Entries about hitchhiking

It was a really tough decision, to stay or to leave.
There were many different options, we cpould stay longer in Bouligat, up to 3 weeks, or go on to the next farm or even next 2 farms !
We had so many options it was a bit of a headache. Even among the next farms there were several options to choose from.
As we had 'mass send request to several farms, somehow the many that replied all seem interesting.
A super embarrassing thing even happened, while at the thursday market, another farmer selling bread ( Michel ) came up to me and said Are u Shawn... yes.... You are suppose to come next week right ? ....redfaced shawn stunned and mumbles errrr we are waiting for some stuff to happen so we will contact you online. ( i neither considered him nor replied him after awhile as he was a little strict and there were better options)

In the end i decided to leave as, i felt yes they were really nice people and all and we really wanted to stay and help, but it would be better for us if we could see more farms and experience more. The next awaiting farm was a Bed and breakfast 34 ha big !! in contrast to Ferme de la bouligat which was 3 ha

We told them we were leaving on tuesday...Daniel left us earlier as he had to go back to Cambridge to study. this next portion is a description of our last night.
It was 9pm and they were still busy, so we decided to cook them our instant noodles for dinner, haha beef noodles and mee goreng.
After dinner, the three of us were sleeping in the trailer when Daniel suddenly said, I'm going to put the Cat in the cupboard ( the same cat scratch daniel went he tried to carry it) Are u guys ok with the meowing the whole night.
Are u serious ?! i repplied ( with daniel, u never know when he is joking) haha
Thinking he was joking, i just laid down and said, ok la
The next moment he got up, wore his jacket and went out into the night in search of the cat.
He found it, brought it in and put it in the cupboard !!!
I was stunned and was confused, whether to laugh or feel sad. Daniel said the cupboard was lined with pillows, so it would be very comfortable. I made him promise to remove the cat in the morning, and in my mind i thought, should be quite comfortable and warm so i went to sleep.
i am a very light sleeper, and i could hear the cat meowing and scratching the door at different intervals during the night !

The next morning, i awoke...Daniel was gone, but i could still hear the cat inside !!!
nonsense Daniel, he didnt let the cat go !!! and i was too scared at the thought of wha i would find behind the door to open it. So Jason did the dirty work and let the cat out of the Placard
Haha, it seemed perfectly fine

Sunday,
i awoke at 7.30 am and walked over for breakfast.... the door was locked. Feeling very cold, i went back to the trailer to wait.
8.30, i went back, still sleeping !!!
I decided to read my book outside the trailer...
They finally awoke at 12.30pm !!!! Wa, they forgot to tell us they sleep in on sundays
We had breakfast than.
Oh man, after breakfast they went to laze around,and so did i...
After awhile jason and i decided to cook Lunch.
So i cooked them a Rosti, haha and jason baked them a cake apple crumble : )
We had a nice lunch, off course they said my rosti was nice

Monday,
Pierre, Xavier, Jason and i finish the green house, finally ! haha the job was completed...
We had a simple dinner and more cake and crashed.
After dinner Xavier asked me what was i studying in University, i replied Should be business.
He immediately said You devil !!!
haha, and everytime i tried to explain, he said devil !!! haha
Than he said Shawn you are a cool guy man, but you are the devil !!!
Haha,oh well, i guess he is right in some way
Tuesday,
Breakfast time, i had a super heavy breakfast as i didnt know when my next meal would be ( wise choice)
They bid farewell and thank us for our work and Xavier brought us to the bus station.
After shaking hands and Thanking Xavier, he turned to me again and said: Shawn you are a nice and cool guy, dont be the devil
I smiled and said ok thanks, i really will miss him...
We went to the train station, it xas either a 5 hour free train, a 3 hour train we had to pay a reservation fee or a 1.5 hour(very expensive or free) bus ride. We went to check with the train station and it was.....FREE !!!!
Weeee !!!!
Backside pain bus to Aubenas

