Day 2 (18/03/08)
8.00am- Arrived at Le Havre!
Attempting to hitch a ride to Bayonne.
We didn't know where to go after we left the ferry terminal. The most logical step was to find the direction to South..stand beside the road and hitch a ride.
Unfortunately, the traffic flow was really fast and no car could stop even though they wanted to. Several drivers told us it was impossible to hitch a ride here. So we just kept walking..
Until we saw a petrol station! Jimmy saw a truck and he went in, hoping to get us a ride. The truck driver said he wasn't going to leave the place in a while..and gave Jimmy directions to another station.
We had no choice but to keep walking..
After about half an hour..
Suddenly, a truck 'honked' at us.. Jimmy said, "hey, this is the truck driver I met just now!"
The driver rolled down his window and looked at us..
So we asked him, "Can you take 3 of us down south?"
He said "Sorry, I can't take 3 passengers.. Only 2 of you can come in"
We said, "Please, you have to take 3 of us coz we're a group..We can't split up"
So he said OK!
YAY!!
We hopped on and started our 5 hour journey with him.. full of conversations.
The things I remember most about him is 1. his love for golf (he had a golf club in front of his seat) 2. cigarettes (I think he smoked about 3 times throughout the 5 hour journey) 3. his 'Scotland' banner
Halfway, we stopped at a service station to get lunch.
We didn't dare to stay for long coz our bags were in his truck.. and we still weren't very trusting at this stage.. so we bought our food and quickly went back to his truck, only to find him sipping hot coffee and eating his ham sandwich. Phew, what a relieve (for me at least!)
At this point, I was already sleeping very comfortably at the back of his truck..
He let Sze Nee charge her phone in his truck coz they have the same phone model.
At some point during the journey, he asked where we would like to stop. He gave us 2 options. 1) He could drop us at Poitiers, where it would be easier to cross the boarder to Spain through San Sebastian
or
2) Follow him all the way to Toulouse and cross the border from another point
We decided to take our chance and asked to be dropped at Poitiers.
Before we left, he asked if we brought anything to protect ourselves..
We said no..and he gave us this..
A knife!
At that point, I was so touched I wanted to cry. His kind gesture really made our day. I kept thinking to myself, "There really are kind people in this world, and I've met one of them!" He even wanted to give Sze Nee one of his mobile chargers, just so she could charge her phone when we hitch some more trucks. She said she couldn't accept it as we already took his knife. He was too kind!
Thank you, Mr Frank Stuart from Scotland.
We will always remember your kindness!
We waited for about 3 hours at the Poitiers service station but no one offered a ride.
It was cold..and to add to the misery, we met 2 hitchhikers there and they said they'd been waiting for 4 hours before we came. Traffic was slow and I thought, "Oh no, should have followed Frank to Toulouse.." >.<
Just as we were about to give up and just head to Poitiers town, Jimmy told Sze Nee to just give it one more try. Walk one more round and talk to the truck drivers...
And it was our lucky day because Sze Nee found Jose!! We walked up and talked to him. It was challanging coz he spoke Spanish and we don't even know a single Spanish word besides "Gracias". After moments of signaling, we found out he was leaving for Granada!
WOW! We were overjoyed..
He said he could take us.. but he kept mentioning 'Policia'. In the end, we finally understood what he was trying to say.
He was trying to say he could take us across the border to San Sebastian~ and if there was no police/trouble along the way, he would take us further to Zaragoza.. if there was no problem, we would go from Zaragoza to Calasparra and finally, Granada!
His plan sounded very exciting and we couldn't wait to hop on. But he said he would only leave at 11pm, which left us with about 7 hours to spare at the service station.
Halfway resting at the cafe in the service station, we couldn't help but worry if we really understood what he was trying to say. So we took out a paper and Sze Nee drew on it. After that, Sze Nee and I went to look for him again to request confirmation. My first impression of him was his patience and good-nature. He didn't mind us disturbing his rest and really listened to our questions.
He told us to go to his truck at 9pm, because he thought we would be cold if we waited outside till 11pm. Upon hearing that, we were relieved and went back to the cafe..
We had our dinner and played a round of German Bridge! That's when we started getting hooked to the game. :)
At this point, we haven't showered. The thought of not knowing when we are able to shower next was a little scary. But I told myself, this is how an adventure feels like. So just embrace the uncertainty..and getting a ride was more important than a shower at that time..
At about 9pm, we packed up and went to his truck. I could still remember it very clearly. He let us in and introduced himself. We also told him our names by writing it down on a piece of paper. We told him how old we were and about our hitch. I wasn't sure if he really understood us at that point, but I felt he was someone we could trust.
I think one of us asked what he was carrying in his truck and he said "woof woof."
We were like, "Woof woof??" D-O-G? Oh my!
To make the matter worse, he said dog meat..
I was still contemplating whether to believe him or not before he let out a laugh to tell us he was just kidding..
Haha.. I was strangely relieved ~ PHEW!
He drove away from Poitiers at about 10pm and that was the start of our adventure with Jose~
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