The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Some things are simply too strange to try and explain!

Very strange story to tell you today.

Yesterday they were calling for an overcast day, although the temperature was a comfortable 23C (73F). We decided to drive to a beach parking area close to the town of Mossel Bay and walk into Mossel Bay from there.

But I made a wrong turn.

And we ended up at a waterfront RV Park or "caravan park" as they call them here. We parked the car at the side of the road and decided to walk around.

We walked through the campground and said good morning to one guy along the way.

ATKV Hartenbos Beach Resort.

We continued along a path that runs above the beach. This is a summer resort area and a lot of people come here during Christmas and school holidays. Kids went back to school January 15th though so it's a little quieter around here than it would have been a week ago.

Ruth, overlooking Mossel Bay and a cruise ship in the distance.

We walked around a small flea market.

And then we made our way back to the car. We had been gone maybe 45 minutes. As we got closer to the car, we noticed that there was a note on the windshield. I thought at first that we had got a ticket! We grabbed the note off the windshield, and it was just a hand written piece of paper.

 It said "Hi Kevin and Ruth, we are long time readers of your blog. We are in the white and grey motorhome. Would love to meet you in person."

What??! Too strange.

When we had got out of the car, we had walked towards a path near the beach. We passed a guy and said good morning to him. Turns out that was the guy. He said that after we said hi, he kept thinking "holy crap, I know those people." And he had seen us get out of the car, so he knew which car it was. Then it clicked who we were, but we were already way down the path.

How weird is that? How is it that I took a wrong turn, and ended up parked almost right beside this guy's motorhome? There are 50 million people here! And this guy has been reading our blog since well before we ever thought we would be coming here. He read it because he wanted to go RV'ing in Mexico a couple of years ago. Very strange.

So we sat down with Karel and his family and talked for an hour. They live full time in their conversion bus.

Karel, his wife Anita, and daughters Karla and Aluschka.

This is where I had parked the car. I could have chosen any spot as the street was very quiet. Karel's bus is pictured towards the left.

We are still shaking our heads about this!

Karel knew that we were in South Africa, and we knew that Karel lived in South Africa. But we had no idea where. And he hadn't checked our blog for a few days so he knew we were here, he had no idea where. And so, in a country of 50 million people, we bump into each other.

Strange!

32 comments:

  1. How fun is that! And the universal/international shopping event--a flea market. We love them.

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    1. This flea market was in the beach resort community, something like the swap meets at RV parks in the USA. Guess the RV community is much the same the world over.

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  2. What an amazing story! So glad you guys found each other and likely had a very interesting chat!

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    1. We had a great time chatting with them and we headed back there for a braai the next day.

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  3. Now that is AMAZING! Now all you have to do is figure out why it was so important for you all to meet that the universe aligned it for you. Coincidence??

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    1. I think that some things are just not meant to be figured out, just enjoy them when that opportunity arises.

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  4. What's meant to be will be! Love those kind of stories. Are they motorhome schooling the girls?

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    1. Yes they are home schooling the girls since they started full timing which has now been about a year.

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  5. It was meant to be. That is beyond amazing. Somehow I never ever thought of people in Africa living fulltime in an RV.

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    1. I don't think that there are lots of people living fulltime in an RV. First off there are lots of motorhomes here, it is mostly caravans but there are quite a few people who live long term in them, especially at this particular beach resort.

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  6. Best what-a-coincidence-story EVER. Love it. How cool to connect with each other. :)

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    1. We have had a couple of really cool coincidence stories but this one and our one in Iceland a year and a half ago have to be the best.

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  7. we went to the Worlds Fair when it was in Knoxville. Couldnt find a parking spot, Sam stopped a cop working the lot and asked if there was any out of town police parking. the guy said sure and directed us to a great spot. He and Sam started talking as we walked to the gate, they looked at each other and the light came on. they had gone to school together in Scranton, Pa. One moved to Missouri one to Tennessee both became cops and meet up 20 years later. The Powers that Be work in strange ways.

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    1. Yep, that is totally amazing too! As you say the powers that be work in strange ways.

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  8. Awesome story.
    It happens. I ran into someone whom I went to school with (at McMaster) on the streets of Paris in 1978. My wife and I took a wrong turn on a trip to Amsterdam when we lived in the Netherlands, and I ran into an old friend and her "kids" (they're almost my age) whom I hadn't seen in several years.
    It still boggles the mind that you can run into people a half a world away.
    Very cool bus, by the way.

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    1. Yep, the world certainly becomes a smaller place when things like that happen. We'll be shaking our heads about it for a while, trying to understand how it happened.

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  9. Just makes you understand the world is alot smaller than what we thought!
    Great story! Hope you meet more people along the way!

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    1. Yes, it really does make the world a little smaller . We would love to meet more people this way too!

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  10. I wonder how many South Africans are readers of your blog.Would be interesting to know.

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    1. Not sure if there is a way to find out but you are right it would be interesting to know. I wouldn't expect that it would be very many.

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    2. At least one more here in Johannesburg :)

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    3. We didn't realize that you lived in Johannesburg. We knew that you were from South Africa, just didn't know where. We are still debating on whether to have a day or two in Johannesburg before catching our flight out on March 7. What are your thoughts on this, should we spend the extra time in the Cape Town area and then go straight to the Johannesburg airport or spend a couple of days in Johannesburg and then get our flight?

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  11. You do get to met blog followers in really different places:)

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  12. Just goes to prove you're World Famous!!! :cD

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    1. Lol I doubt it, there aren't lines of people asking for our autographs yet! ;-)

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  13. My oh my oh my .. you two sure touch a lot of people! In sooo many ways....

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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  14. Looks like a great day.

    I got a special treat today in Lake Havasu, Arizona......100s of VW buses having a rally.
    Please check them out

    www.papas-travels.blogspot.com

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    1. Looks like you had a great day too seeing all those VW buses too!

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  15. We are still shaking our heads about it, and asking ourselves how does this happen?!

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  16. On the other side of the world! Truly amazing! I hope you got a tour of their conversion bus.

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    1. It is truly amazing!

      No, unfortunately we didn't get a tour of their bus although we would have loved to have seen what they did to it.

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