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

The subsequent days were getting better.
Like going outfield and all new things, its all abut getting used to it.
Ironically, from wanting to leave the Far, we now cant bear leaving and are thinking if we should change our plans to stay longer or continue or tour....
Xavier and Lisa are extremely nice people, they give us so much and take extra care to ensure we have everthing we need.
The food has been simple, but really fresh !!! At least half or more is usually freshly harvested before the meal haha,
I have been eating alot of cheese, carrots, salads, beans, bread, potatoes, and random stuff. i think my diet is at its healthiest
The work has been quite fun at times, especially harvesting !
We pluck red Spinach leaves, pull carrots from the ground...
The one thing that we cannot stand ( literally) is weeding, haha you squat on the ground the whole time ( which is really tiring) beant over pulling out weeds with your bare hands. This gets worse when you are weeding plants to help the specific plant grow and that specific plant looks like weed ! ( like beetroot)
Another thing we have been helping with is the set up of the new greenhouse.
Its quite a big job as the greenhouse is big and we have to carry the plastic sheets, measure and cut them, carry it to the top, spread it out, stretch it, dig and cover the base with soil and adjust again ! Not easy man.
After the first hour, i said to Jason, this is totally not a 5 men job.
Haha, another thing that is crazy is the temperature variation, at night its mega cold, even with 2 blankets you would still feel cold. In the day its gets so hot, i take of my shirt to work ( i dont wanna sweat )

While walking the giant container for a shower, i saw jason peeling potatoes with a small little girl. I went into the shower and thought to myself who is that little girl, maybe its Lisa's nice she talked about....
After i came out, she said hi in probably the best english since we left england. I asked her what she was studying, and she said she stopped studying a long time ago.
Hmmm, does she want to be a farmer too ?
She than explained she finish uni long time ago.
Than i couldnt stand it and asj her, How old are u this year ?
She replied 29...
I fell off the chair, remember the electric shock in Switzerland, this was like same intensity but in my face haha
I thought she was 14 !!! Serious Its like if a fountain of everlasting youth ever existed, she drank from it everyyday...
Ok, never mind...
She stayed and studied in London for 9 years ( v good english) and off course v good french
She was a very nice girl and we had a nice tme chatting over dinner.
We soon found out she earns 9 Euro(x1.8 to Sgd) an hour and she gets accommodation and food also !!!!
I xas just thinking, maybe she is more experienced than us but still her productivity cannot be 9:0 right !!!
Oh well, for now, The delicious apple pie and Rhubarb cake are our wages
I asked her about so French habits and she admitted that she was not a typical french, haha
We had nice chats the next few days while working, and i liked her alot, but i guess i ll never see her again. Oh well, we could have been good friends.

Saturday-
We went to the market today !
There was only two avenues of sales for Xavier and lisa, one was to their regular customers on thursdays, the other was the saturday market in the nearby village Crest.
It was very exciting, as some of the products being sold were hand plucked by us !!! we had plucked and bundled carrots ( 40 bundles of 12-15 carrots) and some other random vegetables.
Also, Xavier suggested for us to cycle to the market, instead of driving there so we could see the country side better.
It was a pleasant but very tiring journey haha ! Jason and i were very happy at the market, jason because of the pastry and me beacuse i could finally get to see the authentic french market ive been looking for !
Haha, there was cheese; jam, honey, bread, eggs, vegetables.... many local produce being sold.
I was looking to buy something back home, but everything was either way too expensive, too bulky ( glasses of jam and honey, super nice), too silly ( bars of handmade soap) or couldnt last the journey ( cheese, bread, pottery...)
Everything that i mentioned was very nicely presented, and i was quite sure tasted nice.
I bought a crispy croissant for 80cents euro and a fruit cake for us to share at 4.50 euros ( ouch) While Jason bought some pastry for 2 Euros and a Chocolate croissant for 2 Euros. They were all very nice ( finally i had a crispy croissant haha)
We packed up and went back for a nice lunch of é eggs ( yes finally !!!!), more vegetables, brie cheese and off course cakes ! weeee !
haha.
It was a lazy saturday afternoon....
Oh ya, remember the carrots we plucked ?
All sold out !!!

