Hitchhiking in Malaysia: Port Dickson
20th to 23rd of January, 2025.
Some time pass, and the only four cars to stop, are either grabs or ask for some money. Then a young man stops, Wen, and he is going all the way to Port Dickson.
Wen works with Sales and he’s going to visit a client in PD. He is my age, and we talk a lot about life and changes. He is not happy with his current life, as he intensely tells me, so I try to help him a little bit, telling him about my life and my perspective in what should you do when you are not happy with yours. Change is a must! If you are unsatisfied with your life, just sit and wait for something to happen, will do very little for your situation. You must act! Life is short, and it passes really fast. You don’t want to wake up one day, on your 60’s, and ask yourself why haven’t you done more in order to try to be happy. That’s why a big change is necessary. A change of scenario, job, diet, partner, perspective. Travels help a lot!
The way to PD is quite nice, with some lovely views of the ocean. Wen buys a not so healthy breakfast for him, and we talk about that, but at least we both drink some milk. We arrive to PD soon after noon.
At the Ferry Port, after a lot of consideration, talking, asking questions, and weighting my backpacks, I get my ticket reserved for the 23rd of January, Thursday. The reason being because my flight ticket out of Indonesia (that’s right, unfortunately, I will have to fly again), is on the 21st of February, as it was the cheapest and most viable date. Therefore, I need to enter Indonesia 30 days prior that date. That means, I will have to spend three nights here in PD. Oh, dear Loki! The ticket to Tuang Balai it costs RM 205, and it has the boarding fare included, so you will not need to pay anything else apart from your luggage. The Hulk is almost 17 kg, so it will cost me RM 17. If your hand luggage is under 9 kg, you don’t need to pay, luckily for me, Candy is only under 7.
I get to a KFC. Wi-Fi there works for only 30 minutes. The first thing I do is to get my Indonesia Visa. It’s approved almost instantly. I write for a while, and then go out to check out the Waterfront. It’s nice. There are some rocks along the coast, lots of trees and greenery, even a little beach. The sea is not of beautiful colours, but it’s clean and pleasant. There are some outside shops and parks too, with playground for kids. I use the toilet in one of the coffee shops by the sea, and also ask for drinking water there. Then I go to McDonalds, to use the Wi-Fi again and post on my blog.
I find out about this camping site just across McDonald’s but its reviews are terrible. The other choice for me is PD Campsite, which is about 45 minutes walking from here. When I come to check the former, it looks abandoned, and I won’t even talk about the installations. Of course I have camped in forests without toilets for years, but at least I have never paid for it (yeah, they say you must pay for this one). Plus, as I’m staying around PD for three nights, having a place to clean myself would be great!
I walk around asking for leftovers. It’s unsuccessful. I guess that’s not an Asia thing. I get to a huge supermarket but can’t get myself to buy anything apart from a yogurt for tomorrow’s breakfast.
It’s almost dark already when I start to hitchhike. For my entire surprise, a lady stops for me. She is 39 years old, mother of three children and a house wife. She looks super young though. It’s a very short drive but as we can’t find the place at first, we do some back and forward, but she drops me off at the campsite near 20.00 hours.
There’s a sign with prices. The plots are either RM 80 or RM 100, according with sea view or not. I think it’s really overpriced. A camping spot should never be more expensive, or the same place, as a hotel room, for obvious reasons! There’s nobody in charge of the place here at the moment. I talk with a guard staying in a security boot, but he can’t speak English. He shows me that I should book via WhatsApp. I explain to him I have no Wi-Fi, and he tells me he has no credit.
There are more than ten tents around, all families, and most of them are big and fancy tents, with led lights and lots of equipment. But there’s also still a lot of space available. I decide to take my chances and stay here for tonight, hopefully to explain everything tomorrow when somebody comes over. I take a shy place under a tree, not exactly one of the plots.
I gather my things for a shower and then go walk around see if I can get a family willing to share some food with me. The first ones says they are only making some instant noodles. I would be OK with that! In the second one I ask, I talk with an adorable young lady, Camelia, only fourteen years old but with a great English. She tells me that English is her favourite subject at school, and that she loves speaking in English. That’s excellent, I tell her! Camelia talks with her family members, and they try to give me a full package of some beef cooked with spiced sauce. It looks fancy, as it’s one of those ready to eat meals, but also it’s a lot for just one person, and I don’t want to waste it, as I explain to one of Camelia’s aunt. So she gives me some rice and as I open the package and take only one piece of meat and some sauce, I tell her she can keep the remaining, and as she can keep in a cooler, it’ll not get spoiled. I tell Camelia’s father that he should be very proud of her. She still gives me two small bottles of water before I leave.
