Singapore to Macau by 4x4 - February/March 2009

18th December 2008

2009-09-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again!

Today I delivered my trusty Landcruiser to the shipping company in Suffolk. A ninety mile drive from south London on a bright and sunny morning brought me to Cars UK Ltd. They would load my car, and all the other cars coming from the UK, into containers for the three week journey from Felixstowe to Singapore.

Below are a couple of photos of my well-travelled Landcruiser parked up at the shipping company, awaiting loading into the container.

I had completed all the final checks on the car and, apart from a few spare parts being brought up from London by my friend Chris Cooper, the car was fully loaded.

I always get a sense of excitement and anticipation when the car is finally ready for shipping. We are less than two months away from the start of the tour and I can't wait for the event to begin. Let's hope it is as good as all the other drives we have done. If it is, I will be very happy indeed!

A very happy New Year

2009-09-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

A very happy New Year to everyone who follows our travels around the world. May it be a healthy, peaceful and (dare I say it in these turbulent economic times?) a prosperous year.

Apologies to those who might have noticed my 'deliberate' mistake in the heading to the blog. Of course it should have been 'Singapore to Macau by 4x4 - February/March 2009' and NOT 2008! I've corrected the error.

Hyundai Singapore sailed from the UK on Jan 1st

2009-09-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

On January 1st at 15.05 the container ship, Hyundai Singapore, sailed from London Thamesport for Singapore. According to the manifest, container No.MOFU0535743 containing my Landcruiser, is on the ship. Let's hope so!

A recent photo of the Hyundai Singapore, fully laden with containers. For a larger image just click on the photo.

The journey will take 20 days, with the ship scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 20.00 hrs on January 20th. This will allow plenty of time for unloading, customs clearance and delivery to the storage area where we will collect the cars on February 5th.

January 20th - Arrival in Singapore?

2009-09-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well, according to the shipping line's schedules, the Hyundai Singapore should have docked in Singapore today, at 22.00 hrs. With just over two weeks before the start of the tour, there should be plenty of time for customs clearance.

I've just received my new Rino Garmin handheld combined GPS/walkie-talkie, as well as a road map data card for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. We don't normally use sat-nav devices on these drives, as the 'tulip' road books that HERO provides, give us all detailed navigation information we need. Still, it's good to have the Garmin, as it gives lots of useful information, such as restaurants, petrol stations and general points of interest.

Finally, thank goodness we paid for the event when the sterling/dollar rate was $2.00/£. The collapse in sterling to $1.40/£, over the past six months, only means that the running costs on the event will be 30% more expensive and not the shipping and hotels. Still, it's not good news, when we all need something to cheer about at the moment!

January 21st - Arrived.

2009-09-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

The MOL Shipping line website has now confirmed that the Hyundai Singapore container ship has arrived in Singapore.

The container port with the Singapore skyline as a backdrop.

January 23rd

2009-09-02T04:17:00.000-07:00

I've just been reliably informed by our organisers that the cars on the Hyundai Singapore have now been 'unstuffed' from their containers.

We have all received collection timings for our cars. I'll be picking the Landcruiser up at 2pm on Thursday 5th February and driving it to the underground garage of Raffles Hotel.

January 29th - T Minus 5 and counting

2009-09-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

Only five days to go before we head for Singapore on the 21.15 BA flight from Heathrow. I've just discovered that at least four other participants are on the same flight as us, so we will be able to start the partying early!

In today's Telegraph there is a front page report of bad weather, including heavy snowfalls, hitting the south and east of the UK next Monday and Tuesday. We have got to hope that Heathrow is kept clear and the flight goes on time.

If the snow does come, I'll post some photos of a snowy London, which will make quite a contrast to Singapore, where it is currently 33 degrees!

I've now heard that the cars have all cleared Singapore customs and that our 'slot' for collecting the Landcruiser is a week today at 2pm. That will give us nearly two days to make our final arrangements before the tour starts at 9am on Saturday 7th from Raffles Hotel.

Finally, thanks to Tony from Brisbane for his comments which I have published on my posting of January 23rd. It's good to see that the blog is being read by people from far and wide. If you want to read any comments click on the comment link at the bottom of each posting

February 1st - Heavy snow in London

2009-08-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

The forecasters were right when they said heavy snow would hit London and the South-East this evening. More is forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday. We will have to hope that the airports remain open and that the flights are not disrupted.

The main road outside our house in south London covered in snow. Shortly after this photo was taken the road was completely blocked by buses, trucks and cars that couldn't move because of the ice on the road. It wasn't until a gritting lorry went through that the road was cleared. As I write this heavy snow is still falling and another 2 inches is covering the road.

February 2nd - The morning after!!

2009-08-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

As the photos show below, this morning London is blanketed by up to 6 inches of snow, and there is more on the way.

The latest news from British Airways is not good, with all long haul and short haul flights cancelled from Heathrow, until 5pm this evening. The big question is, will our flight tomorrow night be affected by the disruption happening today?

The thought of the tropical weather we are hoping to experience, seems a very long way away at this moment!

February 3rd - 5th - Singapore

2009-08-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

An early pick up by our driver from house in south London, to make sure that if there were any delays on the way to the airport, we would be there in plenty of time. In the event the roads were clear and we arrived at Heathrow three hours before our flight was due to depart.

As we walked through to the departure lounge we met Mike Johnson, the tour paramedic and car repairer extraordinaire! Shortly after, we met up with Bob & Thelma Howells and then Richard Smith. Unfortunately we had a two hour delay, due the late arrival of the inbound flight, and didn’t leave until 11.15pm. So, our arrival into Singapore was not until 7.30pm. Singapore is 8 hours in front of UK time. The temperature was quite a change from the 0 degrees in London, a very pleasant 29 degrees.

A 30 minute drive from the airport brought us, with Bob & Thelma, to Raffles Hotel. The last time we were here was on our round the world trip. We immediately met up with several of our friends from previous tours as well as all the HERO team: John and Joanna Brown, James, Kurt, Jingers, Greg, Arne, Ingbritt and Howard the second doctor.

It was then off to the bar for our first Singapore Sling in Raffles’ Long Bar. This was followed by a light meal in a local Italian restaurant, where we bumped into our American/Iranian friends, Ahmad, his son Darvish and his brother Raza. It is really is good to see so many faces from previous events.

Raffles is a wonderful hotel and hopefully the photos below give some idea how special this hotel is.

This morning we went at 8.30am by coach to collect the car. It took about 30 minute drive from the hotel to the warehouse where the cars were stored. A small amount of paperwork and the cars were released. Mike Johnson then scrutinised each car to make sure, lights, tyres, batteries etc. were all working OK

It was then a short drive to the measured kilometre to calibrate our Brantz trip meter. It is essential that each car’s Brantz is set up to measure distance exactly the same as the route survey car. This is because the distances used in the road books that we follow, are all based on the route car’s measurements. It was good to see that our Brantz did not need recalibrating.

We arrived back at Raffles around 10.30am. An hour or so was spent fitting various items into the car such as the Garmin satnav. This was done in the hotel’s underground car park which was unbearably hot. We then headed for the hotel swimming, which is located on the roof. A wonderful place to chill out!

Signing-on took place after lunch. Road books (two volumes), car stickers, car numbers, third party insurance certificates and a host of other documents needed to travel through Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

We then took one of the open top double decker buses on an hour’s tour of the heritage sites in Singapore. It was great fun and well worth doing. Below are some photos from the tour.

Beautiful colours on buildings in Little India

The old and the new. Hindu temple with cranes in the background building another skyscraper.

Back at the hotel I had one final task to do and that was to fit the car stickers and number plates. I’ll post a photo of the car tomorrow all set up and raring to go!

The day finished with an event organised meal at Raffles. Nearly everyone is now here, with the last few crews arriving late this evening. We have a free day tomorrow before the event starts at 9am on Saturday.

February 6th - Singapore

2009-08-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

I failed to mention in yesterday’s post, that for the first time on an event, the car arrived without flat batteries. The battery cut outs that Cars UK supplied me with just before the car was shipped from the UK, worked! I don’t want to think how easy it would have been to have avoided the trouble I have had over the past eight years, starting in Rio and again in Beijing, Cape Town, Los Angeles and, worst of all, Mumbai!

Today has been an enjoyable rest day. A late breakfast and then a river boat cruise on the Singapore River. It only lasted 35 minutes but it was a good way to see the city. Over the past two days we have begun to realise that there is a lot more to Singapore then modern high rise financial towers.

So, at 10.30am we took a taxi to the boat dock on the Singapore River.

The cruise down, and then back up the river, was well worth it. You see Singapore from another angle, and even though skyscrapers dominate the skyline you see many of the old colonial buildings. The magnificent Fullerton Hotel, which used to be the General Post Office Building.

On the left hand side is the Esplanade Theatre complex, which looks very much like a giant armadillo!

We went close to the Singapore equivalent of the London Eye, the Singapore Flyer.

In the river basin is the giant statue Merlion, the symbol of Singapore, which has a giant fountain pouring water from its gaping mouth.

An amazing building is the Supreme Court, which has an observation tower perched on top of it that looks like a giant flying saucer!

Nearing the end of the cruise we went past a statute of the founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles.

We are beginning to realise how much the fall in the value of the pound is going to mean to us over the coming month. Thirty per cent depreciation has a tremendous effect on everything you buy. I can see a significant drop in overseas trips being taken by people from the UK. It has simply become too expensive.

The afternoon was left free to start packing up our belongings ready for the start tomorrow. Whilst sorting out the paperwork for the entry into Malaysia, I suddenly realised that I did not have the original of the Landcruiser registration document!! This is essential for gaining entry into foreign countries, especially those in the third world. Fortunately the organisers cleared us to get into Malaysia, but not into Thailand. So, with the assistance of Jeremy Stream, who's partner, Felicity was leaving London tomorrow to join us in Kuala Lumpur, I called home and our son-in-law, David, collected the original from my house and delivered it to Felicity's office. I should have the document tomorrow evening. I bet DHL/Fedex couldn't beat that!!

At 5pm we had the pre-start briefing by John Brown with support from the medics who talked about emergency procedures and the precautions against malaria. Tonight we start taking our Malarone anti-malarial drug.

In the evening we went to a Chinese restaurant on the banks of the river. A fitting way to say goodbye to Singapore.

February 7th - Day 1 - Singapore to Malacca, Malaysia

2009-08-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

So, this is it. After more than a year since we first heard that HERO were thinking of doing a SE Asia tour, we are finally starting the event.

It was up at 6.30am for an early breakfast, final packing and then down to the car park for our allotted time of 8.40am. We are car number 5, and the first five cars drove from the car park to the official start in front of Raffles Hotel. What a great place to start from!

A few photos of the start, including the Landcruiser waiting in line for the off.

Dancing dragons, our car and Dr.Greg Williams in the foreground.

John Brown waving the start flag for Car No.2, which is from Oman.

There were two dancing dragons and drummers making a hell of a racket. Each car was waved off at one minute intervals, so at 9.05am we were away.

The drive through Singapore to the border took only about 40 minutes. I nearly made a complete mess of the paperwork by forgetting to get the International Carnet stamped. My navigator was attempting to tell me what to do, but I knew better!! I had to go back through the Singapore customs to get the Carnet stamped. I won't make that mistake again.

You leave Singapore by going over a bridge into Malaysia.

There followed a pretty chaotic period with Malaysian customs who it appeared had never seen a carnet before. With help from several of us we got them to stamp the correct parts of the carnet and we were free to drive north, to Malacca.

