Got my whole setup fried by a power surge in a Chiang Mai cafe

So I was working from this little spot near the old city, you know the kind, good coffee and decent wifi. I had my laptop plugged in, my phone charging, the whole deal. Then the lights flickered for a second and everything just died. The cafe's power came back on, but my stuff didn't. A local guy at the next table just shook his head and said, 'Happens a lot here in rainy season.' Turns out, the surge protector I brought from home was a cheap one and it just gave up. That was a $1,200 laptop, gone. Now I travel with a heavy-duty surge protector I bought here, and I never plug in during a storm. Anyone else have a gear horror story from a specific place that made you change your habits?

2 comments

2 Comments

calebh903d ago

Ever had a surge protector fail on you too?

grant_ross273d ago

Man, that's brutal. My own lesson came from a cheap power strip melting in Bangkok. It made this awful smell and left a burn mark on the hotel desk. Now I check the voltage rating on everything like a crazy person before I even think about plugging in. That smell is burned into my memory, pun totally intended. It's a rough way to learn, but you only make that mistake once.