13th and 14th of October, 2023.
Hitchhiking in Thailand: Tak to Mae Hong Son
I get a short lift to the intersection which leads, directly, to Mae Hong Son. Two pick-ups stop and they tell me to be going to Mae Sot, a town about 1 hour driving from here. I take it!
The lovely lady Shompu and her friends Tom and Pa, are going to spend the day in Mae Sot and back to Bangkok tomorrow. They are all very shy but also very kind. We stop at a very nice local market where I buy some grapes for tomorrow’s breakfast, and a big bottle of local honey for a bargain of 60 Baht. They drive their way outside of Mae Sot town, just so I could stand by the road, which was very nice and helpful. Only if my luck was on my side…
I stay under the strong sun for about 3 hours. Many people stop and offer to drive me to Mae Ramat, which is about 30 minutes driving from where I am standing. I wish I had accepted, though. Perhaps I could’ve got a better lift from there then. But I didn’t.
What I also didn’t do was to protect myself from the sun. How stupid! I guess that these few months living in a house made me a stupid traveller. I forgot to bring a light scarf which I always used around my neck, to avoid sunburn, and even though I was using a cap, I didn’t spread sunscreen on my face. The result was catastrophic! And my legs got sunburnt too! Great!
When I was still waiting for a lift, a Swiss man stopped his truck, and we chat for a few minutes. I loved when he asked: “Do you know what you are doing here?” Laugh. I know there was no way he could know what I have been doing for the past six years, and that we are also always learning, but still, I thought it was funny.
A cute and stylish young man stops and offer to drive me to Mae Ramat too. He is wearing a cool shirt and cool glasses. Reluctantly, I refuse.
Then Od stops. It is nearly 5 o’clock in the afternoon, so when he tells me he is going about 1 hours driving from here, passing Mae Ramat, I accept. He doesn’t really speak English, but he calls a friend who can, and she tells me he will bring me to a school, which is nearby his home, and I can camp there. His brother is the principal or something…
The location of the school is in a nice spot. The front buildings look a bit destroyed though, but it seems to be going under restoration. There are men playing football right in front of the school, in the sports field.
Od drives us to the back side, where another building is located, with an office and a kind of meeting hall. I meet a lovely secretary working there, and she shows me where I can put my tent.
Od says he will bring me some food from his home, and I am happy with that. When he returns though, he actually has bought something from a nearby shop, unfortunately, because when I start eating it later, halfway through my rice, I see a small warm inside de package. Laugh. Pretty much appetite killer.
Later, a teacher comes over, Ten, and we chat for a while longer. She tells me more about the school and this region around the school. I can see the beautiful nature surrounding us, and Ten tells me that there are nice hikes and waterfalls around here too. I wish I had the time to just stay one more day and go around exploring.
Next morning, Od comes once more to check on me. I leave the school very early, before having breakfast. I was hoping I could get to the first view point I was planning to visit and eat there, but as soon as I get to the road I am starving and decide to eat some cereal right there.
After some time, a nice couple offers to drive me to the next town. This time I accept right away. The first view point is about 2 hours from here, and the next one six hours from here. The next town, about 20 minutes.
This couple is selling big cartons of fermented milk to small shops. They are very happy and friendly people, who are happy to help me. And they give me a bottle of fermented milk too!
When I am hitchhiking in Thailand, so many people stop their cars and tell me they will take me to the bus stop. They are all very kind and just want to help, but I wish they could understand that: why someone who wants to take a bus, would stand by the road, holding a sign with the name of a place, and show this sign to all the cars?
Right when I put my backpack down, two men from the Health Department which I am standing in front come and tell me the same thing. Patience!
They are nice but they repeat what everybody else keeps telling me: it is very difficult to find someone going all the way to Mae Hong Son on this road. We need more optimism in this word! I don’t let them beat me, but I accept to go into town and check the timetable and prices of the buses.
The most common public transport in between cities in Thailand is called songthaew, a pick-up with the back being used for people to sit on it. Here in the North they are orange colour. In town, we discover that the next one leaving to Mae Sariang (the farthest away town where they go from here, which is roughly 2 hours from Mae Hong Son) will depart in 2 hours and it costs 250 Baht. I decide I will not pay that, and also not wait here, so the nice guys take me back to the road, but this time to another spot, a bit farther away from where they picked me up.
In about 5 minutes a car passes by but then returns. They are going all the way to Mae Sariang. Ha!
Num and Tum are also a very sweet couple. Like all the other couples who drove me, they are on their 60’s but look way younger than that. We stop in a few places for nice views and photographs, which is very nice. The nature up here keeps on surprising me with its beauty! All the way is covered in bright green trees, so it feels like driving in a movie for many hours. We have lunch together at Mae Sariang, where they drop me off and take their way.
I am right outside the town, which is great! It doesn’t take long for two teenagers of seventeen years old stop their huge pick-up and tell me they are going to Mae Hong Son. Yay!
These young boys, even though seem to have some attitude, by the clothes they wear and the many tattoos they bear even at such young age, but truly they are very sweet and shy. It is a shame what the world / society does to our real selves. They cannot speak any English though, so no chatting.
The weather changes a lot during the over 3 hours we are driving together. We get some strong rain a few times, and for that reason I don’t ask them to stop at any of the 2 viewpoints I was plannign to. Plus, that would make us arrive after down in Mae Hong Son, and I was not counting on that.
The young guys drop me off at the bottom of my last destinatin for today: Wat Phra That Doi Kongmu, in Mae Hong Son. I made it!
10 Years Around the World 