We left the comfortable, clean, efficient and nice Switzerland to France. I mentioned before about the punctuality of the trains in switzerland, the same does not apply in France. haha
When we got off the swiss train for the train to the farm in France, we were relieved that we finally could afford some stuff( Haribo !!!)
However, we got quite irritated thatour train was delayed ( unheard off in the swiss) and we had to call Lisa to inform them we were going to be late as they were picking us up at the train station.

We waited awhile when Xavier suddely appeared and brought us to his car. His english was quite bad, and i was struggling hard to communicate with him, but first He did not look like the average farmer.
He was tall, young and with sunglasses and the only thing that gave him away was his hands and the dirty old car. Haha
When we arrived at the farm, we met Lisa ( his wife) and Pierre ( their friend and worker) who showed us around the Farm.
Honestly, it was smaller than i expected ( 3 Ha) but big enough as they were only 2 people and that had about 10 greenhouse and a horse ( Rosali) and another plot of land for other stuff.

They were sleeping in a mobile home (which was essentially a giant container) where the shower was located and had our meals.
We were sleeping in 1 out of the two trailers meant for workers and random friends.
There was 2 Dry toilets ( toilets without water, just sawdust to cover ur dump with) and a workhouse.
Our trailer was very bare, two beds and a cupboard, very little...but enough.
We were honestly a little disappointed as

1) there were only 1 horse and 2 cats...
2)the rooms were a little errrrrr
3) the toilets were quite errrr
4) the work on the first day was very tiring, boring and hard !!!

At the end of first day, we gathered for a simple dinner of green salad, beans and carrots.
We found out they were very poor, they had purchased the Farm for 111,000 Euros and were still paying it off.
After dinner, they took out 3 plates of different pastry !
Super nice, apple crumble, Rhurbarb cake and apple cake ( i gave them the names myself )
It really was good, and i told jason, ok at least the cake is worth it. haha

At this point of time, i have to share about my thoughts on traveling,

Every person at every age should travel.

For the young, it broadens perspective; inspires and induces them to set goals and priorities.
For the middle aged, It reminds a person of his identity and reminds and allow him to appreciate what is important in life.*
For the old, If you haven't seen much, you haven't lived much.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

We had to leave Fabio's after staying there for 4 days.
I never knew we would have so much fun staying with the 4 guys, the amount of beer they drank over the 4 days was more than the amount of water i drank haha ! ( somehow they are doing quite well at school, Manuel is taking a double degree in History and Biology and he also reads alot of Philosophy ) Crazy !

Oh well, it was a great time, we went to Manuel's house (back in Thun !) by ourselves. His house was about 1/2 the size but there was only him living in it (He broke up with his girlfriend recently ) His rental was 1000 Francs a month ( 1400 Sgd) still cheaper than daniel's matchbox room in cambridge 1050 pounds ( almost 2100 sgd) haha !!! With a better view and nice neighbourhood, daniel was quite pissed off at the price of his accommodation.
Manuel was a really nice guy, his english was alot beter in real life than over the phone. He was a 32 year old living by himself. Interested in Chinese martial arts and this interest sparked his interest in Chinese culture (just like Pierre ) His house was decorated all over with chinese stuff ( a buddha, chinese paintings, giant chinese brush, chinese swords, chinese tea and pottery. We were already embarassed by miube when his skills at chopsticks overshadowed ours, Now, Manuel's house was definitely more chinese than mine !! haha

His entire house was decorated and also modified by him. His toilet is also super cool, his shower head had Led lights whenever water flowed through and there were posters of Waterfalls everywhere haha.
To train, he had a giant punching bag, a bucket of sand for punching in ( yes hardcore ), 5 nunchucks, various swords, a pole ( used for spear training), shurikens and more.
We could very well be staying with an assassin, haha, but despite all this, Manuel was a really soft and nice guy who was extremely polite and genuine concern for us. He was also very funny and made various funny expressions to help bring across his points.
We just did some grocery shopping and came back to rest as we were a little tired ( he gave us a key so that was great, again he trusted us before even meeting us really epic, would u leave ur key to someone u never met ? especially if he was an Asian ? )