The drive, up a modern motorway, took only a couple of hours. A total distance of about 250 kms from Raffles. One of the shorter days of the event.

Malacca is a mixture of Portuguese, Dutch, British and Malay. Our hotel is in the centre of the old town, with a view of another giant Ferris wheel near the sea.

Just below us is a curving river which has tourist boats sailing along it. Unfortunately when I took this photo, there were none!

We have a free afternoon and later we are meeting a local businessman who Jim Carr knows, for an evening meal. In fact we met up with Tony, who supplies car parts to Jim Carr, early in the afternoon. Just before we left the hotel we met up with Jane & Paul Wignall riding in one these amazing bicycles.

Tony then led us into the centre of the old town of Malacca, with its beautiful buildings, narrow streets and lots and lots of very colourful bicycle taxis.

In the main square there is an old Dutch church, painted bright red and built in 1753.

We stood as a group in front of the original gateway into the fort of Malacca, built in the 16th century. From left to right, me, Jeremy Stream, Jim Carr,Helen Peacock,Thelma Howells, Wendy and Bob Howells.

A walk round the old town included the evening market where all sorts of goods and food was available. A typical bustling market. In the middle of the market street was Tony's warehouse, which he showed us. Wendy took this picture of Tony in his office.

We headed back to the hotel and then in the evening, very generously Tony hosted a wonderful Chinese meal at a local hotel. Once again a day ends on a perfect note. Tomorrow we have a short drive up to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

February 8th - Day 2 - Malacca to Kuala Lumpur

2009-08-26T06:24:00.000-07:00

I haven’t really mentioned the weather, apart from the temperature when we arrived. The two days in Singapore were both in the low thirties and partly cloudy with a shower on the evening before the start. Yesterday was again partly cloudy with the temperature reaching 33 degrees. Today was mainly sunny and this afternoon in Kuala Lumpur it reached 37 degrees!

I’m getting ahead of myself. Being a short run up mainly dual carriageway roads it was a late check-out of between 9am and 10am. I decided to take advantage of the hotel spa and have a massage to help overcome a bad back ache I’ve had for the past coupe of weeks. It was very relaxing, but only partly successful in helping my back. Still, it’s no worse!

We set off from Malacca at about 10.30am and drove the 146kms in a couple of hours. We stopped to fill up with diesel. In went 117.5 litres, which cost 200 Ringgits. At an exchange rate of 5.2Rnm/£, that works out at 32.7p/litre! The last time I filled up with diesel in London, I paid £1.00/litre.

As I have mentioned, the drive took about two hours and a few kilometres out of Kuala Lumpur we had our first sight of the Petronas twin towers.

These are 88 stories high, and at over 1,450 feet tall, were until recently the tallest building in the world. Kuala Lumpur is an amazing sight of towering skyscrapers. Our hotel, the Mandarin Oriental is next door to the Petronas Towers, and to stand under them and look up to the bridge between the towers at about 400 feet, and then on up to the masts at the very top of each tower, is truly impressive. Two photos of the towers looking up to the bridge.

The Towers, with The Mandarin Hotel on the right of the photo.

Inside the complex there is the largest shopping mall I have ever seen. Huge atria are surrounded by 6 levels of shops. It is an awesome sight.

With Bob & Thelma, Lynn & Eric Woolley, and three members of the Pritz family, we took an open top bus on a two hour drive around the city. Whilst waiting for the bus I took this photo of Jingers, Kurt and Greg talking with Bob and Thelma.

Our bus ride took us past the Royal Palace with guards on horses at the entrance gates.

Sultan Abdul Samad Building built by the British in the 19th Century as Government buildings.

The National Museum.

A couple of photos of the KL skyline with the Petronas Towers taken whilst on the bus tour. The second shows the KL Tower on the extreme right.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, I went for swim in the hotel pool. A welcome relief from the heat.
This evening we went for an organised meal in the KL Tower, which is about the same height as the Petronas Towers. There is a revolving restaurant at the top which gives the most wonderful view across the city. As the sun went down the city lights came on and thousands of lights lit up the Petronas Towers.

Tomorrow we drive north from Kuala Lumpur to the Cameron Highlands, where the British established tea plantations in the 1920’s.

February 9th - Day 3 - Kuala Lumpur to Cameron Highlands

2009-08-24T02:06:00.000-07:00

This event is starting in a very leisurely way with another short drive of only 215 kms from Kuala Lumpur to the Cameron Highlands
.
We left the hotel at 10am. The route John Brown had devised was meant to take us on a short tour of the city centre, before heading north on the motorway. That wasn’t how it turned out fore us, as within a few hundred yards of leaving the hotel, we took the wrong turning and missed the first part of the route altogether!. Still, with the aid of the road book and the satnav, we managed to find our way back to the route. Following us were Jeremy and Felicity. So we led them astray as well.

Once back on the route we drove to the National War Memorial for the dead from the two World Wars as well as those from the 1948-60 war. Once we left the city it was 100 km drive long a fast three lane motorway before we headed into the hills towards Cameron Highlands. A very winding, narrow mountain road led us to our first stop at the Lata Iskandar Falls.

Whilst we were there many of the group stopped as well. Our event director, John Brown and several of the cars parked up at the falls.

Being a national holiday, there were lots of locals there, with some swimming in the pools at the base of the falls. I noticed one man teaching his children to swim! We spent an enjoyable half an hour which included a bit of shopping as well as eating the most delicious fried bananas.

The remainder of the drive continued on the same winding road going through lush vegetation, and then ending up with open hills and large tea plantations. We arrived at Cameron Highlands Resort at abut 2pm and shortly after, the rain came down. We were lucky to miss it, especially through the mountains.

A shot of our car, second from the right, with many others parked outside the Cameron Highlands Resort Hotel.

A close up of all the event stickers on the car - India, China, Africa, Pan Americana and SE Asia

A beautiful amaryllis growing at the base of a tree outside our hotel room.

A lazy afternoon for us all and then tomorrow we continue our drive north, but back to the coast at the holiday village, Ferringhi, on the shore of the Andaman Sea.

February 9th - Some facts and figures

2009-08-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

February 9th – Some Facts and Figures
Each time I have done a blog of an event, I have included one posting that has given some facts about the participants, the cars, the support crews and their responsibilities. So, here goes for the Singapore to Macau tour:

1. There are 23 cars participating
2. There are a total of 56 people
3. The entrants are from the following countries:
i. UK – 14
ii. Holland - 3
iii. South |Africa - 1
iv. United States - 2
v. Portugal - 1
vi. Oman - 1
vii. Germany - 1
4. The vehicle makes:
i. Toyota Landcruiser - 7
ii. Toyota FJ Cruiser – 1
iii. Toyota Tacoma - 1
iv. Mitsubishi Pajero - 2
v. Land Rover Discovery - 2
vi. Land Rover Defender - 1
vii. Nissan Navara - 1
viii. Daihatsu - 2
ix. Range Rover – 2
x. Chrysler Grand Cherokee Jeep – 1
xi. Chevy Tahoe – 1
xii. Chevy Avalanche – 1
xiii. Ford Ranger -1
5. Support vehicles: Five, made up of one advance car and four cars travelling
with the tour.
6. Support crew: A total of 12, made up of the Event director, two event
organisers, two support crew, two doctors, two crew in the advance car, one
paramedic, one mechanic and one driver.

February 10th - Day 4 - Cameron Highlands to Panang

2009-08-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

I had intended to keep this posting brief as we have an early start tomorrow. We cross into Thailand and drive a total of 560kms, so we will be off by 7am, but as it's turned out I have posted more photos than ever!

Today's drive from Cameron Highlands was just over 300kms, with about half on expressway. We left the hotel at 8.30am and took a short detour to drive to the highest peak in the region, Gunong Brinchang, at 6,560ft

The car at the summit.

The drive to and from the top was through beautiful tea plantations, where workers were picking the leaves. It was fascinating to see how they cut the leaves and threw them over their shoulder into a basket on their back.

The tea bushes have gaps between them where the pickers walk. The lines make wonderful patterns on the hills, when looked at from far away.

As we drove down the mountain we passed this lady sorting out the picked tea leaves by the side of the road.

This part of Malaysia seems to be the home of every old Land Rover imaginable. Just one example of the number on the roads.

Our next port of call was to Kellie's Castle built by a Scottish rubber and tin trader, William Kellie-Smith about 90 years ago. The 'castle' is now a ruin but still very impressive, but with a hint of sadness about it, as he never completed the building, dying at the age of 56 from pneumonia.

The corridor where the ghost of Kellie-Smith is said to walk!

As we left the grounds we saw this large lizard standing quite still in the grass.

We had hoped to see the grounds of the royal estate of the Sultans of Perak at Kuala Kangsar, but as luck would have it a ceremony was being held when we arrived and the palace was closed to visitors.

The Jubilee Arch celebrating fifty years of rule: 1958 -2008

Our next port of call was to Orang Utan Island, a sanctuary for orang-utans. The Malaysians are taking wounded, sick and orphaned orang-utans from Borneo and Sarawak. They now have a successful breeding program. A boat takes you to the 'island', which in fact is a peninsular on a large lake. The compound where the orangs are kept is large and the animals are left to fend for themselves, as the intention is to return them to the wild.

We saw several babies that are kept away from the mature animals, so that the mothers will breed more frequently, as opposed to once every six/seven years in the wild.

The end of the day was a fast drive to the island of Penang where our hotel is located on the shore of the Andaman Sea. Shortly after we arrived we learnt that Ahmad Fakhr's Chevrolet had a failed automatic transmission. Jingers helped him get the car to a local Chevy dealer in the hope that it can be repaired. We will know more tomorrow.

We had a great bbq on the lawns of the hotel as the sun went down. Another very enjoyable day. Let's hope for many more like this one.

Finally I have had complaints from a particular member of my family that because he hasn't seen any photos of us, we might be making this whole blog up!! Well here to prove otherwise, is a pic of us, taken by fellow participant Alan Crisp, in the gardens of the Shangri La's Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa.

February 11th – Day 5 – Penang to Rayavadee, Krabi

2009-08-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

This was the longest day’s drive of the tour so far, with a total distance of 560Kms.

We left our hotel at about 6.45am. First stop was for diesel. Fuel is 50% more expensive in Thailand than Malaysia, so it was well worth filling up before we crossed the border. Once filled, we drove back across the Penang Bridge in the morning rush hour. Our drive then took us more or less due north to the border, about 170 kms from Penang.

Leaving Malaysia.

Crossing borders in non EEC countries is often problematic. Reams of paperwork have to be completed. Umpteen stamps have to be applied to passports, customs declaration forms, entry & exit permits, vehicle carnet, crew lists and passenger lists. The list seems to get greater every time we travel. I suppose it is one way of keeping an army of people in work, just to administer the bureaucracy.

The result for us was that we spent nearly an hour waiting for one official after another stamping the forms and printing off new ones for us to sign. In the end we were waved through into Thailand, the third country of the tour.

Shortly after leaving the border Wendy took this photo through the side window of the car of a giant Buddha.

Like Malaysia the countryside is very green and lush. The initial part of the drive was on modern motorway, but true to form, John Brown’s route took us off the main road onto the most delightful rural road running through small Thai farming villages.

To the west of us were several waterfalls and we decided to go to the one John said was the ‘best of the bunch, Phrai Wan. The waterfall was only about 3 kms off the road. We met up with Paul & Jayne as well as Bob & Thelma and walked up to the falls. It was a very pretty spot, with the falls cascading down for several hundred feet over smooth rocks. Bob climbing up above us at the waterfalls.

