The Amazing Kindness Of Strangers

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This place is amazing Nev, thanks man” I tell him. “It’s been a couple of days since I had a hot shower, so I’m really gonna enjoy this.”
“Well I didn’t want to say nuthin’, but you do stink a bit” Nev quips, with a wink…”

 

Wet Weather

September 2014.

It’s a soggy, humid afternoon.   I’m hitchhiking, on the side of a busy road, about thirty kilometres north of Bangkok.  I’ve been standing here for a while, now.   Just like everywhere else in the world, the closer you are to a big city in Thailand, the harder it is to get a ride.   There’s lots of traffic, but no one is stopping.   I guess everyone is like: “the next guy will give him a ride.”

(Top pic: hitching in Thailand.)

It’s starting to rain more heavily.   I dig through my bag to find my poncho, but I can’t find it…    Oh, crap.   I remember.  I hung it over the railing at the hostel in Chiang Mai.   I must have forgotten to collect it when I was packing my bag this morning.   Damn.  

The rain sticks my hair to my face, and mixes with my sweat.  I’m starting to feel thoroughly miserable.

A car is slowing down!  I grab my backpack and run up to where it pulled over.
The driver winds down the window.
“Where are you going, my friend?”  
“I’m trying to get to Laos.”
The driver raises his eyebrows and whistles. “Oh!   Laos!   Long way.   Come on, get in.”
I stuff my bag in the back seat, and clamber into the car.

“Thank you very much for picking me up.   I was starting to get very wet.”
“Yes.   Weather not good today.  You going to Laos, with…” – he shows me his thumb, and laughs.
“Yes.   I’m going to hitchhike.”
“Wow.   How long will that take?”
“Oh, a day or two maybe.”
“I am not going to Laos.   But I will take you to a better road.   This road goes to Ayuthaya.   You must go to the big highway if you want to go to Laos.”

I check my map, and see that he’s right.   I’ve been hitchhiking all morning on the wrong road.

“I will turn around and take you back to a better place from where you can get a ride.”
He makes a U-turn at the next intersection, and we head back south.
“I’m so glad I met you.   I would still be going in the wrong direction, otherwise.  I don’t want to take you out of your way though.”
“No problem” he says, and grins.   “Thailand roads very confusing for farang.”

We head south for about half an hour, across the outer suburbs of Bangkok.  
My new friend gives me his phone number and tells me if I am passing through Ayuthaya one day, to say hello, and visit his house.  

He swings his car into the left lane, and sweeps off onto an exit.   We circle around and come out on a massive freeway.  He pulls up on the roadside.

“I must leave you here, my friend.   I am going to Ayuthaya, so I will go on the next exit, and turn around.   But this road will get you to Laos.”

I thank him warmly for his kindness, and clamber out into the rain with my bags.

“Wait, wait!” he calls after me.   “Take this.”   He digs in the back seat, and hands me a big, brightly coloured umbrella.  
“Have fun my friend!   Don’t forget to visit me in Ayuthaya!”

He does another big u-turn, and off he goes, back the way he came.

 

 

Hamburgers

Jan. 2015.

I’m hitching down the south coast of Australia.   Late in the afternoon, just outside Coffs Harbour, I get picked up by three teenage girls, who are on their way home from work.   They are really chatty, and very curious about where I’m going, and want to know everything about me.

“You live in a tent?” they ask me, mouths open with amazement.  “What about going to the toilet? What about showers?”
“Well, people sometimes invite me to stay with them, but I also use service station bathrooms, and I love swimming in rivers and stuff.”
“Your life sounds so exciting.  Do you get lonely, traveling around all the time?”
“No way.  I make new friends every day.  Hitchhiking is an awesome way to meet people.  Lovely people like you.   Everyone who picks up hitchhikers is generous, and cares about other humans, otherwise they wouldn’t stop, you know?    I have friends all over the world.”
“Oh man.   That’s cool. I’m going to do that one day.  Let’s buy him dinner.”
“You don’t have to do that” I protest, “I have enough money to eat.”
“No.   We are gonna buy you dinner.   If I’m hitchhiking one day I want people to be nice to me.   It’s good karma.”