The next day, i asked him if he knew how to cook a Rosti, as i really wanted to try 1 and it was the last swiss dish that we haven really tried ( it goes for around 20 sgd in a restaurant ( just for potatoes !) and he decided to cook one for our lunch !
Haha, i have tried cooking a rosti once ( based on gut feeling) and the reaction was, hmmm what is the difference between a Rosti and Hashbrowns ? haha, i finally knew !!! Manuel's Rosti was crispy on the outside and all fluffy and soft on the inside

The next day, we did it again, and i had a chance to cook my own !! Haha, and the epic thing is i managed to flip it !!! Woooo ! haha, we ate alot of pasta and rosti those 3 days
Manuel ( feeling guilty he had gone out each night and had no time for us) decided to bring us hiking !
However, by the time we decided it was too late so we had to go hiking in a nearer 'hill' which was still a mountain as it was more than a thousand meters. Thankfully, we had another chance to climb the swiss mountains...
It wasnt an easy journey up, and i realised every time i climb something steep, memories of climbing in the army will just come flowing back, and i would just smile to myself, thankfully this time im doing it without a crazy backpack and some harribo in my pocket haha

While walking up, we encountered an entire village that was situated on the mountains ( according to manuel this was quite common), i felt it was quite amazing how they managed to construct everything so high up and also live so far from the rest of the world.
We walk past many different cattle grazing and lazing around, soon there was a herd of sheep just 5m away from me.
I felt very curious as i never seen a sheep so close before and the fact that they wouldnt run on to the road as they were just enclosed by what look to be 2 thin black ropes. The four of us walked closer and looked at the sheep, while looking at the sheep i decided to hold the wire and and the stand for support...
This time i kid u not that i flew away...
Not because the sheep were so nice but because the thin black wires were all charged, and i felt the entire electric current flow through my body, haha and the rest looked at me with eyes wide open and asked if i was ok, not sure whether to laugh or be concerned, haha, after 2 secsonds i could still feel the effects of that current in my chest and heart.
Haha, oh well, experience Manuel apologised for not warning me before hand and daniel said wa imagine if u die here...After manuel realised i was fine, he said now i could leave the way since my battery was charged, haha
We continued walking upwards in no specific direction.I was thinking to myself, manuel seems quite lost ( it was his first time up ) and felt at least we got to climb somewhere.
I was so wrong, somehow manuel found the way too the top and oh man was it another sight to behold.
In fact it was probably one of the better sights on this trip, even better than gurtenbahn as over here we could see most of the famous swiss Alps.
Manuel showed us the mountain that he climbed ( i still cant pronounce it till today) and i told myself one day i gotta climb one of those one day.

We walked past 2 couples having a BBQ !!! Wa so nice ( remember in Europe im a broke man , in the swiss im a vagrant )
After photos and chilling there, Daniel and Manuel took up Nunchucks to practise haha !
We had a steep decent down, passing by plenty of houses which were just really sick, they really had the best of both words. Full of nature and crazy scenery but yet enjoy the comforts of modern technology.
When we reached the bottom ( oberhofen) it was a small town beside the lake and we went to the restaurant as Daniel and Manuel wanted a drink; surprisingly the price wasnt inflated despite the perfect location.
It was a very nice restaurant (open air) beside the lake and you could still see all the beautiful mountains but somehow there wasnt many people there. We went back and had a feast ( Rosti, pasta, fish fillet, sausages, cheese, bruschetta) haha.
We bid farewell to a drowzy Manuel at 6 am and left for the bus, initiallly when we were walking out we saw the bus and we sprinted like crazy to get on the bus as we thought we were late, but when we finally got on, the bus just waited there for another 15 mins ( than i realised that ours was the first stop) Alamak....
When anyone comes to the Swiss remember this the Swiss are always punctual, their trains schedule says 9.15am and the train will be there by 9.05 and be gone before 9.16. Serious.

