around. He maintained his pace slow keeping himself behind. A man without any luggage and plenty of place to outrun the women carrying luggage. Yet he fell behind. That was suspicious. We could see him looking at the women and their bags. And once they got on the bus, the man turned to the opposite direction and vanished.

Almost a pickpocketing situation which fortunately didn’t happen. I wondered though how fast would I have run after that man if he had succeeded!