A man who is currently hitchhiking from South Korea to South Africa has shared his experiences and named the best country he’s visited, attributing it to the ‘wonderful people’ he encountered.
Timo de Jong, a 26-year-old avid traveler from Steenwijk in the Netherlands, previously hitchhiked from the UK to South Africa, but his adventurous spirit was far from quelled.
As of now, the content creator finds himself in Kandahar, Afghanistan, marking the 185th day of his extensive journey from South Korea onwards.
Despite being in remote areas, Timo took the time to discuss his travels so far, admitting that while Afghanistan is a place worth visiting, it’s best suited for those with a certain level of experience.
Afghanistan is currently experiencing severe political and economic turmoil, exacerbated by the Taliban’s actions against human rights, especially concerning women and girls.
“I wouldn’t advise everyone to come to Afghanistan unless you kind of know what you’re doing,” Timo explained. “I wouldn’t just tell anybody to go on your first trip overseas, come to Afghanistan, because it’s quite intense here.
“But if you know what you’re doing it’s lovely and the people are wonderful.”
Timo continued: “You can just walk on the street here and someone will see you, and someone will be like, ‘Hey, nice to meet you’. ‘Do you want to come to my house for tea or food or whatever?’
“Imagine if you tried to do that at home, like you see a foreigner walking on the streets, and you just invite them into your house for tea, that just wouldn’t happen.”
Although Timo appreciates the hospitality of Afghans, he regards Japan as the best country he’s ever visited.
He shared: “In Japan I decided to hitchhike everywhere. I spent five weeks hitchhiking across the country, couch-surfing and sleeping in my tent. It was amazing. And I had the best five weeks ever. I’ve pretty much been hitchhiking ever since.”
When asked why Japan captured his heart, Timo remarked: “How incredibly friendly the people were. After that I realized maybe it wasn’t just Japan, that’s what opened my eyes to so many nice people in the world.”
Timo also emphasized the benefits of venturing off the beaten path and steering clear of tourist hotspots.
“When you hitchhike, you end up in all these random little towns where they not necessarily see a lot of tourists. Whereas, if you go to Southeast Asia or Australia, you just go to the main tourist destination, and you just take a bus from one place to the other.
“You get to all these towns where they’re kind of sick of foreigners, but then you get to all these random little towns, and people are just so friendly and genuinely curious about what you’re doing there.”
One significant reason Timo developed a fondness for Japan was due to a particular man’s assistance during his hitchhiking adventure.
“This guy in his 70s pulls over on the side of the road two minutes after I started hitchhiking, and he gestures to me to get in his car, [so] I get in,” Timo explained.
“The sign I have, I don’t remember what place it said, but he pointed at it, and he was like, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go’. He was driving me to that town, and the whole time I’m trying to figure out why he was going there. I was talking to him with Google Translate, but he couldn’t reply because he was driving.”
After hours of travel, Timo finally understood the man’s kind intentions upon reaching their destination.
“By the time I finally got there, he started actually typing on Google Translate. And it turned out he was like five minutes away from his home when he saw me, and he was on his way home from his weekly grocery shop or something,” Timo explained.
“But he saw me and he just wanted to help out, so he drove two hours to drop me off, and then two hours back home, just because he wanted to be nice.”
A truly generous gesture!