Journey by train to the Farm in France ( Lisa and Xavier) Weee !!!!

Queen, yes im in the farm now and it is a vegetable farm so i have been eating vegetables every meal !!!
Haha, but its like super fresh( we pluck some of them ourselves ) and somehow taste very different haha You should see this

Jeryl, you must come one day also !!!
I was telling Michael ser when i was in the Swiss, i was really happy but felt quite sad that my friends and family were not with me to enjoy it also, and might never be able or want to...

buddy--- Thanks ! i ll be as safe as i can hope school is good !
Roger--- i think if u are here with me you will die, ang moh paradise !!! haha
Confirm not everyone here is Drop dead gorgeus ! haha
but no GF la
Leon --- Screw facebook ! and how are the applications ?
Ambrish, kian pin, wei yu, matt, leon--- you ll love it here man !
Warrick--- wa lao, u should seriously be here, we confirm high ! HGBD !

We left Iain house at around 10 am yesterday leaving for Cambridge in search of Dan the Man
How ? heh heh

We took the underground to balthamstow station, the station which we thought was closest to the M11 (highway that leaves London for Cambridge like their PIE), when we arrived we kept asking for direction to the M11. When we got a rough idea of the general direction, and with determination in our hearts and a heavy fulpack on our bags we set off for the M11. Haha !
Excitement quickly diminshed as we started to realise
1.how far it was ! (google balthamstow station to M11)
2.how hard it was going to find a good place to hitchhike (cars were too fast or cant walk there)
3.How dangerous and how little day light hours we had to get a ride !

We started walking and met a few people who kept wishing us good luck which made me burn with a fiery determination ! )
As mentioned earlier, we were trying to reach the M11, the connecting road was called the A406, and somehow we walked past the start of that and were already in the middle of the A406, so we decided to continue walking to the M11, and wow it was one long walk.
The whole time i was thinking to myself
1. this is getting really crazy, is this one of the craziest things ive ever done ?
2. Every step forward will mean 2 steps backwards in order to go back so there were quite a few junctions where a decision was to be made to move forward and boy oh boy despite my fiery determination, it was a hard one to make.
(A little like navigating in the jungles of Brunei, with a heavy field pack, and almost no sense of direction, everytime a junction was reached, a choice on which direction to take and we had to take turn Reccing the area in front ! in order to help us with our decision.)
After a really long and crazy walk ( Climbing over fences, crossing roads and overhead bridges countless times all woth our field pack) we finally arrived at the start of the legendary M11.

Unlike the movies or video clips it wasnt a slow moving or lonely highway where you could take your time, the M11 was really busy road with many cars driving at least 50mph zooming past.
Thankfully there was a small road shoulder where we could walk confidently as there was quite a wide gap.
We were already very exhausted and somehow it didnt occur to us that we should start hitching, and we just walked forward nonstop until we reached a signed which said Cambridge 47 Miles and oh man it hit me again in the face, in OCS we only route marched 30+km in a day, and this was 47 Miles this might take awhile, we might even spend the night before reaching Cambridge !
But with all these being said, we continued walking, i could tell Jason was getting quite irritated and tired, but i was just going a little crazy in my mind thinking back on all the brunei days and was secretly smilingly to myself once in awhile and decided while walking why not stick my thumb out as well...

After walking for who knows how long, suddenly, really just suddenly a green Car just pulled over and Jason was like " Shawn !!!!"
and i was like " Eh he really Stopped !!! Crap !" *both of us running with our heavy fullpacks towards the car, when the door opened, i took a quick scan to screen the driver while he asked us where we were heading, we told him cambridge and asked if he was heading there. He said he wasnt but he could drop us near by so we got in !!!

