In my one year of towing my little girl around the city, very few people actually offer to help when I am scaling down the flights of stairs at BTS stations while carrying Jianna in her stroller, and sometimes with a heavy load of grocery in one arm. Not even the security guards offer to help. They just give me a brief glance and then go on about their business. And those few people who offer are usually foreigners, I noticed. I used to decline these offers because I could usually manage to make it on my own anyway.

But yesterday, after shopping for gifts for this weekend’s birthday party, I went home with a huge and heavy shopping bag and Jianna in her stroller. As I stood in the train, I kept wondering in my mind how I was going to get down the BTS station. There was going to be two steep flights of stairs, so I thought maybe I should just take Jianna out of her stroller to carry her and my shopping bag in one arm while slinging her stroller on my shoulder.

However, as I was about to take Jianna out of her stroller, a man and a woman offered to help me. At first, I told the man we could both carry the stroller so the woman offered to take the shopping bag. But then the man said he could just carry the stroller by himself, while I carried the shopping bag. Jianna was just about to cry when he saw the man carrying her down but I held her hand as we moved on. I could not be more earnest in thanking them when we finally reached the bottom of the stairs. I wish they knew how I truly appreciate what they did for me.

Again, these two strangers who offered to help were not locals in this country - they may actually have been just tourists.  Now, I wonder why people call this place a country of most hospitable and friendly people.