My Camera, Phone, and iPod Broke — Why Was I So Happy?
While being two months in Malaysia and Indonesia
What happened?
I’m an analog camera fan, and the camera I had with me was my favorite. It’s an old Soviet camera that, including a lens, weighs more than a kilo. Not the most ideal for backpacking you’d think, and you’re completely right. It’s not ideal at all in terms of weight, but a fantastic experience to take pictures with.
The camera broke by falling on a rock a month or so into the trip, which made the lever impossible to turn without being convinced of breaking it even further. I hoped to fix it at home.
The iPod tried really hard, I felt it. But it couldn’t beat the heat and humidity at an island in Malaysia where I was volunteering and surrounded by moist jungle. At some point, there was no response anymore whatsoever. This was a few weeks into the trip.
Two weeks before the end, the phone said goodbye. I love how it broke. A fellow traveler and I were sitting at a terrace, near water. The phone lay in a tiny gathering of drops, also referred to as a wet surface. But for a phone that’s not water-resistant, this is logically too much. The screen started tripping, flickering, the whole shebang. It became unusable.
