12th October, 2023.
Hitchhiking in Thailand: Phanat Nikhom to Tak
Leaving home after a few months back in society it feels great! Even before stepping on the road again, just by taking my backpack out of the closet, I was already feeling renewed!
My first lift comes from Gift, a lovely and stylish lady who works in BYD cars, just on the way to Bangkok. She drives me until a point in a busy road which leads to Bangkok. At first, I am not very confident about the spot, but then soon enough a couple stops and offer to take me to Bangkok.
A. and her husband are nice and can speak a bit of English. They drop me off right at a busy intersection of highways. What? Yeah… I have to walk alongside the highway, and it is not very successful to hitchhike in here. But a man stops his pick-up and I get in.
Somsak might be just a bit slow, but I also have some suspicious thoughts about his intentions. In my experience by hitchhiking here in Thailand, not only long distances lift, between cities and provinces, but also around the neighbourhood where I live, Thai people tend to not really understand directions and simple gestures. And I am trying to cope with that and understand that people are different, but sometimes it can be really hard, for example with Somsak. I had to be sharp with him, verging to be rude, so he could understand where I would get out of his car.
But then again, I end up in a shit whole spot. Hitchhiking outside big capitals can stink badly! While I am walking on the motorway, a pick-up with road workers stops and offer to help me. Again, it is really difficult for them to understand what I am trying to say, so when they start driving me somewhere else other than I where we should be going, I already fell like – Oh, no! Not again!
It gets worse when we stop in front of a police station. Dear, Loki! I really don’t get how people can be like this sometimes. Anyway, luckily, at some point the young man driving understands where I want to go, after I had shown him several times in the Google Maps. They talk with their boss on the phone and after taking a photograph of me, they give me the good news that they will drop me off where I want to go, which is a turning on the road that leads all the way to my first destination in Northern Thailand: Tak.
Funny fact is, while all of this is “happening”, a young police officer comes along and start to chat, asking questions as he could do something about to help me. What I dislike the most about police officers is how they always think they know everything and can help anyone with whatever is it. When truly deep down they know almost nothing and are almost 100% of the times unhelpful.
From the corners of highway 32 with highway 9, I struggle to be noticed by the cars which come too fast and can barely see me standing by the 4 lanes big road. Luckily, there is a PTT Station just by where I am, so the cars coming from there can see me.
By a miracle, Ying and her family (husband Tum and teenager daughter Stang) see me and stop. They are going all the way to Mae Hong Son, which is also on my list, but for the next day. Meaning they can drive me to Tak. For real?
Ying and I get along well pretty fast. She is lovely and very friendly, just like Tum. Stang is a bit shy and keeps to herself. Ying is 46 years old but as almost all Thai people, she looks much younger. And she can speak English well which is a huge plus here in Thailand. We have lunch together and spend the next few hours travelling towards North, while me and Ying keep chatting.
Halfway from Bangkok to Tak Province, the scenery changes completely. Everything becomes green and strickling beautiful! There are trees all along the road and it reminds me of Brazil. It is so beautiful that I can’t really describe or take photographs which can make justice to it.
We arrive in Tak around 5 o’clock. I am planning to go and visit a famous temple which is located after the town, on the way to Chiang Mai. Ying and her family drive me halfway across the town, which is great, so I only need to walk a bit more to get to a point where I can hitchhike again, now towards the temple.
I buy some Khao Pad on the way and start hitchhiking without a sign, only making hand gesture for the cars to stop. A couple going to Chiang Mai pick me up. La and Panip are a sweet couple, and they are surprised with a foreigner going at this time to the temple, planning to camp there. Wat Phra Borommathat is farther than I thought but we arrive there a bit before dark. I take a photo with the lovely couple, and they add me on Instagram.
10 Years Around the World 