20th of November, 2024.
Hitchhiking in Thailand: stuck before Samut Sakhon
The monks offer me a big cup of coffee and a package of savoury crackers. I also finish my chocolate bread. I go for a short walk around the temple before I leave. An elderly lady, who came to visit the temple, tries to give me some rice and a red sauce with something, but I tell her I already ate.
I don’t have to walk a lot until a reasonable place for hitchhiking. It’s at the highway, and there are four lanes, but I think it’s OK.
It takes some time until a young man stops for me. He is a robotic engineer, and he’s going to Ayutthaya, and as I’m going not far from there, to a ring which goes around Bangkok, I take it. He is a nice young man, but quite shy too, so we don’t talk much.
I have to walk by the highway, while the cars go really fast. I’m holding my sign which says Trang, because I don’t want to have 300 signs, with cities which are not really far from here, just so people can “understand” and take me.
A car stops quite fast, and I explain to the driver that I simply need to go to highway number 9. Onm is a really nice lady, with short hair and a style similar to mine, wearing large clothes and strong attitude, even though she is quite short. She drops me off near the highway number 9, as she cannot really go there, due to the chaotic roads of Thailand.
I do manage to get there, miraculously and by not being afraid, but the only possible place where I can stand to hitchhike it sucks! But being in Thailand, I know that someone, soon enough, will stop and take me anyway, and I only need to get out of here.
A guy called Mu stops. He fixes vet’s machinery. I know, very unusual profession. He really just want to help, as he is not going much far, so he drops me off after some kilometres.
I never imagined getting stuck in Thailand. Although it’s not so early, I really thought I would manage to, at least, arrive to Samut Sakhon tonight. The hitchhiking spot is not great, being in town and all, but still.
After a long time, two police officers in a motorbike stop. They just want to help, but also to understand what’s going on. I am out of patience to explain but luckily I am saved, for the first time, for this angel called Yuni. She passed by me earlier, when she was going to fetch her son, and now, on her way back, she decided to stop and see if I needed any help. Perfect timing!
I explain everything to her, and after “dispatching” the police officers, she advise me to write Samut Sakhon on my sign, otherwise it will be very difficult to get a lift. I really don’t want to, as I think that people going further distance might not stop then, but as it’s getting dark, and I might not go long distance anyway, I decide to do that.
Still it doesn’t work, so I finally quit and decide to camp by the PTT Station nearby.
I ask for leftovers food in a Cafe Amazon (they always have lots of sandwiches and other food, I thought that perhaps they could give me something which is due date, but I guess that most people in Thailand really don’t get the concept of leftovers) but without success. Then when I ask in a Baozi shop (the Chinese white buns, super light and fluffy, which are very popular in SE Asian countries), and a lovely young man (he is so kind and good heart that I can actually feel it) gives me some plain Baozi. But as they are plain, with no filling, I am still hungry. As I am planing to go and ask for food in another shop, he comes and brings me another dish, this time, some rice and a piece of chicken in red sauce, plus a delicious homemade sweet chilly sauce. I am so grateful to him and I eat it all!
I ask for wi-fi in another restaurant and send a message to Yuni. She gave me her son’s Instagram, and told me to contact her in case I needed any help. I explain to them that I didn’t make it to Samut Sakhon, so I will be camping in the PTT Station. She immediately answers that she is coming to fetch me, and I can sleep in a house she has for renting, which is empty right now.
Yuni arrives with her son Kao after sometime, and I am really happy to see them. How wonderful people to come all the way here just to help me! And the young boy from the Baozi shop, when he sees us leaving, run to me with two more packages of plain Baozi for me. How adorable! I quickly explain to him that this family is helping me with a place to stay, and Yuni also talks to him.
The house where they take me it’s located inside a complex, like a condominium. It’s huge and nice, and the inside is all restored. There’s lots of outside space and a wonderful mango tree right in front. They even brought me a pillow and a thick camping mattress for the night. How sweet!
As tomorrow morning they must go to the hospital, we make arrangements to meet here at 8 a.m.
I take a room upstairs, and open all the windows, as there are mosquito nets on all of them. I take a shower and as I am afraid of the Baozi getting spoiled overnight, I eat them all. Laugh. They are very light!
Next morning, we go to a PTT Station nearby the hospital, a different one from yesterday. We buy sandwiches and yougurt from 7-Eleven, and coffee from Amazon, where he have our breakfast. They also buy me a big bottle of water. Perfect!
I am so blessed to attract this wonderful people to my life, and get so much help and kindness from them. A lot of people in this world complain that there are no good people out there, that’s not true. You have to believe on them, and then they will show up when you less expected, but whenever you need it. Yuni also told me that her husband was also worried about me, and wanted to help by buying me a bus ticket. What a lovely family!
As Yuni is an artist, actually a designer, she made something for me. It’s the fanciest hitchhiking sign I have ever had. And the most clarifying one. It has even the Thai flag on it! It’s adorable and I love it! We took photos with it right in front of Yuni’s house, before we left. Now I will use her sign to try and catch a lift.
10 Years Around the World 