5th of April, 2024.
Hitchhiking in Thailand: Koh Lanta to Koh Samui
A young woman with her small son stops for me. She can speak a great English and we chat all the way. She’s from Bangkok and is spending holidays here with her son. They are going to Salander Pier, so I ask her to drop me off a bit before, at the exit to Siri Lanta Bridge.
Soon enough, a pick-up stops and Oan tells me he is going to catch the small ferry at Khlong Mak Pier, so I can come with him. Yay!
It’s not a long drive. Oan cannot speak only a few words in English, so we don’t chat much. This small ferry costs 50 THB for foreigners. We don’t have to wait much as the ferry is already coming. Once the ferry starts moving, I grab my sign which says “Koh Samui”, and start showing to the cars parked on the deck. In only one of them I get a positive answer. I tell them I will get out of the ferry with the same car I came, and I will wait for them outside the pier.
Hannah and her family are bringing loads of palm fruit to sell in another town. This time of the year you can see tons and tons of palm fruit been transported around. Palm oil will be made out of it. Not only big companies with big farms are selling it, but also small farmers, like Hannah’s family. She tells me she could sell in Koh Lanta but they can get a better price by selling outside the island. Hannah has a food stand and she guarantees me that she is a great cook!
In the car are Hannah, her husband is driving, her brother and her super cute baby daughter, Alice, who seems very interested on me, as we play all the way to where Hannah’s husband drops me off. They are very kind to take me all the way to a big intersection, further away from where they sold the palm fruits, so I can have better chances to get a lift Surat Thani. I am very grateful!
A nice young man, Ek, stops for me. He helps me a lot by saying that, the best route to Surat Thani is actually a different one than the one I had thought initially. He is going to Krabi, but he drives me quite a bit further away from his turn just so I can be in a better place for hitchhiking. I’ve told you: that’s just how hitchhiking works in Thailand!
Min and Yang are the next lovely people to pick me up. They drive me until 80 Km before Donsak. We pass through some huge coconut and palm tree plantation. Really massive areas, full of both trees. At first, I am a bit confused about the trees, as they can look quite similar, but Yang explains to me which one is which.
The next lift is quite unusual and completely different of my previous one. Well, in fact, completely different of any other one until now. She is a senior lady, who cannot speak English, but can read my sign. She seems lovely and she’s driving a very old truck. For the first time since I started this journey South, we have the windows down, no AC, just enjoying the fresh breeze. She is not going all the way to Donsak either, but she drops me off very close to it, about 20 Km.
From now on, almost everybody passing by is going to the Ferry Terminal. Who picks me up is Angida, a civil engineer of 28 years old, who is going to a temporary job at Koh Samui for six months. At first, I think that she’s so lucky, and can enjoy the island for these six months, while working there. But then Angida tells me she will work six days a week, and for many hours straight, so on her only free day, she will probably only wish for some rest. What a shame!
Angida is going towards Leam Yay, just like me, so we make an arrangement that she can drive me there also, once we both disembark the ferry. Yay!
The ferry company I take is called Seatran Ferry, and the 1h30 trip to Koh Samui it costs 170 THB. It is way cheaper than the prices I’ve seen online before.
I have about 40 minutes before the ferry, which gives me time to wash myself and my clothes. There is a huge public toilet in Donsak Pier, which is great! What is not so great is people staring. What is their problem? Don’t you know it is rude to stare at others?
It takes way too long for the slow ferry crew to let us out. Many cars had left already when I finally manage to get to the road. And I think that among them was Angida, because I lost her. I thought she could’ve waited for me, but what to do…
10 Years Around the World 