13th of November, 2024.
Hitchhiking in Laos: Xeno (fail!)
I start walking out off the pier. A motorbike stops, and the young guy takes me to the main road. There I stay for a while, until a small truck, with two workers, take me a bit further, to a village. After some time in this village, a pick-up with three guys stop. Their trunk is fully loaded with some 50 Kg sacks of something, plus some chickens. One of the men, “tide up” The Hulk on top of the sacks, and I was stupid enough to not check on her properly. After some time, the driver notices that she is gone.
When I look back and don’t see her, I don’t really know what I felt, and I can only imagine that we missed her some time back. But no. She is tided up to the truck still. We dragged her, Loki knows for how long. I can only imagine the damage by looking at her. I try not to cry.
The men drop me off outside Pakse, at the same place I was dropped off before, when I was going to Don Det Island. Here, I have the time to take a look at my poor Hulk. I swear, it hurts on me to see her wounds. I have never myself had an accident, and now she has. I think that if she wasn’t The Hulk, it would be much worse. Still, there are lots of damage. One of her side pockets got pretty scratched, and with it, many of my things inside. The tent has scratches too, big holes here and there. My camping mattress lost parts of both sides. Bottom and the back of The Hulk also got scratched. The top stripe, which offers support, lifting up the backpack, and so on spreading the weight in a better way, got broken.
I am now walking, trying to make sense of this bad luck. It’s sunny and super hot. I hold my sign, which reads Xeno. A truck stops, and the young couple from inside tells me they can take me a bit outside Pakse. OK!
I keep walking after that. It’s not so late and I still think I can make it to Xeno tonight. But after waiting for a long time, asking for water here and there, as I am super thirsty because I lost my big water bottle with the fall of The Hulk, I start to get very doubtful. I even change location, getting a bit further on the road. But as it gets darker, my hopes of getting to Xeno tonight fade away.
I finally decide to quit, and ask help for this family which I can see right nearby where I am standing. Earlier, I came to the mechanic shop and asked for water. A very nice young man gave me some. Now, I see another man working in a construction site, and a young couple, looking like teenagers, playing around. I approach them and explain the whole situation.
The girl is Sindy, and the man is her father. This building under construction is actually their future apartment. I thought it was a business place, as it looks fancy for me. After some talking, Sindy and her boyfriend, Q, tell me that they have a place for me, and I must just follow them. I say many thanks and follow them.
We get to their current house, a beautiful and spacious place, full of gorgeous trees. I even thought it was a temple at first. Here I meet the rest of the family, including Sindy’s mum, Jang, her young brother, Onew, her cousin Pay, and her super gorgeous grandmother, who passed by me on the road before, and I remember thinking then how beautiful she was.
Sindy’s father, Taeng, is very attentive and take a good car of the hut where I will have my tent for tonight. How considerate! He even brings a fan! He is also a wonderful cook and prepares me a delicious spaghetti! I haven’t had pasta in a very long time! It is really delicious! They even get me a sparkling sweet wine, strawberry flavour. I cannot believe it!
I talk and play with Onew, he is adorable! He even put one of his teddies inside my tent. How sweet! He also dresses up in a Spider-man costume, and we take a picture.
Sindy and Pay gift me with two super cute bracelets. That’s so sweet! After they put the bracelets on my wrist, we take a photo with each one of them holding the one they gave me.
Before going to sleep, we have a long conversation about my trip for tomorrow. Taeng insists on buying me a bus ticket. I insist it back, refusing. We carry on for a long time, until finally get to an agreement: I will accept the bus ticket only to Xeno (about three hours fororm here), and not all the way to Luang Prabang, as he wanted to buy for me. The reason why I gave in was because I wanted to make them few happy, as they wanted so hard to help. But I told myself that this is the last time, as I, again, don’t feel good about it after, and really don’t like taking buses.
We must live home around 6.30 a.m., so early morning Taeng starts preparing an amazing breakfast for me. It is really a gourmet breakfast! Check it out the photo! And the ginger tea it is awesome! I devour everything with much pleasure and then we leave. Sindy and Onew come along. At the bus station, we are told that the van will depart at 8 a.m. As Sindy must go to school, and her father to work, we say our goodbyes and I tell them how grateful I am for all their kindness and help.
The van get super crowded, as they put two extra seats in between the regular ones. That must be illegal. At least they drive super fast and I get to Xeno around 11 a.m. I am stupid enough to get confused about the intersection, where I thought the road which leads to Luang Prabang is, and get out too early. The result: I have to walk a lot again. At least it worked for a young lady stop her motorbike for me, and take me across Xeno. I am always happy when this brave, courageous, fearless women stop for me. Go, girl!
I walk a bit more, and then finally, a desert area where I stay for a while, running from the shade of a tree to the road, every time I would spot a car. I was about to have a bad time…
10 Years Around the World 