4th of April, 2023.
Hitchhiking in Thailand: Nui Bay and a Wonderful Surprise!
Nui Bay is a short walk from Kantiang Beach. If you walk alongside the beach, it is way shorter than through the main road. Once you reach the rocks, you go back to the road, and then you are only 15 minutes walking from the entrance.
I am doing that. But when I walk a little bit into the main road, I realize that I will need water for the day, as I planning to spend many hours at Nui Bay. I ask to leave The Hulk by a small shop, and decide to hitchhike back to 7-Eleven. A family from the Netherlands, mother, father and two small kids, pick me up. On my way back, a young man from Ireland picks me up and drop me off back to the small shop. All of that takes around 15 minutes. See how you don’t really need to have your own transportation?
When you first enter Nuy Bay you will see a small restaurant. How annoying! It is packed with tourists. It seems that everybody, customers and workers, are expecting for me to just sit down and order something. I can feel them; what they are thinking. I just keep walking, pass by through all of them, and go towards the far-left end, to the rocks.
Here, there is a small cave, and some good shade offered by the trees. Right in front of it, a small pool is formed in the sea, surrounded by rocks. The water is super clean, clear and turquoise, without strong waves, and you can walk between rocks, stepping only on sand. Great!
I stay in the water for a while, and I see many cute small fishes. You can easily do some snorkeling here, without needing to pay for a private company or whatever. Back to the sand, I start reading. It feels like my own small paradise.
Unfortunately, my peace is disturbed soon, by a couple who comes by. They are not too bad, you know? But still, they are here. I just wanted to be alone. Plus, they start smoking. Excuse me, I know it is a public place, but I feel like my health is being violated by your corrosive cloud of smoke.
After a while, they leave; but soon enough two other people come by, this time a grandfather and his grandson. What is it with the universe? Laugh. I just wanted some peace! Anyway, soon enough they also leave. Just in time for another couple to arrive. No comments.
I decide to leave around 4 p.m. There is basically no shade anymore, as now the sun is facing the beach. Time to go! My plan is going all the way back to a place nearby Saladan Pier, and camp outside the town. I don’t need to go back to the pier itself, but just to a road close to it, as I am planning to go by land, hitchhiking all the way to Donsak, in Surat Thani, from where I will catch a ferry to Koh Samui.
When I am right outside the beach, hitchhiking, a pick-up stops. I am talking with the driver, as he is telling me he is going back to Saladan Pier, when I hear somebody calling me: “Lei!” Who is it? Miles! That is the most unbelievable fricking thing ever! I come to him, we hug and say hi, and then I go back to the car to tell the guy that I don’t need the lift anymore.
What? Miles? Here? And he saw me? Actually, he says he saw me with the corner of his eyes, as I was walking to talk with the man in the car; but then he saw my backpack, recognize it, and almost couldn’t believe it! Neither could I!
Cosmic. Cosmic is the world for this moment, this crazy, unexpected, improbably, and almost unbelievable moment. Let’s call it Cosmic, that’s what Miles and I decide.
Since our last trip together, around Kanchanaburi Province, that wonderful time which both of us enjoyed so much; Miles and I have always been in touch. We were constantly opening our hearts to each other via long messages on Instagram chat. He is one of the few people I talk to via Instagram. And we always talk about everything, not only our personal lives and opinions, but also about controversial topics, like spirituality, politics, human (mis)behaviour, the planet, etc. But we never imagined, talked, or had the slightly idea that we would bump into each other again here in Thailand, as he had left to Malaysia a while ago, and until where I knew, was still there.
He is going to Bamboo Beach, which is not far from here, towards South, so we decide to go together. Even though is a short distance, the road gets really hilly, and with the scooter is a bit tricky to go around. But we manage.
Bamboo Beach is quite normal, reason why I hadn’t chosen to visit. Although the thick and huge forests surrounding it are pretty cool. Miles and I swim for a while but the sea is rough and I get scolded by it, almost losing my glasses (why was I with my glasses?), and revealing more than I intended to of my boobs. Laugh.
Miles is staying at Long Beach, so we decide to have dinner somewhere there. At this point, I have decided to camp in Long Beach already. We find a nice place to eat, and I finally have a Southern dish again, mixed vegetables dipped in a dough and then dipped fried. I had it quite often in Hua Hin and I love it! I had also some rice and a fried egg. Miles goes for a curry and we both share a bottle of beer, to celebrate our cosmic encounter.
After dinner we go to Long Beach and chat for a while. I think it is a weird beach. Well, at least at night time.
I tell Miles that, when we were coming back from Bamboo Beach, as it is a long enough drive to Long Beach, about 30 minutes, it crossed my mind that the reason why Miles and I should meet again it was so I could talk to him about my complicated love life situation. It was totally out of the blue, a thought that I didn’t expect but all of sudden, hit me in the head. And so, I tell him.
Well, not exactly everything, as I omitted the name of the person I am in love with (or at least I believe I am in love with), but I told him mostly everything and how I am confused. In return, Miles tells me about his also complicated love life situation, and now we both are like – vish. It is always a pleasure talking with Miles because I feel like he really cares about what I am saying, and try deeply to understand and help. He looks into his own past experiences, his empiric evidences, and then honestly tells me what he thinks about it. It feels like a real friendship for me and I love that, I missed that.
As there is no suitable place away from the resorts for me to camp, and as it is almost 11 p.m., I decide to pitch my tent slightly in front of what it seems to be an area belonging to a resort. But at least there’s nothing really clearly showing that there are people around, or as I am in front of a room or something. After saying goodbye to my Cosmic friend, I make my camping and go to sleep.
10 Years Around the World 