When we got back to the car we saw this group of baby chickens following the mother hen.

We moved on and within a few miles came across a group of locals in a field with hundreds of bird cages hanging from a metal framework. Men stood on either side whilst several hundred locals were watching.

Someone in the crowd blew a whistle and the men moved forward and marked a few of the ‘luggage labels’ that were hanging from each cage.

Inside each cage there was one bird which appeared to be of the same species. This went on for the whole time we were there, about 15 minutes.

What they were doing we have no idea. Initially we though they might be selling the birds, but then we wondered if it was some sort of gambling. If anyone can enlighten us please post a comment. We will try and find out whilst we are here.

Soon after we left the birds we caught up with several other cars on the tour, Jeremy and Felicity, Jim and Helen, Simon and Andrew and for about 100kms we went in convoy on lovely wide open roads with little traffic. We eventually arrived back at the coast about 100kms south of our destination. We parked up and I took this group photo on an idyllic Thai beach with islands off shore.

Several cars stayed to have a drink and lunch in one of the beach bars, but we decided to head on. We arrived at the hotel car parking at around 3pm. We had to take a boat to the hotel itself as it is located at the end of a peninsular which is accessible only by sea. I took this photo of or great friends from previous tours, Do and Els Meeus from Holland. We know them as the 'newlyweds', having married only a couple of years ago!

Twenty minutes later we docked at the hotel. A tractor with trailer took us from the boat across the beach, as it was low tide, to the hotel reception. Quite a strange was to arrive at a hotel!

We are at a beautiful location on the Andaman Sea. Two nights here means we can have a good break from five days of driving. I’ll post photos of the hotel tomorrow.

February 12th – Day 6 - Rayavadee Resort, Krabi

2009-08-18T02:14:00.000-07:00

Our first rest day of the tour, and what a place to spend a day doing nothing!!

Before going further I must report on our American/Iranian friends, Ahmad, Raza and Darvish, who remained behind in Malaysia as their Chevy had broken down. Initially we were told they were heading back to the US and the UK as it was not possible to get the car repaired quickly enough to catch up with the tour. Now, however, we are told they will be meeting us again in Bangkok and coming as passengers, with whoever has space in their car. We will definitely be offering them a lift, as I know many others have also done so. I will report more when we get to Bangkok on Sunday.

Back to our day off. As I mentioned in my last posting, the resort is at the end of a peninsular. There are towering limestone cliffs and a multitude of karst islands offshore.It is a very spectacular place.

Our ‘pavilion’ as the resort called all the self-contained units, had two floors. Each unit was hidden amongst the palms, so you had a great deal of privacy.

A magnificent swimming pool looked straight out to sea with islands in the distance. It was blisteringly hot and we spent a lot of the day in the pool to keep cool.
Another hard day at the office for our paramedic, Mike Johnson!

Wendy took this photo of Greg and James enjoying a drink by the beach.

As I was walking through to the beach I came across a group of people feeding some monkeys. I think they were macaques. If they are not macaques, please let me know.

Malaysia and Thailand are an hour behind Singapore and seven hours ahead of the UK. Sunset was at 6.30pm and we watched the sun go down behind the islands.

In the evening we had a beach side bbq of fresh fish. A fine way to end the day.

February 13th – Day 7 – Krabi to Phuket

2009-08-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

An early start (7am) as we not only had to use the boat and then a coach to get to where our cars were parked, but we had to be just outside Phuket for 11am to catch a boat to see Nail Island, made famous in the James Bond film, The Man with Golden Gun.

We all congregated on the beach with our luggage as the resort staff worked like Trojans to carry bags onto the boats and then, after we arrived in Krabi, onto the coaches.

Waiting for the boats to take us back to the mainland.

At the car park we said our goodbyes to Mandy Smith and Maureen in Car 24, who will be flying out from Bangkok early on Monday morning. Her husband, Richard and Malcolm Stanley will be carrying on from Bangkok on their own.

Richard Smith had decided to by-pass Phuket and go straight to our next stop, Chumphon, and then on to Bangkok, to arrive there a day before the tour. It’s possible we will see them for a short while in Bangkok, provided we arrive early enough.

Our drive to catch the boat was a lovely drive through rural Thailand, which included a twisting narrow mountain road. It was here that we caught up with Richard Smith, before he turned off our route.

Following Terence English, in the distance, through a small Thai town.

We arrived at the boat dock at 10.45am. The boats that take you for the three hour cruise are quite something! They have large car/truck engines which are swivel mounted so that the driver can manoeuvre the boat.

The noise they make is incredible and as they speed along a huge spray of water rises up behind the boat. At first we went through the mangrove swamps. Wonderful trees with roots, exposed by the low tide, that are a tangled mass.

We were shown a cave that went right through one of the mountains and spent a few minutes sailing from one side of the mountain to the other. Giant stalactites hung from the ceiling of the cave.

We then went out into open water and after about half an hour arrived at the ‘Bond’ island. Hundreds of tourists were on this tiny island, making it about the busiest place we have seen on the tour! We saw Nail Island which the Bond film made famous.

There was a very interesting rock structure, and I hope the photo below shows it clearly. A giant slab of rock leans over at an angle with the strata running vertically. It was very impressive.

Jeremy Stream was reading notice board explaining the geology and called me over. I took a photo of the Thai explanation, which we both found very amusing.

The journey back to the cars was broken by a lunch at a fishing village. We then headed for our hotel in Phuket, the Marriott. This was a change from the Sheraton as Phuket Island is in the middle of an industrial dispute, and several of the hotels are closed.

February 14th - Day 8 - Phuket to Chumphon, Gulf of Thailand

2009-08-16T03:44:00.000-07:00

The stay at the Marriott, Phuket was far too short. We could easily have stayed there another night, but with over 400kms to drive across the peninsular to Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand, we had to leave by 9am.

A couple of photos of the Marriott's reflecting pool at sunset and the extraordinary beach, which stretches for miles.

Today was without doubt the best day of driving. We drove through one wonderful area of the Thai countryside after another. We initially drove up the west coast passing many areas that were devastated by the tsunami of three years ago. There were many memorials to the victims.

We passed several of these local versions of Wickes DIY by the side of the road.

We then drove on to the town of Ranong, which is very close to the border with Myanmar, formerly Burma. We had to pass through several police checks where the Thais are attempting to stop refugees fleeing Myanmar, from entering Thailand. As we drove into the outskirts of Ranong we saw posters campaigning against the setting up of a refugee camp in Ranong.

Just north of Ranong we stopped to take some pictures of Myanmar across an inlet of the Andaman Sea. Myanmar in the distance.

All along this stretch of road, outside the houses, there were palm nuts being dried on large sheets of plastic. We stopped to look at them and saw that the nuts had been cracked open and were being dried in the sun. I’m not sure what they do with them when they have finished drying. Any suggestions?

Further on we drove past a series of shrimp farms. We have seen these on several occasions, with their turning wheels aerating the water, but had thought they were sewage farms! We were enlightened by John Brown, in the route road book.

A shot of Jim Carr's G4 Global Challenge Range Rover, which we followed for a few miles before we turned off on a different route.

We saw this local man with his cart, which we think was full of shrimp paste. Believe me it didn’t smell too good! He stood and posed for the picture.

Typical Thai village with houses on stilts over the water.

The drive then took us east across a hilly region where we passed many small farming villages with houses on stilts. We saw, what we at first though were white underclothes hanging out to dry, but then we realised it was rubber! These were sheets of rubber being dried by rubber farmers. We stopped at one small holding to look at the farmer’s small plantation of rubber trees and the rubber being dried outside his house on stilts.

For some time we had been leapfrogging Paul & Jayne Wignall. They were doing the same as us, stopping to take photos as well as having a bite to eat. I drove round a corner and there they were parked on the side of the road. We stopped and Paul offered us some of the Christmas cake he had brought out from England! I cannot believe many people have eaten English Christmas cake on a back road in Thailand before! Thank you Paul and Jayne.

We arrived at our destination, the Novotel Hotel, a short distance outside the town of Chumphon, which is on the shore of the Gulf of Thailand.

We took a paddle in the wonderful warm waters, where we saw these children playing in the water with a small boat.

In the evening we went to a briefing organised by HERO to tell us about Bangkok. We arrive there tomorrow evening.

February 14th – Special posting announcing the winner of the Thai Bird Cage Competition

2009-08-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

Several days ago we posted about a curious event we saw at a Thai village we were passing. Hundreds of bird cages were hung up from a metal frame and following commands from a whistle, several men moved up to the cages and appeared to tick labels hanging from certain cages. We thought at first this was an auction and then possibly gambling. So we asked ‘the audience’ to come up with the answer.
We are delighted to announce that the winner is a lifelong friend of ours, Peter Waggitt of Darwin, Australia as well as Vienna, Austria. Apparently the event was a bird singing competition, which is very popular in Thailand. Prize birds can earn their owners large amounts of money.

Peter will receive a VERY large gin and tonic when we next see him!

February 15th – Day 9 – Chumphon to Bangkok via the Bridge over the River Kwai

2009-08-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

Today was the longest drive of the tour so far, over 650kms. There were several optional routes we could take, but with such a long way to go, we decided to take the fast expressway route to Kanchanabrui, the town close to the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai. We wanted to have as long as possible to see the bridge as well as the Commonwealth Cemetery, where over 1,400 British and Commonwealth soldiers are buried. Our route was also determined by our desire to arrive in Bangkok before dark. We have had bad experiences of arriving in strange cites in the dark, and Bangkok’s notorious traffic was not something we wished to experience after the sun went down.

We left the hotel at 6.50am and headed north on Highway 4, the expressway to Bangkok. We continue to pass under these wonderfully coloured arches as you enter towns. Many have pictures of the King and Queen on them.

After about 300kms we turned off Highway 4 towards the Bridge. Another 200kms and we arrived at 12.15pm. The Bridge has become a major tourist attraction. We were led to believe it is very tacky, but were pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get away from the vendors trying to sell you books and postcards about the bridge’s history. The bridge is not in fact the original one the Japanese built using forced labour, that was blown up by allied bombing.

It is still very emotive to see the place where so many died in such terrible conditions. We were surprised that you can walk over the bridge. Every few minutes a small engine pulls a few carriages, filled with tourists, back and forth across the bridge. We walked onto the bridge and took lots of photos.

We then met Jim and Helen and Jeremy and Felicity and decided to have quick lunch on one of the floating restaurants near to the bridge. I wanted to take a boat up the river to see the Commonwealth Cemetery, so we hired a small boat to take all six of us the mile or so up the river to the cemetery. War cemeteries are always very sad places, but as the cemetery is looked after by the War Graves Commission it is beautifully kept and ensures the sacrifice these men made is never forgotten.

Row upon row of simple headstones, with the names of young British soldiers is a very sobering sight. I kept thinking how terrible it was that these men had died so far from home.

It reminded me of the graves at Rorke’s Drift and Spion Kop in South Africa that we visited nearly for years ago, where so many British soldiers are laid to rest.
We took the boat back to the Bridge and took some more photos and video. It was then back to the car for the 150kms drive into Bangkok.

On the way we stopped at one of the many shops selling Spirit House. These tiny houses are put outside a house during its construction. The aim is for the guardian spirits to inhabit the Spirit House and to protect the home. They are very colourful and we wanted to see if we could buy one to bring bit back to the UK. It turned out these were made from concrete and were just too heavy for us to carry.

