Team white: United Nations

More than (8) eight hours of overland journey with strangers is a typical setup for travelers. But what makes this one different from other trips is that it reminds me of the word sonder-n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

The whole journey was exasperating yet was a total fun from more than 3 stopovers to change of vehicles. There was the French guy who never stopped talking, the bald Chinese guy who fondly responds to his chitchats. The two Chinese ladies who were well, Chinese. The European lovebirds, the Indian who doesn't talk and the Japanese lady solo traveler who can't speak English. 

From moc bai, the operators discovered that the Japanese lady lost her white tag sticker, they demanded she pay again or she needs to get off the van. Team white protested (our team lol) that she already paid her fare and she doesn't need to get off the van or pay again for losing a piece of sticker. It was a 20 minute debate with the operator and finally when he was already singled out he let her stay with us. 

When the door closed everyone clapped hands and the Japanese lady was very thankful to everybody. When we've reached our destination, we all separated without knowing each other's names.

#proudofwhiteteam