Today I nearly melted. I've often wondered at what temperature body fat starts to liquefy, to sizzle and spread like butter in a frying pan, or at least become a bit more squidgy. I felt myself starting to unsaturate at about 2pm this afternoon.
We were on the appropriately and inappropriately named ''air con'' bus from Saraburi to Sakaeo in the bit of Thailand that no one ever visits. There is a reason for that - there's nothing there apart from ribbon towns dressing themselves up as cowboys with milk bars, steakhouses and Playbill style font. The bus was a sauna on wheels with low carpeted ceilings, tasseled window valances and checked, padded seats. Above two tiny vents wheezed and puffed out a thin stream of air that certainly hadn't been conditioned. With the added solar heating of a tropical clime and the bodies of 54 other passengers (apparently a human body generates the same amount of heat as a heater) it made for the second most unpleasant journey of the trip yet (still nothing beats the night bus in China).
After the brain sloshing journeys of Laos's pitted, potholed, painful roads, our transit through Thailand has been a breeze (apart from the aforementioned breezeless journey - a blip amongst six). For that is what Thailand has been for us - transit only. Unfortunately. We calculated that it would be quicker to travel to Cambodia through the east of Thailand rather than through the south of Laos. I don't know if it is and willingly would challenge someone to a race. That is the shame of slow travel. So much to see and not enough time to get there.
However, by taking in a corner of Thailand as well, we have managed to gorge ourselves on
green curry, ponder the country's fascination with large garden ornaments (which are sold in vast quantities by the roadside) and get thoroughly confused by yet another currency. We also got to take in the flora and fauna of the Khao Yai jungle - hornbills, vipers, scorpions and simians abound. A macaque is a monkey, a gibbon is an ape. Three months of primatology should have taught be something.
Tomorrow we'll take a tuk tuk and bus to Siem Reap, the temple capital of Cambodia. There we plan to mix it up a bit. Perhaps we'll take a slow boat down the Mekong to add to the Luang Prabang elephant ride, Japanese Shinkanzen and Trans-Siberian Railway medley. Anything but the bus.
We were on the appropriately and inappropriately named ''air con'' bus from Saraburi to Sakaeo in the bit of Thailand that no one ever visits. There is a reason for that - there's nothing there apart from ribbon towns dressing themselves up as cowboys with milk bars, steakhouses and Playbill style font. The bus was a sauna on wheels with low carpeted ceilings, tasseled window valances and checked, padded seats. Above two tiny vents wheezed and puffed out a thin stream of air that certainly hadn't been conditioned. With the added solar heating of a tropical clime and the bodies of 54 other passengers (apparently a human body generates the same amount of heat as a heater) it made for the second most unpleasant journey of the trip yet (still nothing beats the night bus in China).
After the brain sloshing journeys of Laos's pitted, potholed, painful roads, our transit through Thailand has been a breeze (apart from the aforementioned breezeless journey - a blip amongst six). For that is what Thailand has been for us - transit only. Unfortunately. We calculated that it would be quicker to travel to Cambodia through the east of Thailand rather than through the south of Laos. I don't know if it is and willingly would challenge someone to a race. That is the shame of slow travel. So much to see and not enough time to get there.
However, by taking in a corner of Thailand as well, we have managed to gorge ourselves on
green curry, ponder the country's fascination with large garden ornaments (which are sold in vast quantities by the roadside) and get thoroughly confused by yet another currency. We also got to take in the flora and fauna of the Khao Yai jungle - hornbills, vipers, scorpions and simians abound. A macaque is a monkey, a gibbon is an ape. Three months of primatology should have taught be something.Tomorrow we'll take a tuk tuk and bus to Siem Reap, the temple capital of Cambodia. There we plan to mix it up a bit. Perhaps we'll take a slow boat down the Mekong to add to the Luang Prabang elephant ride, Japanese Shinkanzen and Trans-Siberian Railway medley. Anything but the bus.
1 comment:
hi there! me again:o)
just one thing: take the boat from siem reap!!! either to battambang or to phnom penh!! it's really worth it!! you see a lot of riverpeople you wouldn't see on a busride. was quite interessting. if you're doing the bit from siem reap to phnom penh put on loads of sunblock and sit on the roof its refreshing an great way to travel!!
send you a bag of cold swiss-air. for emergencies :o)
love beatrice
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