As it turned out the drive was not too bad and we arrived at the hotel in just over two hours and well before sunset. As we parked in the hotel entrance who should come up to us, but Ahmad! He,his son Darvish and his brother Raza have spent the past few days waiting for us to meet up with them again. On Tuesday Raza will travel as our passenger, with Ahmad and Darvish travelling with two other cars.

Our hotel looks out over the city with the main river below our window.I was told the name, but don’t have it to hand at the time of writing this post.

A meal is laid on for us in the hotel this evening and then tomorrow we are going on a city tour, leaving at the ridiculously early time of 7am. Tomorrow was meant to be a rest day!

February 16th - Day 10 - Bangkok

2009-08-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to everyone who has been following our tour and then found time to send in their comments. I can't believe it, but the comments have been almost all complimentary, and those who sent ones that weren't, know who they are!

I'm delighted that the blog has been picked up by Tony from Brisbane Australia. Tony, thanks for the suggestions of things to do around Chaing Mai. We'll look at our road book to see what has been planned for us and hopefully we can combine some of your ideas, with the route. Enjoy your time in Thailand in March. What a great country it is.

We are chilling out (not quite the correct way of describing 42 degrees heat!) in Bangkok this afternoon after a four hour tour by boat and coach of the city. Will post all about it later on today.

Apologies for not posting yesterday evening, but the 24 hours I paid for Internet access ran out at 7pm and we were out having dinner. So here goes with the details of our day in Bangkok, written from our hotel in Koh Kong, Cambodia.

Prior to the event starting we had paid for a guided tour by boat and coach of the city. The problem was the tour started at 7am! After the long day of driving yesterday, the last thing we needed was another early start. Still, we made it in time to catch the boat that was taking a group of us from the hotel, along the river, and then through some of the canals.

I had no idea Bangkok had an extensive canal system. Houses crowd the banks of the canals, perched on their stilts. Many are very dilapidated and some are falling into the water.

As we turned off the river into the canals we saw our first water monitor lizard. A short while later we saw another climbing out of the water and up under a house. I guessed it was at least five feet long!

We then headed back to the river, Chao Phraya (River of Kings), where we visited the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun).

This was built late in the 19th century. The walk to the top level was pretty hairy, with stone steps that were nearly vertical.

A shot looking down at Wendy and some of the group too scared to climb up!

The boat then took us to the Royal Barge Museum. The museum stores about half a dozen of these magnificent highly decorated barges of up to 150ft long. They are crewed by 66 oarsmen and 34 crew and are only used on very special occasions. I was too mean to pay the photo fee, so the only picture I took was from outside the museum.

We crossed the river to the Grand Palace. The Palace is no longer used as a royal residence, only for ceremonial events. The complex was built in the late 18th century. There are many fabulous highly decorated buildings, including a temple that houses a jade Buddha, discovered in Laos and then brought to Bangkok. Below are a few pictures from the Royal Palace.

A close up of one of the twelve guardians (ogres) protecting the palace.

We then took a short coach tour round the city and returned to the hotel at noon. An afternoon spent by the pool and then a short train journey on the Skytrain monorail to the Jim Thompson Museum. Thompson was an American architect who lived in Thailand. He became famous for his textile designs and worked on the Yul Brynner film, the King and I. Thompson disappeared in 1967 while visiting the Cameron Highland, Malaysia. No trace of him has ever been found.

In the evening we met up with an old school friend of mine, Anussorn Thavisin (Thavi) and his son Sith. Thavi was in my class at Dulwich College in 1955. I last saw him in 1964, 45 years ago! We agreed we wouldn't leave it another 45 years till we meet again.

From left to right, Thavi, Sith, Wendy and myself.

Thavi has answered my question about the nuts being dried by the side of the roads. To quote him 'the nuts were areca nuts. They are chewed, fresh or dried, with betel leaves and a deadly combination of lime paste and tobacco. This has the effect, over time, of turning the lips scarlet and the teeth black.'

Tomorrow we head for our fourth country, Cambodia. Many of us are hoping that this will be where the 'real' adventure drive begins. We will soon find out.

February 17th - Day 11 - Bangkok to Koh Kong, Cambodia

2009-08-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

Time is running out for me to post today's events. Suffice to say we have crossed into Cambodia and are staying just a few hundred yards from the border with Thailand. It has been a good drive and I will post full details tomorrow from the capital, Phnom Penh.

By the way thanks for all the comments. I have published them all. To read them just go to the day you made the comment.

So, this was our last day in Thailand. It has gone far too quickly. We have really enjoyed our drive through this wonderful friendly country. Now, all we had left, was a 450kms drive south-east from Bangkok to our next stop, Koh Kong a gambling resort just inside Cambodia.

We had Raza Fakhr as our passenger. His brother Ahmad went with Richard Smith in Car 24 and Ahmad’s son, Darvish, went with the car from Oman, Car 2. We left Bangkok at just after 7.30am and immediately got caught up in the city’s horrendous traffic. Fortunately we only had a few blocks to negotiate before we were on the expressway heading east. The expressways in Bangkok are impressive structures, running for miles elevated above the houses and local roads. It took us only an hour before we were out into the countryside. We had lovely long straight roads leading to the hills of south-eastern Thailand. For part of the route we went through forests where wild elephants roam. We hoped to see some, but we were unlucky.

Following Bert & Stefan in their Toyota pick-up truck.

We then turned off the main road for a short (12kms) section of dirt road going through wonderful green hills. We came up behind one of the group hidden in the dust.

It turned out to be Tom and Rosalie Gatsonides in their blue and white FJ Toyota.

We passed them when Tom stopped to take some photos. It was a good section of dirt road, though not very challenging.
We arrived at the Thai/Cambodia border at about 2pm. HERO, as usual, had their local tourist guides from Diethelm Travel on hand to help us through the various stages of leaving one county and entering another. Passports, visas and car carnets all had to be stamped and approved before we could move on into Cambodia. As we were one of the first to arrive at the border we cleared within 45 minutes and drove on to our hotel which was just 800 metres from the border. Those behind us had to queue to get their papers stamped, which was when I took this photo.

One fact I must mention is the change from driving on the left in Thailand to the right in Cambodia. It was quite strange having to change from one side of the road to the other as I drove through the border. Apart from the few days we spend in Thailand later on in the tour, we will be on the right hand side of the road.

The Koh Kong resort has been built to attract Thais to the casino, though it appeared we were virtually the only people staying at the 500 room hotel! The hotel, though modern, reminded me very much of hotels in other communist countries I have visited. The bar had very few bottles on display and the shelves in the coffee shop were all bare.

After we arrived we learnt that one of our group had not been allowed out of Thailand as there were problems with the stamping of the carnet. We will learn more tomorrow, but knowing how HERO have sorted out problems like this in the past, it is more than likely that the crew and car will catch us up, if not in Cambodia, then when we return to northern Thailand in a few days.

There was time to have a swim in the pool and then in the evening we celebrated Bob Howell’s birthday. A cake was brought onto the stage in our dining hall, and as we sang Happy Birthday, Bob blew out the candles. Shortly after, Paul Wignall took to the stage to give us a screamingly funny Yorkshire version of Elvis Presley’s ‘Are you Lonesome tonight’. It was a pity I didn’t have my video with me to record it.

February 18th – Day 12 – Koh Kong to Phnom Penh

2009-08-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

Today’s drive was about 460 kms and we left the hotel at 7.30am. Raza again accompanied us as our passenger. We immediately noticed a stark contrast between Thailand and Cambodia. Cambodia is one of the poorest nations in the world and we could see we were now well and truly in the third world. We saw some modern buildings in small villages and towns, but the vast majority are of a very poor standard and condition.

For the first hour we drove on roads which were completely deserted. In fact in the first hour we only met about a dozen cars and vans. Again we drove through an area where wild elephants live, and signs warned drivers to be on the alert.

The road has recently been upgraded and new bridges have been built, where ferries were previously used. We stopped, with several others, at one of these bridges to take photos of a small Cambodian fishing village on the banks of the river.

For the first time on this tour we came across domestic animals wandering across the road and in the fields water buffalo were being used. The change from the countries we have just driven through could not be more marked.

A typical scene. A small girl walking along the road on her own, with houses on stilts in the background.

Once again we saw unbelievably overloaded buses and trucks, just like India and China. There were twice as many people inside this bus as there were on top!

Overloaded with goods and people!

The drive took us through small villages, crowded with people shopping at the market stalls on either side of the road. Raza walking back to the car having taken photos of the market.

Felicity Devonshire stopping at the market.

At about 11am we stopped, with several others for a drink at a restaurant in the small town of Kampot, which used to be the regional centre when Cambodia was a French colony. We drove on to the coast and went along a beautiful coastline, virtually deserted and with fishermen fishing close to the shore.

There are many fine colonial houses here which are now deserted as their owners all fled from Pol Pot’s murderous regime. This was one such house.

We now headed more or less due north for the final 200 kms to Phnom Penh, stopping first at two ruined Khmer temples.

At the second we were pestered by young girls ‘selling’ us flowers as offerings to Buddha. We gave them a couple of dollars (the dollar is universally accepted in Cambodia) and took these photos of them.

As we were walking around the ruins this man was playing ‘The Marseillaise’ on his xylophone!

Our final stop was at the Killing Fields Genocide Memorial, which is about 15kms outside Phnom Penh. This is one of the most depressing places I have ever visited. Millions of Cambodians were murdered by Pol Pot’s regime in one of the 20th century’s worst cases of genocide. The central memorial is a tower with rack upon rack of skulls, enclosed in a giant glass case. The skulls are from the more than 17,000 victims at this site. This was just one of many killing sites all over Cambodia. I am posting a few of the photos that I took.

Finally the explanation of all that happened under Pol Pot. The broken English somehow made it even more poignant to me. I suggest you double click on the photo to enlarge it in another window so you can read it.

We then drove into Phnom Penh, and arrived at our hotel at just after 4pm. Another wonderful day’s drive, though visiting the Killing Fields Memorial certainly affected everyone. We have a rest day here in Phnom Penh tomorrow which will give us a chance to see this capital city. I’ll post all about it tomorrow.

February 19th – Day 13 – Phnom Penh

2009-08-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

To have a rest day here in the capital city of Cambodia is exactly what we need. We have had a whole day to tour the centre of the city using tuk-tuks.

As we left the Raffles Le Royale Hotel at around 10am, we took these photos of the hotel and cars lined up outside. Not far from the hotel we walked past the American Embassy.

After about 400 yards we came to Wat Phnom, Temple Hill, which marks the legendary founding place of the city.

We then went by tuk-tuk to the Royal Palace.

This is a large complex of buildings including the Silver Pagoda, so named because of the 5,329 silver tiles on the floor of the building.

Also on display in the Silver Pagoda are several Buddhas. There is the 90kg solid gold Buddha, encrusted with over 2,000 diamonds, as well as The Emerald Buddha. Another of the large buildings is the Throne Hall, completed in 1917, with beautiful paintings on the ceiling.

There is one building that looks totally out of place; it is Napoleon III’s pavilion, a gift to Empress Eugenie, which was subsequently given to King Norodom in 1876.

We left the palace complex after about an hour and again took a tuk-tuk to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. This is the site of the school that Pol Pot’s regime turned into a detention centre where prisoners were subjected to the most horrendous treatment, before being taken to the killing fields for execution.

A notice inside the centre translated into English.

The faces of the victims. Photos taken by Pol Pot.

We were shown round by a Cambodian lady who had been tortured by the Khmer Rouge and both her parents had been killed. She did not know what had happened to her brothers and sisters. Thirty years later, she still could not sleep properly without taking medication. There were only seven survivors from Toul Sleng and three are still alive. We were very fortunate to meet two of them.