I seat in a bench and finish my food before going to take a shower. The installations are simple but OK. The biggest problem is that there’s no dry place for me to have my backpack, as I must take with me. I arrange a small plastic bag on top of the rubbish bin, and have Candy there. There’s a basket with many different hygiene products hanging around, and I assume that’s one of those “take if you need” kind of things, which they have in hostels, when people leave some of their items behind. Next morning it would be gone, so perhaps it was simply somebody personal items, and I feel a bit bad for having used some of the shampoo and bodywash. What is definitely left behind is a face cleanser, quite good, and I use a little to wash my face.
There’s some loud karaoke playing in a restaurant beside the camping. Funny things is that there’s only elderly people singing, not irresponsible young ones.
I get up near 8 o’clock. I gather all my things and walk to the beach nearby. I do my stretching and exercises. Then I start reading Dialogues and Natural History of Religion, by Thomas Hume. Already loving it! I edit some of my photos, and I do a lot of thinking, while admiring the sea, enjoying the wind and the nature.
Let me talk a little bit about this area. It’s a nice beach area to be honest. Again, at least this time of the year (low season), the colours of the sea are not gorgeous, but it’s a nice beach, calm waters, and lots of clean sand. And a long extension of sand. There are also the trees for some nice shade, and great areas for pic-nic. There are toilet facilities too, and they cost RM 1.
I walk to the nearest open restaurant and ask for some hot water to make some instant coffee. I have it with my last two peanut cookies. I also had half of my remaining granola with some yogurt.
I stay here for a while, until going back to the waterfront. As I am hitchhiking, the mother Sity, her young daughter Isabella, and her 17 years old daughter, take me to the waterfront again. They are actually from Johor, but came here so the elder daughter could apply for a college. Her English is very good and she is such a lovely young girl, so I really hope she get in! It fills my heart with joy when women, either alone or with their children, pick me up. They are so brave, overcoming any fear or doubt, just to help another woman. That’s beautiful! On McDonald’s again, I post on my blog, and write a bit more. There’s this lovely lady who works here and sings all the time!
I must walk somewhere nearby, in a neighbourhood with houses, trying to find a family house to camp for tonight. After two families turning me down, and one curious man who is jogging, asking me for a way to contact me in the future, as he also wants to do something similar (and he tells me I can’t come to his place because he got dogs), I am blessed to ask at Nora’s house.
Nora looks like a very sweet woman, and as soon as I explain my story to her, she says I can stay in her apartment. She drives me there, a short distance, and we arrive to a holiday rental place.
The apartment has a wonderful view of the sea! A large balcony with huge glass windows allow you this amazing view from inside the living room and the master bedroom. The whole place is very spacious, kitchen, living room and bathroom, plus the second bedroom, with one bunk bed. Everything is ready and settle to receive guests. Clean and tidy. It’s like a dream and I cannot believe it that I am actually staying here tonight! I thank the universe for this incredible gift! And I also thank Nora for her extreme kindness and generosity!
The security guard of the place, a young man, is also very generous and gives me a big bottle of water. Life saving! I wash some of my clothes. I do some writing. And I finish watching The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers. I also edit some more photos.
Next morning, after doing my exercise routine, I finish my granola and drink some coffee. I write a bit more, and leave the apartment at 10 o’clock.
I hitchhike back to the waterfront with a lovely couple, May and Wan. It’s incredible how so many people in Malaysia can speak English! Such a difference from Thailand. They drop me off in front of Starbucks, instead of McDonald’s, and that’s what changed everything!
A foreigner man approaches me and we start talking. He invites me for a cup of coffee, at Starbucks, and we spend the next seven hours of the day talking. I cannot give any more details about him, as per his requests, but we talk about many different things, and I learn a lot from him. It’s actually a lot of surprises for both of us.
Middle time, I receive a message from Nora saying that, if I need, I can stay in her apartment again. I almost cry of happiness! I thank her many times and then I thank the universe again!
I withdraw the money for the ferry, and some extra cash to buy a fried noodles and pay the security from last night for the water. I just thought it’s the right thing to do. I get another yogurt and bananas for breakfast, plus some crackers for the travesy on the ferry, which will be up to four and a half hours. Plus, I buy some local pastries from a lady who I saw yesterday. The items I get are less than one USD.
Hitchhiking back to Nora’s apartment is again incredible, this time with another lovely couple, No and her husband (his name snapped me!), who was also once a chef in Singapore, just like Frankie, in whose garage I camped in Cameron Highlands.
And I am right here now, writing! I cannot believe that I finally managed to make my time lines of writing and traveling meet again! I put a lot of effort for that to happen, I know that, so I am not only happy, but very proud of myself. Yay!
10 Years Around the World 