I almost had my legs smashed. 😟 I have been travelling the world for over a year now, and this is the fourth frightening incident to occur. A scary thing happened at Kamala in Phuket as I was walking up the hillside to reach the View Point above the beach.
The Walk
At the far northern end of Kamala Beach is a view point that you can hike up to. To reach the carved out flat space overlooking the bay, one must climb up the winding hilly road that leads out of town. There are no sidewalks along this road, merely a small shoulder. On the right side, facing traffic, is the smaller shoulder and the vertical hillside.
On your left side, walking with the traffic, is a slightly wider shoulder and a concrete barrier to stop vehicles from driving over the cliff should they lose control.
About twenty minutes into this hike, huffing and puffing my way up the hillside, I heard a tremendously loud screeching noise.
The Incident
I looked up and saw a dark gray motorcycle, on its side, spinning in circles, and careening directly for where I was standing. My first and only thought was ‘run or jump Carol!’.
Thinking I would not outrun and possible still get hit if the bike changed course, I opted to jump. I belly flopped onto the concrete barrier directly to my left.
My legs swung over and down I tumbled into the weeds on the other side. Thank goodness I was in a spot that had a little space before the cliff.
Looking Up
When I regained my wits, and looked back up over the barrier, I saw the bike had stopped directly where I had been standing. A younger local man came running over, the driver. Traffic had stopped now.
I asked if he was okay, looking for any hurt on him, I saw none. He did not have a helmet.
A driver of another vehicle had hopped out of their vehicle to gather this gentleman’s belongings from the road, including his phone.
I climbed back over the barrier and asked repeatedly if he was okay. I even asked if he wanted a hug. 😥 I could see from his stoic face, he was in shock, as was I.
When he kept nodding that he was okay, and traffic began to move once again, I felt I could help no further. I continued on my walk up to the view point in a state of shock and disbelief.
Thankful
I am so thankful that the man was okay and unharmed physically. This could have ended so badly for him. Thinking back about the scenario, I believe he simply lost control of his bike on the downhill corner. It would have slid right out from under him.
I am thankful that I do not wear headphones or earbuds and that I had my wits about me in that moment.
I am thankful that I was not hit and injured. My legs are my everything. They give me freedom; they allow me to explore the corners of this globe. Every single time, I pick my ‘what am I most grateful for today?’, my legs are always number one of the five. That is how precious they are to me.
Be safe my travel friends, you never know what is going to be around the next bend in the road.
