It is hard to watch the news. Stories of hate and violence at home and abroad make our world feel scary and create villains of those who are different than us. But that wasn’t the world we saw or experienced during our time on the road.
Those two years were filled with remarkable kindness and people who went out of their way to help us, obvious foreigners, for no other reason than because they were kind.
Thailand
In Thailand, after Ben crashed his motorbike, the bike’s owner immediately drove him to the pharmacy for bandages and salve before he asked about or looked at the bike. A couple of days later, we went to the pharmacy to restock supplies the pharmacist gave us some Oreos for free because “chocolate helps healing.”
Cambodia
In Cambodia, our tuk-tuk driver, Leangseng, spent two days showing us his city. We asked to understand more about the bamboo goods that Kampong Chhnang is so well known for, so we spent an entire day driving around the village where the goods were made. Up until our first stop, we didn’t realize that all of the spoons, baskets, bowls, etc. are made at people’s homes, and each time we arrived at another stop, Leangseng knocked on the door, asked if we could watch and translated for us. We were welcomed into every home, and we were able to ask questions and learn more about life in Cambodia. After we finished day one, he brought us home to his family, where we got to spend time with his infant daughter and were soon made honorary godparents.
That night, we went to dinner and met a young girl who worked more than 15 hours a day, seven days a week at one of the two restaurants in town. We apologized to her for our terrible Khmer language skills and she offered to spend the two free hours she has each day tutoring us in Khmer – for free – just because.
Taiwan
In Taipei, we were lost trying to find our Airbnb. When we walked down an alley, we happened to run into our waiter from dinner the night before. He gave us free drinks to cool down, walked us to our Airbnb, and knocked on the door to check we were in the right place. Our Airbnb host immediately took us to her local market and showed us her favorite places to eat and where we should avoid. She also wouldn’t let us leave without feeding us breakfast each day.
During a rather cold afternoon, we stopped into a tea-focused restaurant to warm up. We got to chatting with the owner, and he soon brought out a handful of teas for us to learn more. He spent more than 30 minutes walking us through the differences between the teas he brought out and allowing us to taste and ask questions. When we left, he didn’t charge us for anything.
Mongolia
In Mongolia, our driver, who spoke very limited English, learned the phrase “Are you okay?” after we fell off our horses so he could check on us.
Jordan
When we were in Wadi Rum, Jordan, our Bedouin guide brought us to his home to meet his family before we had to leave. During our chat, I told him how much I loved the Bedouin tea that we had been drinking during our stay in Wadi Rum. He told us to “wait,” and came back a few minutes later with the tea ingredients. He had run to the store so we could bring the tea home with us.
Each of these examples and dozens more shows the compassion and kindness we’ve received without hesitation from strangers, strangers of all ethnicities, religions, and races.
The news makes the world seem like a scary place, but the world we’ve seen is filled with so much more love than hate, and so much more hope than fear.
“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” – Albert Schweitzer
Wishing you lots of kindness in 2020.
Tell us about a time you were met with kindness on the road, leave it in the comments.