They were gentle polite men, who spoke with a humbling dignity about their horrendous experiences. Wendy and I were moved to tears.

Our tuk-tuk driver had waited for us and we then went to a small Cambodian charity shop called Tabitha – Cambodia.

Wendy had read about this in the city guide and it had caught her attention because one of our grandchildren is named Tabitha. The charity raises money to train locals in making silk and other artifacts. The charity sells these items for them. We met the director, a Canadian lady, who told us that the charity was set up in 1994 and now supports over 200,000 Cambodians. We were very impressed by what they do and how much they have achieved.

By now it was nearly lunchtime and so we headed back to the hotel, passing the Independence Monument, built in 1962 to celebrate Cambodia’s independence from foreign rule.

When we arrived at the hotel we were met by Jingers, Kurt, Joanna Brown and James waiting for a tuk-tuk, so we alighted and they got in. Jingers, true to form, wasn’t going to be a passenger, told the driver he was driving and jumped on to the driver’s seat and off they went!

As we went in to the hotel we were told that one of the participants from the Indian tour of 2007 was in the hotel, Eileen Ainscough. She was on a cruise to Australia and had come by coach from her ship to Phnom Penh for the day. Wendy took his photo of me and Eileen.

It was great to see her again and we hope she comes on another event in the future. We asked her to pass on our best wishes to her co-driver in India, Tommy.

This evening we are walking to the Foreign Correspondents Club for a meal by the river. It should be a perfect way to end a very enjoyable day.

February 20th – Day 14 – Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

2009-08-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

Firstly a brief report on our evening meal at the Foreign Correspondents Club. This turned out to be a great location to have a drink and a meal. HERO had organised a fleet of tuk-tuks to take us to and from the restaurant. This was great fun with tuk-tuks racing each other through the evening traffic.

The FCC was in reality just an ordinary bar and restaurant. Its location overlooking the river was an ideal way to have a meal. We will be sorry to leave Phnom Penh as we have really enjoyed our stay.

There were two main options to today’s route to Siem Reap. The first was a more or less straight route, with one or two side detours to places of interest. The second included a loop of some 170kms into the countryside and involved rough roads through the jungle. The advance car had reported that this route was rougher than when they had done the route survey, early last year.

We decided to opt for the easy route as we wanted to get to Siem Reap early enough to watch the sun go down over Angkor Wat. Whilst those doing the rough route left as early as 5am, we drove away from Phnom Penh at 7.30am. The traffic was pretty dire for the first 50kms. Buses, trucks, commuter traffic and thousands of motorbikes made driving quite slow.

However once we were clear of the traffic the roads became virtually empty and a fast drive north brought us to our first ‘hidden gem’, the temple at Phnom Santuk. There were over 800 steps to the temple, but luckily you could drive to near the top of the hill and only needed to walk up the last 120 steps.

A group of monkeys were running around by the steps.

Three young boys tried to get us to pay them as guides, but we refused. Even so they followed us to the top and then pointed to where the Buddha was located. This was not in the temple but on the side of the hill. We climbed over some rocks and were amazed to see this magnificent reclining Buddha carved into the rock. It was over 30 feet long and had been brightly painted.

A lovely old lady was sitting by the Buddha and we bought an incense stick to burn, making a donation of a dollar. We took these photos of the Buddha, the lady and the boys sitting in front of the Buddha. It was a lovely moment.

One of the great joys of driving through third world countries is that you often come across the unexpected by the side of the road. We came across this hive of activity in one small village - a whole army of stone carvers making Buddhas on either side of the road!

There were simply hundreds of Buddhas of all sizes . We stopped and Raza and I each bought a small Buddha to bring home with us. Wendy took this photo of me and the carver with my new possession.

The next detour was to a group of Khmer temple ruins, which have become completely overrun by the forest. The ruins were very disappointing, as not very many temples remain. Whilst there these two girls sold us two scarves at a dollar each.

As we were driving away we noticed this temple with a tree growing from it. I hope the photo does justice to a remarkable sight.

We never cease to be amazed by the weird, wonderful and often crazy loads that the vehicles carry. Here are a couple more examples.

As we drove along the main highway towards Siem Reap we made a small detour to a Khmer built bridge from the 12th century. The main road, until quite recently, used the bridge. It is a testament to the Khmer building skills that it has lasted so long.

The remainder of the drive was on fast open roads and we arrived in Siem Reap around 2.30pm. There was time for a swim in the wonderful Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor Hotel swimming pool and then for us to take a tuk-tuk to Angkor Wat to see the sun go down. We went to the hill that overlooks Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakeng. We walked up the elephant track to the top, taking this photo of one of the elephants about to start the ascent.

A view of the magnificent temple on Phnom Bakeng

It would be remiss of me not mention how those cars that decided to take the rough route fared. Well, suffice to say it was a true John Brown route. Severe driving conditions resulted in quite a few damaged vehicles, mainly from fallen trees blocking very narrow tracks. I will endeavour to post tomorrow some of the photos that Bob Howells took.

February 20th - Day 14 - Additional Posting

2009-08-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

I promised to post some photos taken by Bob Howells of the cars driving on the 'loop' off-road track, on Day 14 from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Well, here goes with some photos that Bob took of both his and Fred & Ernie Nelan's vehicles negotiating some tricky terrain!

February 21st - Day 15 - Siem Reap

2009-08-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this early in the morning as I've just received a comment from Fred & Ernie Nelan's daughter, Nina.

I just wanted to say, you guessed correctly which route Fred took yesterday! Bob Howells was close to them for some of the route and took some really great photos of them trying to get that massive GM Avalanche of theirs, through the very narrow track. It included winching tree trunks out of the way!

Nina's comment can be read by clicking on the Comment link at the end of yesterday's posting.

Well here goes with a few photos taken yesterday on the 'jungle' route by Jim Carr.

Traffic jam!!

One of the hazards.

John Brown taking photos of Felicity Devonshire heading down into a river bed.

I'll post Bob Howell's photos later.

The hotel has the most wonderful swimming pool. It must be that largest one I have ever seen.

After our brief visit to Angkor Wat yesterday evening to see the sunset, this morning we decided to use John Brown’s route through the temple complex in our road book. As well as the route, John showed us the best places to go to and also gave a fairly detailed description of each temple. This made the whole exercise of trying to explore this large area of buildings so much easier.

Our first stop was at Angkor Wat. It is truly one of the wonders of the world. Built in the 12th century over a period of 35 years, it is difficult to convey how magnificent it is. The moat they excavated around it is nearly 200 yards wide and is over 5 kms in length! You walk over a causeway to the entrance and once through the entrance buildings you see the immensity of the temple site and it is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.

We walked to the central temple and took dozens of photos. Below are some of them.

It was becoming a very hot day with the temperature above 30 Celsius. We decided to move on to the next huge temple, Angkor Thom. As it was no so hot we just drove around the temple taking photos.

We then drove to one of the truly wonderful sites, the temple of Ta Prohm. This temple is a semi ruin, and even though some restoration work is being carried out, the intention is to leave a large part as a ruin. The site is famous for the enormous trees that appear to grow out of the temple buildings.

Unbelievably large roots cling to the sides of the buildings like giant octopus tentacles.

Many of the building are being destroyed by the trees, but the way they are taking over the temple is what makes Ta Prohm so special.

The drive took us past a lot more temples, some hidden in the forest and others by the side of the road. The whole trip of 40 kms was a memorable experience and one I would definitely recommend.

Now for an update about one of the participants. The good news is that Gerald Haigh and his new co-driver, who has taken over from his wife Jane, has finally caught up with us after all the problems he had with car paperwork at the Thai/Cambodian border. They will travel as passengers tomorrow until we cross back into Thailand tomorrow afternoon, where they will pick up their car at our hotel in Korat. At least he will be able to enjoy the next two weeks of the trip. At one point we wondered if he would have to abandon the tour.

So, in the morning we will be leaving early to cross the border into Thailand. I think I speak for many of the group when I say how much we have enjoyed Cambodia. It is a poor country that has suffered so much. The people are universally friendly and maybe sometime in the future we will return to enjoy their hospitality once again.

February 22nd - Day 16 - Siem Reap - Korat, Thailand

2009-08-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

So, our stay in Cambodia has come to an end after six days. What a great time we have had. There have been some truly memorable moments and some we would rather forget, but in remembrance of those who died, we must not. The truth about the unspeakable crimes of the Pol Pot regime must never be forgotten. It is imperative that the world community should never allow anything like it to happen again.

We were up early for a 7am start from the hotel. A 160kms drive more or less due north of Siem Reap brought us to the Cambodian/Thailand border. Those 160kms were on dirt roads with some massive pot holes.

We were driving through some of the poorest agricultural areas of Cambodia we have seen. Bullock carts were a common sight.

As we turned right into one village there was this large poster with the caption 'We no longer need weapons'. A chilling reminder to us of their terrible past.

At one point our track went alongside a small 12th century Angkor bridge.

The last 20kms to the border was along a very rough dirt track and as we approached the border we took this photo of the Cambodian border which shows the potholed track leading to the border and then on the left you can see the concrete road leading into Thailand. We were going from the third world into the first.

We have now all become reasonable adept at handling the customs and immigration papers, especially with the help of our Diethelm guides. Once I had our Carnet stamped by the Cambodian customs, I was about to drive to the exit area, when we passed Richard Smith parked by the side of the road with a flat rear tyre. Out came my new lightweight trolley jack to jack his car up. Then we used my power wrench gun to take the wheel nuts off. Mike Johnson appeared and his brute strength removed the locking wheel nut that we couldn't remove.

Ahmad, who has been travelling with Richard since his transmission failed on his Chevy, and Richard's Landcruiser with the flat tyre.

How many people does it take to change a wheel???

In fifteen minutes it was all done and we moved on to the Thai border controls. These went very smoothly, including having to pay the immigration guard a dollar as overtime pay to work on a Sunday! We then we drove into Thailand for the second time on this tour. We have to remember that we are driving on the left again.

The route to Korat, our next stop, was about 230kms, with the first 100kms through the Thai countryside. We stopped at a place called Phanom Rung, a hilltop Khmer temple built in the 12th Century.

We parked near the top of the hill which is an extinct volcano, with lovely views over over the Thai countryside.

We stood and looked down at the magnificent staircase and causeway that leads to the temple.

The remainder of our drive was pretty uneventful and we arrived at our hotel at about 2.30pm. It's very hot here, with the temperature currently at 38 Celsius.

After we had signed in we were greeted by my school friend Thavi and his wife. They have driven the 250kms from Bangkok to visit us before we leave Thailand for Laos. This evening we will have a meal with them in the hotel

February 23rd - Day 17 - Korat - Sappraiwan

2009-08-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I'm sorry there have been no postings for a couple of days, but the Internet access at Sappraiwan was not very good, and then yesterday by the time we arrived at Chaing Mai and unpacked, organised laundry, had a briefing about the city and ate at the tapas and BBQ, I was too tired to post.

Before I describe the drive from Korat to Sappraiwan, I must mention the very enjoyable evening we spent at the Dusit Princess Hotel, in Korat. My school friend Thavi and his wife Ouratai had driven up from Bangkok, about 250kms, to see us once more before we leave Thailand. We had the most delightful Chinese meal at the hotel, and then to cap the evening they presented us with a beautiful gift: a wooden spirit house. As I have said before, we have been looking to buy one but could only find painted houses made of stone or concrete, which were much too heavy to send back to England. We will post a photo of this very special memento. It will be a wonderful reminder in years to come of our great time in Thailand. Thank you Thavi and Ouratai.

