31st of December, 2023.
Hitchhiking in Thailand: The River Kwai Bridge
Walking out of the park, we aren’t sure if we should start hitchhiking already, or wait until we get to the main road. But we decide to take our chances, so we walk and sign to the cars at the same time. Very soon, a car stops.
A very humble family, going back to Kanchanaburi town, decide to take us. The mother makes arrangements on the back of the car for us to fit, and take her young son in front with her; while the father helps us to fit our backpacks in the trunk. I try to explain to the father that we are going to visit the River Kwai Bridge, but he doesn’t understand. I have an idea of where it is, and I am quite certain that there will be signs on the road warning us. The problem is that, this is a very fast and busy road, so in order to make the father’s life easier when it comes to the place he must stop, Miles check on his phone, and we find a gas station right before our exit, and there is our drop off point.
We get some water from the shops and then carry on. At the intersection, a big sign reading “The River Kwai Bridge” shows us we are on the right track.
I wasn’t expecting to see so many people around here. Again, is it because is Sunday? I wonder if all of them have in fact watched the film. At first, and for a long time, Miles and I are the only Western foreigners. We drop off our backpacks in a coffee shop at the corner, which is great! The sun is killing! I try to imagine, as much as I can, how it was back in time, when the bridge was built. We cross the bridge; we enjoy some shade at the end of the bridge; then we take some photos and we come back for our backpacks.
While Miles enjoy a cold drink, we sit by some local stands and chat. Today is our last day travelling together and also the last day of the year. But what is a year?
I am getting really hungry so we decide to keep going towards next destination but not before I look for something to eat. I was hoping to find some grilled tofu but, apparently, it is not so easy to find it everywhere. What keeps annoying me the most though is people being scared of communicating with foreigners, either they can or cannot speak other language. Why the fear? When I try to approach some of the food stands, I can see how people are avoiding me, dodging the eye contact and engaging in a conversation as much as they can. They rather loose costumers than try to communicate with someone they cannot understand verbally. How can you be so frightened by something so ordinary as “talking”? Language is one of our most beautiful attributes. Why so many are still so scared of it?
Back to the main road, no shade and the sun is devastating. Our hitchhiking spot is not great either, but there is nothing better ahead, as I checked on Maps before. The train passes. It brings us luck because right after a car stops. I run to talk with them and I figure they are going to the same monastery as us: Wat Tham Suea (Tiger Cave Temple).
They are brother and sister from Bangkok, going back there after visiting the temple. They have visited other beautiful temples, as they show us in some videos. As they also cannot speak English, we can’t chat much, but they are very kind people.
The way to the temple is actually beautiful! We drive alongside the river, and dense vegetation is everywhere. Surprisingly, we are going all the way up. After some narrow streets, which look more like a maze, we finally arrive. After saying goodbye to the siblings, I ask Miles if we can eat something before visiting the temple. There are some small shops inside the temple area, and a restaurant too.
Although the young girls working at the restaurant seem nice, they also don’t seem too excited to have costumers. I order a Khao Pad and try to ask for a Pad Thai for Miles. Unfortunately, of all people from different countries I have met on my travels, Thai people, in my opinion, are among the ones with more difficulty to understand things in general. For example, if they don’t have Pad Thai in their menu, but there are noodles to be prepared and eggs, they will not understand if you simply ask them to prepare some noodles with fried egg (what basically is Pad Thai or fried noodles). To resume, when I order noodles and fried egg for Miles, what they bring is a noodle soup and one fried egg. Plus, they add pork chunks to the soup, when I clearly said before (in Thai) that we both don’t eat meat.
A bit of a struggle again when I am trying to ask an elder lady if we can camp somewhere around here. She is standing by a small temple where a monk is receiving some tourists and other people for blessings. But you have to pay for candles and flowers in order to do that, of course. Anyway, she doesn’t let me “finish” my request, and simply assume that we are asking to drop off our backpacks. But she does it rudely. Initially, I don’t understand what she is trying to say, because she didn’t even let me ask anything. When I finally figure out her thoughts, she seems already irritated and just keep pointing to a space on the floor where we can keep our backpacks. I get crossed by her lack of patience, so suddenly, but also by the fact that the monk stood there, not doing anything to try to help in the situation.
Because of this whole situation, I tell Miles we better find another place to camp, somewhere around the temple, to what he agrees.
To visit the temple, we must climb a very steep staircase. I am proud of Miles and I, going up at once, while so many other people are dying to do it even by taking some rest.
The temple itself is nothing as I expected. In the end, I believe that it is just more beautiful from far away than from the actual grounds. Some buildings are colourful and beautiful, and the bells around it too, but nothing extraordinary. As Miles well observes: “I have seen already so many temples like this…”. After not too much time, we decide to go back.
Because we don’t know for sure that we will find a place for dinner before we reach a possible camping site, I suggest we get some take away from the same restaurant we ate. But they are closed.
We start walking in the direction of our next morning hitchhiking spot. When we stop at a shop to buy some water, an Indian family is chatting with the friendly owner of the shop. I first greet them in Thai, and then when I say “Namaste” everybody seems quite surprised.
As we walk some few metres further, we see what seems to be a food stand. Taking a closer look, I notice in their sign that they are actually a take away food stand only, and not a restaurant. We decide to ask them if they know about a place we can camp around here. They are all very kind and friendly and help us a lot!
They are the family of Fuse, a lovely young girl who lives in Bangkok, where she is studying tourism, and she does all the translation for us. A man from the family goes to a nearby temple and asks if we can camp there. Middle time, Fuse’s grandmother, at our request, prepare two Khao Pad for us, take away, as dinner. Together are also Fuse’s mother and younger sister. We get good news that we can camp by the monastery and with our dinner in hands, we start walking the few hundred metres to the actual place.
Once in there, we are shown by the monks that we can camp right in front of the monastery, across the road, by an open field. It is great! And we can use an outside toilet of the temple. They also tell us that due to New Year’s Eve, there will be some kind of celebration at night, starting at 23.00h and lasting until most likely 1.00 a.m. When we start to make our camping, Fuse comes by to check on us. How sweet!
Miled and I have another deep chat about spirituality. I keep asking hundreds of questions and he keeps patiently trying to answer them. Is there anything which is an actual coincidence in this world, or is everything manipulated by our own energy? Can we be that much in control? After having our dinner, we finally decide to go to sleep.
I wake up twice with the fireworks but just turn around and go back to sleep. Happy… new… year…?
10 Years Around the World 