We swerve into a fast food drive-through, and the girls order two massive hamburgers for me, and insist on paying.
They drive me to a place on the other side of town, where I can camp, right next to the road.
“In the morning, you can get up, and you’ll be in a really good place to get a lift” they tell me excitedly.

The camp spot is a beauty.   It’s a hidden, grassy field, beside a forest, right next to, of all things, a butterfly farm.  
The girls proudly hand over my dinner, give me hugs, and drive away, waving.

I pitch my tent, next to the butterfly farm, and sit eating my hamburgers, watching the sun go down, and wondering at how amazingly cool humans can be.

 
(Below: thanks for the hamburgers guys! You rock!)

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Hot Bath

Feb. 2014.

Me and Yuuri are thumbing our way down to Melbourne. 
A sunburned bloke in a rusty Hilux pulls up.  We throw our bags in the back and climb in the truck.
“G’day!  I’m Nev.  I can take you as far as Cann River” he offers.
“That’ll be great!”

By the time we get into Cann River, the sun is going down.
“I’ll show you a sweet camping spot” Nev tells us.  “I’d love to invite you to my house, but the wife would kill me.”

We drive through the little village, and over a narrow bridge, and then off the road onto a dusty track beside the river.
Nev pulls up beside a beautiful, sandy river bank.

“How’s that?” he asks us proudly.
“It’s amazing” Yuuri breathes, eyes wide.
“Check this out” Nev says.   He leads us along the river’s edge about fifty metres, to a place where large black stones form a natural pool and waterfall.
“Stick you hand in the water” he invites us.   We do.
“The water is warm!” Yuuri says, amazed.
“Yep!   She’s just like a hot bath, eh?” Nev beams.  “Sun heats up those rocks all day, and the water gets so warm it’s like a spa-bath in the afternoon.   I come down here after work and have a soak.   Lots of the locals do.   Bring an esky full of beer too, most days.”
“This place is amazing Nev, thanks man” I tell him.   “Been a couple of days since I had a hot shower, so I’m really gonna enjoy this.”
“Well I didn’t want to say nuthin’, but you do stink a bit” Nev quips, with a wink.
As he climbs into his truck, Nev asks “you people got something for tea?”
“Got a can of beans” I reply.
“Jeez!   That won’t do.   Hang about.   I’ll be back.”
He drives off, in a cloud of dust.

 
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(Above: Yuuri enjoying the 5 star camping at Cann River.)
 

Me and Yuuri strip off our dusty clothes and take a long bath in the gurgling creek. The place is so tranquil and idyllic it feels surreal.

Clean and refreshed, we make a small camp fire on the beach.   Just as we are preparing to heat up our beans, Nev returns.  He climbs out of the truck with his esky and sits down with us at the fire.

“Let’s see…”   Nev opens the esky and gets out a frying pan, onions, sausages, a loaf of bread, eggs, and a six pack of beers.
“Well, I brought the groceries, so I’ll leave the cooking to you” he tells us, and heads down to the water for a swim.
Yuuri and I happily fry up the eggs and sausages, and when Nev comes back from his dip, we all crack a beer, and sit around the fire chewing our sausage sandwiches, smiles from ear to ear.

After we eat, Nev gets up and says goodnight.  “I’ll leave you young people alone now” he says with another of his leathery winks.  “Youse keep the frying pan here and give her a wash for me, and I’ll bring some bacon over in the morning for yer’ breakfast, alright?”

We both give Nev a big hug, which seems to make him slightly embarrassed, but very happy.
He climbs in his truck and bumps away up the track.
“See youse in the morning!” he calls out, sticking his head out the window of the truck.  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
It’s hard to tell in the twilight, but I think he’s winking at us again.

 
(Below: Yuuri, thumbing for a ride.)
 
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