We rose at our usual time of just before 6am, and Wendy took this photo from our room of the sunrise over Korat.

Turning now to the 450 kms drive from Korat, we had looked at the route and made the decision that we would miss out on the first 180kms by taking the main road north, which joined the route after about 90 kms. This saved us just under 100kms on the day's drive. We felt missing out on a visit to a large banyan tree and another temple was not too big a loss. In fact, I think I speak for several on the event, when I say we are close to being 'templed out'!!

The roads in northern Thailand are very good, with very light traffic. It is noticeable how few large trucks there are, which has surprised me, but this has made the driving really easy. Wendy took this photo of a typical twisting empty Thai road.

After some 250kms there was a short 45kms section of off-road track, taking us through the poorest farming region we have seen in Thailand. Subsistence farming at its most basic. Terrible shacks and very poor farming conditions. It was rather depressing, even though the drive was great fun.

The start of the track through the hills.

Fording a small stream.

A small yellow bird feeding by the stream. Any suggestion as to the species, from my ornithological friends?

A slight delay on the drive!

We returned to the main road after about an hour and continued the drive north on typically empty roads.

The route then took us up into some very green and beautiful hills and to the location of the King's summer residence. We were the only people there and the place looked deserted. There were some fine views over the surrounding hills.

and we took this photo of the palace through the trees, with this assortment of items used as a barrier! Not the normal security we are used to!

The remainder of the drive was pretty uneventful and we arrived at our resort hotel in Sappraiwan at about 3pm.

The resort is known for its group of elephants, and at 5pm these were brought out for us to feed them with bananas. I've never fed an elephant before, so I was amazed to see, at close hand, how wonderfully 'dextrous' their trunks are. We all spent a very enjoyable half an hour feeding them. James Walker feeding one of the elephants.

Julie Brogan with some friends for life!

John Brown and Mark & Dorothy Freeman, enjoying the moment.

A mother and baby. The baby decided that it wanted some of its mother's milk, rather than a banana.

A couple of items about participants. Richard Smith, Car 24, has made the decision to skip Sappraiwan and drive directly to Chiang Mai, to see if he can buy another tyre, following the puncture he suffered at the border. The tyre has been temporarily repaired and can only be used as an emergency spare. With nearly 3,000 miles still to go, you really do need a good spare wheel.

Several people have been suffering from the Thai equivalent of Delhi Belly. Should I call it Thai Di? It looks like a bug is going round, as each day someone else goes down with it.

We head for Chiang Mai tomorrow and three nights at the same hotel, which is a rare occurrence for a HERO event.

February 24th - Day 18 - Sappraiwan to Chiang Mai

2009-08-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Many of the hotels we are staying in appear to be virtually empty. Last night it was clear we were the only people at the hotel. I don't know if this is because it is out of season, or a result of the 'credit crunch'. I must ask our guide.

Before I describe our drive I am posting another one of the amusing notices we have seen on our tour. This one was at the hotel last night.

Our drive today is about 450kms and we left the hotel at just after 7am. As we were driving out of the hotel we saw three of the elephants.

Nearby was this mahout on one of the large adult male elephants. Only the male Asian elephant has tusks.

The first place of interest to visit was Sukhotai, the 13th century moated former capital city. The historical park where all the old temples, with their magnificent Buddhas, are located is a beautiful place. The ruins house several giant Buddhas that look down on you, each with their own slightly different serene gaze. Once again I hope the photos do the Buddhas justice.

There was this wonderful tree growing near the temples. I'm not sure what species it is, but it appeared to be very old indeed. It made for a great photo with the ruins and two Buddhas in the background.

There were giant standing Buddhas, each enclosed in a brick building.

Looking across the moat at the ruins with three of the Buddhas in view.

Close by is the famous seated Buddha at Wat Si Chum, with its golden hand.

We left Sukothai after about an hour. It is definitely worth a visit if you are visiting Thailand. Our drive was due north through very green fertile farming land where they were growing corn and rice.

We went through one small village and saw this stall by the side of the road. Twenty minutes of haggling and we bought a beautiful teak carved wall plaque and several small items for the spirit house. The stall owner would write an amount on her pad. I would cross it out and put down my figure and we would end up somewhere between the two! Me haggling with the stall owner.

My car is now nearly full and I'm not sure how we will take Reza when he returns to the car. They managed to hire a car for these few days in Thailand, but have to return it when we get to our last town in Thailand, Nan, in three day's time.

We drove on towards Chaing Mai, stopping for a short break at the temple of Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, which reputedly has the oldest wooden building in Thailand. As we walked into the temple grounds we went past this banyan tree that had hundreds of poles supporting the branches. It obviously had some sort of religious significance. Once again does anyone know?

Our final visit was some 65kms from Chaing Mai, the Elephant Conservation Centre. This is an institution that is devoted to the care and breeding of the ever diminishing numbers of Thai elephants. When we arrived a friend of the man who ran the centre, was being shown how to mount an elephant. She then rode the elephant right up to us in the viewing stand!

Then Ernie Nelan was persuaded to climb onto one of the elephants. She looked pretty relieved when she had dismounted!

We then had a display of elephant traditional working skills and their great strength.

This was combined with an amazing display of their intelligence. Three of the elephants painted pictures of flowers and elephants with mahouts riding them!! The mahouts dipped the brush into the different colours (elephants have poor eyesight and apparently only see different shades of grey) and handed the brush to the elephant who then painted the picture.

The incredible painting skills of the three elephants.

As a postscript, I should mention that several of our group are very unhappy about the unnatural way the elephants are trained to behave. Even though I can appreciate this point of view it seems to me that there has to be a trade off between the almost certain disappearance of the species in the wild, and attempting to protect them. The work at the centre needs tourism to support it and training elephants to show their capabilities helps to increase the public's awareness of their plight. It's a small sacrifice in my opinion to pay.

The final 65kms into Chiang Mai took us about one hour. We are here for three nights and will have plenty of time to visit this historic city and the surrounding region, which includes Thailand's highest mountain, Doi Ithanon at 8,393ft.

February 25th - Day 19 - Chiang Mai

2009-08-02T02:53:00.000-07:00

The first of two full days in Chiang Mai. We have already decided that we will not do tomorrow's 550kms 'loop' through the hills, including the highest mountain in Thailand. Apparently the views were poor when the advance car went through, so a second day in Chiang Mai means we can enjoy a rest as well as seeing some of the town and the area around it.

First, a brief word about yesterday evening. Having a couple of days in any place is always an opportunity to get your laundry done. We have used the hotel laundry services in the past but after we were charged £70 for washing a few shirts and underclothes in Bangkok, we took the advice of Paul Wignall and, at 9pm, took our clothes to a laundry down the street from the hotel. The woman weighed the clothes and said, for a wash, dry and ironing, it would be £5.50, and would be ready for collection by 7pm tomorrow. What a saving on hotel charges. From now on that's what we will do.

Returning now to today. The Chedi Hotel in Chiang Mai is the former residence of the British Consulate. It has been considerably enlarged in a modern style, of glass and wood. It is located on the bank of the Mae Ping.

We had a bit of a lie-in and had a late breakfast, chatting with Hugh & Julie Brogan about this event and possible future ones. After lunch we used John Brown's 'tulip' route of the town. This was a short, 14kms, tour of the centre, passing numerous temples. I am posting below a few photos of the two temples we spent some time looking around. At the first, called Wat Chedi Luang, there was a strange mix of the old and the new. The site was dominated by a huge semi-ruined temple which had elephants protruding from the sides, and then alongside it was a new temple where there was this rather strange looking Buddha.

The second temple was called Wat Phra Sing Luang, where the main temple had this large golden Buddha. I was reluctant to take a photo but when I saw a group of monks taking photos of each other in front of the Buddha, we felt free to do the same.

When we returned to the hotel, we found an 'Invitation' to join The Right Honourable Sir Paul Wigglybits and Lady Jayne, for drinks at the British Dinner that was being held at the hotel in the evening. It was, of course the usual 'spoof' by our resident comedian, Paul Wignall. I hope the copy below of the invitation is readable. If not, click on the image to enlarge it.

At the dinner Paul gave a very funny speech, most of which is unprintable, for fear of a libel action being brought against me!

February 26th - Day 20 - Chiang Mai

2009-08-01T03:53:00.000-07:00

Of the twenty-three participants only two decided to do the route through the hills, Rolf Pritz and Mark Freeman. It will be interesting to see if they enjoyed the long drive on winding roads through the Thai hills.

We, on the other hand, after talking with Greg Willams' brother Peter, an orchid grower who has been here in Chiang Mai for some years, decided to take his advice and visit an area just north of the town to see orchids being grown. Bob & Thelma joined us in their car and so we set off on the 40 minute drive at around 11am. We found our first orchid farm, Thai Orchids on the main road about 25kms out of the town. We took a a lot of photos of these beautiful plants and here are just a few.

We left the orchid farm and drove about 20kms to the Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens.

Whilst we were there having a break, Bob took this photo of us with our spirit house, perched proudly on the bonnet of the Landcruiser.

I can assure Thavi and Ouratai that it was stowed away safely before we left the gardens!

One of the very strange Bottle trees that came from South Queensland, Australia. Five were imported but several have fallen over and have died. This one has several cables to support it.

We finally stopped at a small shop selling elephant dung paper. We had seen this being sold at the elephant conservation centre but had not bought any. The shop turned out to be a small production unit and we were shown how they turn the dung into paper. Contrary to expectation it was not a smelly process, just a pretty dirty one. They boil the dung in caustic soda, wash it, beat it and then lay it out on frames to dry in the sun. It was quite an experience to peel off the freshly dried sheets of paper. A little cottage industry turns the paper into all sorts of items.

Here are a few photos of the process, beginning with the dried dung and the vat behind with the boiling soda.

The wet pulp laid out on the frame ready for drying.

The dried paper.

The paper being used to make a variety of items, including photo frames, note books, diaries, book marks and envelopes.

We bought some items as both souvenirs and gifts and then drove back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we drive more or less due east to Nan. Apparently, there have been serious wild fires in the region and a regional emergency has been declared. I hope it doesn't cause us any problems on the journey. The following day we leave Thailand for Laos.

Finally, spare a thought for Sheila and Andrew, who have a problem with their Landrover. A part is being flown from England, as I write this. They will not be able to leave Chiang Mai until Saturday, a day behind us, but with a bit of luck they are hoping to catch us up in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

February 26th - Chiang Mai

2009-07-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks once again for all the comments. Just received one from Vicky, a friend of Don ans Pat, two of the support crew. Thank you for your kind comments, much appreciated.

Now, it appears that a certain reader of the blog seems to think that I actually do these posts at the time shown on the bottom of each post, which normally is shown as in the middle of the night. I do not! To clarify this, the time shown is that of Blogger.com in the US, and not the local time here in Thailand. Hence this posting is being done at 10pm here in Chiang Mai and the time shown at the end of the post is 7am.

February 27th - Day 21 - Chiang Mai to Nan

2009-07-30T02:35:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I must post the comment made my friend Thavi to correct my identification of the tree at Wat Phra That Lampang Luang. He also answered my query about the poles supporting the branches:

'The tree at Wat Phra That Lampang Luang was in fact a Bo tree. Some accounts have it that the Buddha attained Enlightenment under a Bo tree, which is one reason why you often find the tree with the heart-shaped leaves in Buddhist temples.

The significance of the supporting poles is simply that by propping up the larger branches of the Bo tree, you are, through an association of ideas, helping to support Buddhism.'