We soon found out he(Mark) was heading home from London after visiting his Grandson and he stayed in Norwich which was an hour north of cambridge so we told him, drop us any where convenient for you near Cambridge and he agreed.
We were both overwhelmed with a sense of relieve and disbelief. On the Journey there we found out much about him and apparently he was a hitchhiker himself when he was our age and explained that in the past, everyone did it He also shared with us stories about his work and told us about his chickens as he had 1 Acre of Land (about a football field)
Shawn: Wow, if you had that much land in Singapore, you would be a real wealthy man !
saf: Yea, maybe even president !
Shawn, Jason and Mark: Laugh like crap
Mark also told us he had done alot of traveling and had been hitching all his life and shared with us that he had 4 children and was twice divorced
After a long chat, but extremely fast journey, we suddenly realised he had turned into Cambridge and he started asking us which part of Cambridge we were going to and kept asking us to call Daniel for his address, and spent at least 15mins finding a driving us to where Daniel was (Arbury Community centre) We were just lost for words at his sudden gesture of kindness of going out of his way to drop us right at the doorstep !
When we got off, i gave Daniel a call and he said he was walking over. We dropped our bags and thanked Mark profusely knowing the debt can never be repaid but happy that my belief in the goodness of people was still alive

When Daniel was seen crossing the road walking towards us, i shouted in relief :
" DAN ! So good to see you man, epic journey we just had haha "
Daniel than proceeded to help me with my Fullpack and we went away to his school where we took a rest, and Daniel just took our hitching Sign and showed everyone we met on the way " Hey ! this are my friends from Singapore, They just hitchhiked from london "
And everyone was like " Really !?"
I proceeded to stand at the side and act seh pretending as if "oh it was nothing special" haha !
Ang moh Chicks !

Unfortunately, Bad news guys, Jason left the camera battery in Iain's House so we have no pictures to share, but believe me it was one epic adventure ! You can see the sign we made though. haha !

Cheers !

After the great time we had at Richard's house it was time to move on and head to chiswick park where Iain was waiting for us, but first a stop at my favourite shop the 99p store !!!
It was epic, After 8 chocolates, big packets of Haribo Sweets and many many more all for 99p each ! However when i paid for them goods i didnt check the change and i lost 4 pounds so instead of saving money i spent even more ! Crap ! Also, i noticed many people shoplifting, (elephant and castle is a poor area) but there was this guy with a 4.6k pounds racer bike who did the same !

The bus ride to chiswick park was a long one, when we finally arrived, the houses that surronded us were epic big, similar to the landed area in Singapore, and we started getting excited as we walked towards his house. When the door opened all excitment and anticipation was immediately swaped into disbelief and surprise, haha ! the big epic house we imagined was split into 12 different rooms by the owner and rented out, and Iain was staying in one of them. The entire house was just a room and a kitchen ! haha (

We than proceeded with a long chat with Iain about life and he asked us countless questions about Singapore which i found hard to answer, " So tell me, what do Singaporeans eat" ..." What time do Singaporeans normally eat"..."what happens if you Pee on a tree in Sinapore"..."Are there dinosaurs in Singapore, a Singaporeans once brought Dinousaur soup in a can here"
Ok the last one was made up But Iain was a really interesting person, when he first sat down he emptied his pockets of about 6pounds of coins(which is what i usually do as well) than he proceeded to say " thats all the money i have till the end of the week" (my mind : oh no he should be staying with us instead). He explained how he did not believe in amassing money and everything he ever owed could be thrown away and he would still be perfectly fine(sad off course but perfectly fine)
Iain than made us an epic soup, it was really nice, one of the nicest i ever had He had an amazing movie collection, alot like Victor's but slightly more specialised. He let us listen to an album he was working on and i was totally blown away ! Really great music, im sure Jenn, Eddie and David would love to meet him.
The Second day we went to Arsenal Stadium as jason was dying to see his favourite team. 15 Pounds for a tour of the stadium, we ll have pictures posted so u can decide if it was worth the money, haha.
We stayed for two nights in his house and than had to leave for Daniel's place in Cambridge.
As there was no internet connection at his house, reality suddenly dawned upon us when he said " so how are you guys getting to cambridge"
..."we're going to try to hitchhike " "how are u doing it ?" * silly smiles appearing*... " oh man, you boys dont know what you are doing eh, interesting " * silly smiles appears on Iain's face also....