24th of November, 2024.
While I’m still walking towards a hitchhiking spot, a lady from a tiles shop come and talk to me. I’ve seen her coming from the direction to which I am walking to, towards the border, doing the u-turn, and then parking at the shop. She tells me that she is going to Sadao in some minutes and I can come with her. Yay!
I walk around the shop while she and her team take a photo with some diplomas. I play this game of which tiles would I pick to use in my home: this one for the kitchen, those for the toilet, that for the floor…
She has a very long hair! All the way to her knees I guess. And she’s curious about me and my travels. We actually drive to the border in the small truck of the tiles shop, and we chat on our way there. I ask them to drop me off in front of the Lotus supermarket, just some hundred metres before the border, so I can finish my THB.
The border is a mess! First I have to walk a lot, going to a far away building, up some stairs, and once I am there, I am told by an officer that I must actually go back down, straight to the car gates. Brilliant! Then, another long wait until someone from the health department can come and check my Yellow Fever Certificate. Finally, after about 30 minutes since I stepped into the border, I can cross. No other questions asked or anything, just as in 98% of the land borders crossing I have done in the past 7 years. They have never asked for hotel confirmation, departure ticket, itinerary, nothing, nienta, nada!
Outside the border, I stop and hold my sign, which reads Napoh, a small town a bit after an exit which I must take to go to my volunteer work. The first car to stop for me in Malaysia has actually two girls in it! What a joy! They are Nazirul and Syahirah, students of Chemistry Engineer in a university not far from here. They came to eat something nearby. It’s so rare when women stop for me, even more when they are young girls, that it fills my heart with joy when they do. They are not only courageous and brave for doing it, but it also shows that their good heart and will to help others, surpass any kind of fear or doubt they might have. And they are super girls too, as we chat for the short time we drive together.
They do drop me off not exactly where I wanted do. It’s my fault, thought, I should’ve checked it. The problem is that, this not being a very busy road, almost not cars at all come this way, neither motorcycles. I keep on walking, as I can see in the map that there is a slightly more crowded road not far from here. A family take me for a little while, just until a junction. I should walk only a little more until the busier road, but it’s not necessary, as the next car to stop for me actually offers to take me all the way to my final destination, my volunteer work place called Mai Dusun Retreat, which is actually a campsite.
The young man driving is actually recording all his way, as he works making maps of the regions. I didn’t get it to which company he actually works, but for what he told me he is simply making maps of the roads all over the place. There are cameras and cables in all the corners of his tiny little green car.
The drive to MD Retreat is less than 15 minutes, so we get there soon enough. I walk by myself for a few more minutes, and, finally, I arrive. Yay!
10 Years Around the World 