Many thanks Thavi for enlightening us all. Thavi also thinks the bird we saw a few days ago, was an oriole.

Today's drive to Nan in north-eastern Thailand was about 350kms. We took the short route for the last part of the journey, as opposed to driving one of the optional loops.

We left Chiang Mai in the rush hour and the first 5kms took us half an hour. Once we were clear of the town the roads cleared and we made good progress on lovely roads winding through the hills. After about 50 kms we turned off the main road onto the 'Ghost Highway'. This road is little used and is a great driving road as it winds through the mountains. It has very little traffic and wonderful views of the surrounding countryside. Every so often we would come across a tree covered with blossom. You could see them from a long way away as they made such a contrast to the predominantly green foliage of the tropical plants and trees.

Not long after we passed this tree in full blossom, we rounded a blind bend and were confronted with half the road having been washed away. A temporary crash barrier had been erected to keep you away from a huge drop.

The drive through the hills continued for about 70kms. After we returned to the main road we saw many areas that had been burnt in the recent fires. Our view of the hills was severely restricted by the smoke haze and when we wound the windows down you could smell the smoke.

When we had gone about halfway to Nan we came across large areas of deforestation. This combined with the smoke filled air created a doomsday scenario. For the first time in Thailand the countryside was no longer a delight to see. It was all rather depressing.

As the drive continued we came back into a more forested region that the fires had not touched. We reached our destination, Nan, at around 1pm, a drive of just under six hours.

Wendy had read the Rough Guide section on Nan and found that there were two temples of interest to visit. So after checking in to our hotel, we set off for the first, a five hundred year old temple called Wat Phumin. The main temple had a four sided central dais, with four golden Buddhas. The roof of the temple was beautifully carved and decorated.

Whilst at the temple we came across a small domed building. Inside was the Buddhist version of hell. Those condemned to hell were being punished in terrible ways. It reminded me of the awful S21 detention centre in Phnom Penh. It was a very macabre place.

We moved on from the temple to another temple about 2kms out of the town. As we walked up to the temple I noticed these three monks buying a lottery ticket from a vendor. An interesting moment!

The temple is famous for its giant 55 metre golden chedi.

Inside the temple courtyard was this row of small golden Buddhas. I think they make a good photographic subject.

As we left the temple I stopped to buy some cashew nuts from a lady selling them on the lawns. Next to her was this lovely old lady, who very kindly agreed to having her photo taken. She laughed a lot when I showed it to her on the display screen of my camcorder.

We headed back to the hotel and drove past this group of young boys, dressed in scout uniforms, walking along the road holding long sticks.

The car by now had become very dirty so we stopped at a roadside car wash. Two young men set to work and in no time at all the car was spotless. They didn't speak much English but a young woman, who was valeting the cars, spoke some English and we told them about the tour and the website. We took this group photo of them, with their nephew and niece. I hope they are able to access the site to see this photo. Thank you guys for doing such a good job!

Tomorrow we head for Laos, our fifth country of the tour. We will have driven more than 4,000 miles by tomorrow evening, with nearly 2,000 to go.

February 28th – Day 22 – Nan, Thailand to Vientiane, Laos

2009-07-29T01:32:00.000-07:00

Before posting about today’s drive, I want to update everyone on the plight of the Andrew & Sheila Marshall. Their Landrover Defender had an oil leak which meant they could not drive at more than 50mph. The replacement part they needed had to be flown out from the UK, and amazingly, it arrived yesterday, just 36 hours after being dispatched. A local dealer fitted it and they left Chiang Mai in the afternoon, arriving in Nan at about 8pm. It is another example of what you need to do, to ensure you complete an event.

Now, to today’s drive. It was a case of another day, another country. This time it is was Laos, the fifth country of the tour. When we went to our car in the hotel car park we saw Bert & Stefan Diebel’s car wrapped in pink ribbons, with a great big sign on the window saying, ‘Happy Birthday, Stefan’. This had been done yesterday evening by Simon Dedman and his co-driver, Andrew.

It was a long drive from Nan to Vientiane, just under 600kms. This meant a 6.30am start. With sunrise at 6.15am we were able to leave Nan in the light and watch the sun rise into the hazy sky due to the forest fires that are burning all over this part of Thailand.

A a bit later we came up behind Alan Crisp and John Faulkner while driving through a national park.

As we headed south, close to the Laos border our views of the hills were restricted by the smoke filled skies.

It was a sombre reminder of the cost Thailand, and the world, is paying for the clearing of the forests by farmers, turning it into arable land.

Road works on one of the minor mountain roads.

On either side of the road beautiful clumps of pampas grass were growing with their long stems often bending over the road.

We were now driving alongside a river which was the border between Thailand and Laos. At one point we came across this market which was at a border crossing. We still had over 300kms to go before we reached the Friendship Bridge crossing to Vientiane.

About 200kms from our destination we reached the banks of the mighty Mekong River. The Mekong is the third longest river in Asia after the Yangtze and the Yellow river. The car by the Mekong

We stopped by the side of the river for a short break and just as we were about to drive off, a police car with three cars following it, drove past. The police car was escorting a car, with two security cars following. When I tried to overtake, the last car pulled out to block my way. We were stuck behind them for over 70kms, before we stopped for diesel.

At one point this giant wasp attached itself to the windscreen as we were driving along at 70mph!

About 40kms from the border the route took us along the Mekong, with views of Vientiane on the opposite bank.

We had just been joined by Bob and Thelma and I took this photo of Wendy and them in front of the Mekong and with Laos in the background.

Just along the road we came across these examples of topiary with, as it turned out, our hotel in Vientiane the white building on the left.

We arrived at the Thai border crossing on the south side of the Mekong and cleared their immigration and customs quickly. We then drove across the Friendship Bridge, which has both Lao and Thai flags flying on both sides of the bridge.

When you have crossed the bridge; you have to do something which doesn’t happen very often: switch from the left to the right, as Laos drives on the right.
Clearing customs in Laos took a bit longer than leaving Thailand and Wendy took this photo of Don & Paul looking at their watches as we waited for the Lao customs to issue our visas. John Brown looks pretty pleased with himself!

The drive to the hotel was only about 20 kms.

In the evening we went to a Lao restaurant on the banks of the Mekong, for a meal that had been arranged by a friend of Felicity and Jeremy, who lives in Vientiane. A lovely way to end the day.

March 1st – Day 23 – Vientiane to Luang Prabang

2009-07-28T00:22:00.000-07:00

Once again a stay of only one night in a capital city is simply not long enough, and looking at the itinerary, the same happens in Hanoi. What is John Brown thinking about? Still, we had a chance to see one or two of the principal sights in the city as we drove out heading north to Luang Prabang.

We left the hotel at 9.45am and almost immediately saw the ancient chedi, That Dam.

The route then took us along Vientiane’s equivalent of the Champs Elysee, the Th Lan Xang.

At the end is the Patouxay Arch, the Laotian equivalent of the Arc de Triomphe.

We then drove a short distance to the magnificent That Luang stupa.

This is located next to the National Assembly building.

We were sorry to discover that the route did not include the fine old French colonial buildings we had wanted to see, as well as missing out on the Presidential Palace. By now the morning rush hour traffic made the drive out of the city pretty tedious, and for the first 50kms we were stuck in slow traffic. Once clear of the trucks we managed to speed up a bit and were promptly stopped by the police in a radar trap for doing 94kms/hr in an 80kms/hr zone. The policeman was very polite and smiled as he warned us to keep to the limit and then waved us on. We found out later that others had been stopped but, as I write this, I don’t know if anyone was ticketed.
We came across this rather dilapidated bridge, which is being replaced by a new one that they are building, and as we waited for vehicles to cross we saw this old Landrover parked on the side, being used as an advertising hording for adventure trekking and canoeing.

We came up behind this bus and the sign on the back caught our attention.

A typical local bus, overloaded with passengers and goods!

The drive took us through some beautiful scenery.

Many villages we went through had bustling markets and this one was by a large reservoir where the main livelihood, is fishing. All the stalls had smoked fish hanging from racks.

By now it was lunchtime, so we stopped by a river and had a snack. There were people fishing in the river, as well as children swimming. It was an idyllic spot.

Shortly after we had our lunch we saw this amazing sight on the side of the road. A small muddy pool that was filled to capacity with water buffalo, wallowing in the mud. I immediately thought of the Flanders and Swann song, ‘mud, mud, glorious mud’

We drove on up into the mountains of central Laos. Lovely winding roads took us through one village after another. Here are a few of the photos we took.

All along the road there were groups of people threshing fronds of grass and then rolling them up. They were all working so hard, even the children. We learned later that they were making brooms. They do this after the harvest is collected to supplement their income.

We came across large areas of ‘slash and burn’. It really is very depressing to see areas of this beautiful county being turned into a wasteland.

Finally, were these two on top getting a free ride? If so, as the bus nearly turned over going round this bend, I think they might pay next time!

The total drive today was just under 400kms, and we arrived in Luang Prabang just before 6pm, as the sun was setting. We are here for two nights, our last rest day.

March 1st - Update

2009-07-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Just a very short posting to let all my readers know why there have been no postings since Nan.

We arrived yesterday in Laos and stayed in Vientiane, the capital. The hotel's Internet service was chargeable at a daily rate. I decided not to pay in the expectation I could post from Luang Prabang. Sadly, this hotel does not have Internet access in the room.

Hopefully, I will be able to post the day after tomorrow, our first night in Vietnam.

March 2nd – Day 24 – Luang Prabang

2009-07-26T01:02:00.000-07:00

This was our last rest day of the tour. After today we will have six days of one night stops until the end in Macau.

There had been much talk about the problems of taking wooden items into China. Several people have bought wooden spirit houses, similar to our one, and no one wants a problem when entering China. So, we like others have made the decision to ship ours back to the UK using a local carrier.

As we left the hotel we saw that a couple of cars were being worked on. Paul Wignall’s Nissan had a problem with front shock absorbers, and Jingers was giving him a hand. Is this the best view we have had of Jingers since the tour started?

The G4 Range Rover of Simon Dedman has a problem with the engine management system. Paul’s car is fairly easy to deal with, but Simon’s is definitely not. Trying to find the cause of an electronic problem without the right diagnostic equipment is virtually impossible.

Eric Woolley, one of the 'mechanics' showing how much weight you can lose on a HERO event!!

Our first stop in the town was at a DHL agent who said they would charge $900 to ship the spirit house!!. We rejected that and went to the post office. They said it would cost about $200, but we had to have it crated. The post office man thought he knew where we should go,. So we got a tuk-tuk to lead us to someone who would crate the spirit house. We put the spirit house in the back of the tuk-tuk.

The driver then lead us to a furniture manufacturing unit who said they could do it by 4pm for $30. I agreed with the driver to meet us at 4pm to take the house to the post office.

All this had taken a good hour and we hadn’t been able to have a look around the town. It is situated on the Mekong River and has become a centre of back-packing and trekking holidays. The centre is a very busy place with dozens of cafes and restaurants.

We were most impressed with the town. It is quite unlike the other Laotian towns and villages we have seen, as it is very western and prosperous. We saw the main temple, that has some very beautiful mosaics on the outside of some of the smaller temple buildings.

We then had a mediocre snack lunch at a bar overlooking the Mekong. If only the food had been as good as the stunning view!

We headed back to the hotel for a swim in the hotel's magnificent pool.

We then did some packing for the next six days of the tour. We each carry two bags. One is taken in to the hotel each night and the other remains in the car, to store clothes.

As we walked to our room we passed the car park, where Simon was still trying to sort out his Range Rover. It became clear that despite all his efforts the car could not be repaired in Laos. The decision was taken to ship the car back to England and for Simon and Andrew to travel as passengers with Eric & Lynn Woolley. It was a sad ending to their SE Asia tour.

At 4pm we drove back to the furniture unit to collect the crated spirit house. When we arrived, there was our tuk-tuk driver with his tuk-tuk already loaded with the crate. Off we went to the post office, following the tuk-tuk with the crate in the back.

Half an hour later it was sent on its way to London. We gave our driver a big tip as a thank you for all his help. Wendy took this rather blurred photo of me and the driver in the post office.

In the evening we went to a French restaurant, L’Eliphant, with Alan Crisp and John Faulkner.It was a wonderful treat to have really good French food after all the local food we have had on this trip.

Tomorrow we leave Laos for Vietnam, the sixth country of the tour.

March 3rd – Day 25 – Luang Prabang, Laos to Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam

2009-07-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the most marvellous driving days of the tour, with mile after mile of beautiful empty roads, twisting along through stunning scenery.

We left at 6.30am and as we drove out of the town we past lines of monks walking along the road with their bowls in which locals dropped food.

We drove about 35kms to a village on the Mekong where we took a small boat across the river to see a cave which has hundreds of Buddhas. It was a beautiful morning, with the sun rising over the river, it made for a very special trip.

As we drove on the road followed one of the Mekong tributaries. Many sections of the road had been washed away by the river, and there were numerous diversions and road works. At times it was quite difficult to negotiate our way through piles of rocks and horrendous drops to the river below. Much of the this part of the drive was reminiscent of our drive through eastern Tibet in 2004. It was a hazardous, but exciting drive, which included crossing a river on a ferry, which was powered by a small tug.

The last part of the drive to the border took us for 65 kms on the most atrocious track which had terrible potholes, ruts and diabolical dust. At times we had to ford small streams. Here is Bob Howells ploughing his way through the water.

All these hazards combined to make the 65kms seem twice as long!

The track was leading to a border control that has only recently been opened up to foreigners. We were amazed to see a modern customs building, in the middle of nowhere!Compared to most of Laos, the border buildings were palatial.

We cleared Laotian customs quite quickly and drove a couple of kilometres to the Vietnam control. They were very efficient and in a few minutes we were on our way to our hotel in Dien Bien Phu, the site of the defeat of the French in 1954 by the Viet Minh.

Unfortunately the hotel was not up to our usual expectations and could, at best, be given a one star rating. Adding to the general lack of exclusivity was the 'knocking shop' immediately behind the hotel which overlooked our car park! Young girls, scantily clad, called out to us as we unloaded our bags. I'm not sure if anyone took up their offers!

March 4th Day 26 - Dien Bien Phu to Sapa

2009-07-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

Before I post about today's drive through the mountains of northern Vietnam, I want to share with everyone another of these amusing notices we see when we travel. This time it was in our room at the Muong Thanh Hotel in Dien Bien Phu. The notice had all the rules that guests were advised to conform to. Rule 8 was one I haven't seen before!

We left the hotel at just after 7am and followed the road book directions around the town. Dien Bien Phu was the place where the French were defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954 and there are reminders of this great victory all around the city centre. First, we saw the bunker where General de Castries signed the surrender.

Close by was this memorial to the battle marked by a tank and a propeller.

We then drove by the memorial to the French,

and finally to the Communist forces who had died.

As we left the town we started to see women dressed in national costume. Wonderful headdresses and colourful clothes.

As we continued north we were continually reminded of our drive through China in 2004. Vast areas of green paddy fields, water buffalo and roadworks on a huge scale!

A typical scene: an old lady carrying a huge load, using a strap across her forehead.

Following Paul & Jayne Wignall through a disinfecting control post.

Our drive was now leading us up into the mountains. We had two long passes to climb, with the second the highest pass in Vietnam at 6,559ft. Both passes had sections of major roadworks which made the going quite slow at times. Diggers were grading the mountainside and falling rocks made some sections quite hazardous.

We went past one village with new houses. Apparently these have been built for the people who have been displaced by the construction of a large reservoir. The houses were amongst the best we have seen in rural Vietnam.

We rose higher and higher with wonderful views back down the mountain pass.

It was now 11am and we saw lots of school children coming out of school, dressed in lovely traditional clothes. They made a great photo.

An example of the old and the new Vietnam.Driving through the town of Sin Ho we saw this group of woman sitting by the side of the road. The women on the left were wearing a different style of headdress to those we saw at the beginning of the drive.

Driving past David Dicey, Ahmad and Reza Fakhr having a break by the side of the road.

The mountain scenery became more and more impressive as we neared the top of the second mountain pass.

Once we had reached the top of the pass, we only had about 20 kms to go to reach Sapa.

We were delighted to meet up with some very good friends of ours touring Thailand and Vietnam. Geoffrey and Veronica Poxon, Ian and Vanessa McGowan and Charles and Ann Boughton-Leigh had travelled by overnight train from Hanoi to stay at our hotel. It was great to see them all and we ended the day with a very enjoyable meal at the hotel. They are travelling back to Hanoi tomorrow and then on to southern Vietnam. We wish them a safe onward journey.

Tomorrow we drive the 400kms to Hanoi. Just five days to go of the tour. It is amazing how quickly the time has gone.

March 4th - Update

2009-07-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

We have just arrived in Sapa, Vietnam, and I have an Internet connection in the room. I have now posted Days, 22, 23 & 24. In my haste to get back up to date, I posted Feb 28th - Day 22, after March 1st & March 2nd! I will try and post yesterday and today's postings this evening.

March 5th - Day 27 - Sapa to Hanoi

2009-07-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

Today's drive was over 440kms through some of the very mountainous regions of northern Vietnam, so we left at 7.15am, in the hope that we would arrive in Hanoi at a reasonable hour.

The first 40kms of the drive was back over the highest pass in Vietnam. Within ten minutes we came across a queue of our cars waiting for a section of roadworks to be opened to traffic.

After about fifteen minutes the road was opened and we started the climb up the pass. Following Fred & Ernie Nelan in their GM Avalanche and David Dicey in Terence English's Toyota.

Once we were over the pass we came into an area of tea growing. The women who were collecting the leaves all wore the same hats.

Paddy fields were on either side of the road for miles and miles.

We stopped when we saw this group of women planting one of the paddy fields. It's back breaking work.

I watched this woman planting individual rice plants into the water filled paddy field.

The fields are often quite small and in the valleys they rise in terraces up the valley sides creating wonderful patterns.

As we moved on we saw these two young girls in traditional dress.

What about this for a load on a scooter!

Pigs being transported by scooter. Not much animal welfare in evidence here in SE Asia.

After nearly 8 hours of driving we came to the outskirts of Hanoi. We were driving along one of the levee roads to avoid Hanoi's notorious traffic. It was very run down and reminiscent of parts of China and India we have visited.

We arrived at the Intercontinental at 4.30pm, a drive of over 9 hours.

In the evening we had an organised meal at a restaurant in the centre of the city. Tomorrow morning we will visit the old centre, before driving north to Ha Long Bay and a night on a junk.

A statistic for those interested. Today we passed the 5,000 mile mark of the tour. We have nearly 1,000 miles to go.

Finally Eric Woolley gave me this photo of him, his wife Lynn, Simon Dedman and Andrew Reynolds all wearing the pith helmets they bought in Sapa and doing the Vietconga!

March 6th - An explanation

2009-07-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I 'complained' that we weren't spending more than one night in two capitals, Vientiane and Hanoi. I now know why this happened.

Wendy and I had a chat with John Brown at breakfast yesterday before we left Sapa, and raised this with him. Here is his answer. Originally, the tour was not going into Vietnam because the authorities very rarely allow foreign cars into the country. Added to this is their reluctance to allow RH drive cars to use their roads. (Seeing how diabolical the driving standards are here, I cannot imagine why this should be a problem for them!) As a result of this, the tour was going to skirt Vietnam by going north from Laos into China and then, more or less due east, to Macau. Then, due to the efforts of the travel company, Diethelm, the tour was allowed in to Vietnam. This meant that the time we had in the country was limited to the extra days we would have had in China, skirting Vietnam. This meant only one night in Hanoi was possible.

Vientiane was a different situation. The border crossing into Laos was meant to close at 5pm and John did not think that it was possible for everyone to get to the border by 5pm. So, the day was planned to finish on the Thai side of the border, not in Vientiane. It was then discovered that the border would remain open till 10pm, on payment of an overtime fee! When he learnt this, he changed the overnight stay to Vientiane. The result being, we did at least have a reasonable chance to see the city.

I think this gives an idea of the problems JB and his team have to overcome to stage an event like this.

March 6th - Posting update

2009-07-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

I've just realised that tonight's stay on the junk in Ha Long Bay will mean there will be no posting this evening. Then, tomorrow we drive into China to Behai, and the next day we deliver the cars to the shippers outside Macau. That means we will have to do all the final packing and organising of the car for its shipping to the States in Behai. The upshot is that there simply won't be time for me to post from Behai.

Whatever happens I hope to be able to do a brief update of the last three days when we get to Macau and then put complete postings on when we get back to the UK.

March 7th - Thanks

2009-07-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Just arrived in Behai, China. Too late to post all the events of the past two days, but will hopefully do so when we are in Macau tomorrow evening.

Just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has posted such complimentary comments. It has made all the effort worthwhile. A big thank you to Peter from Angmering and Brian from Sydenham, London for their comments in the last day or so. I have published both comments for everyone to read.

March 6th - Day 28 - Hanoi to Ha Long Bay

2009-07-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

We were up reasonably early so that we could arrange a short tour of the Old Town and central part of Hanoi. The hotel laid on a car and driver, who spoke very little English, but who proceeded to take us to all the principal sights in Hanoi. Below are some of the places we went to.

First, the presidential residence. It seemed rather grand for a communist country!

We then drove past Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, where an army of leaf sweepers were at work. All identically dressed and wearing the trade mark Vietnamese coolie hat.

Ho Chi Minh's body is embalmed in the mausoleum, which is a very impressive, gaunt looking structure, reminiscent of Lenin's tomb in the Kremlin. Apparently, there are only three leaders embalmed in their own mausoleum: Lenin, Mao, and Ho Chi Minh. We have now visited all three.

Two guards, in immaculately dressed white uniforms, guard the entrance doors.

As we drove around motorbikes and scooters come at you from all sides. How they don't hit each other, or you, I'm not sure.

We came to the Old Town, with its very narrow streets and market stalls. This is a typical sight, a market trader laden down with goods.

In the main market area, every type of vegetable was on sale, mostly sold from piles on the ground.

The central lake in the background and scooters everywhere.

Our drive round the city took about two hours and then we headed back to the hotel to pack and drive the 150kms to Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage Site.

As we drove out of Hanoi we saw numerous examples of the rather strange Vietnamese housing style. They build two, three, four and five story houses that are very narrow and often stand on their own. In the majority of cases only the front is painted, with the

sides left with bare cement. Definitely not my style of architecture!The drive to Ha Long Bay will be forever remembered because of the diabolical driving, by both car and truck drivers. Vehicles overtake directly at you, forcing you to swerve out of their way. How we never saw any accidents I will never know.

We arrived at Ha Long Bay to board our junk at about 3pm. HERO had organised for the whole group to be taken by three junks out into Ha Long Bay, for one night. There were about fifteen of us on our junk. We were taken by a small tender to the junk from the jetty.

One of the three junks with the 4x4xplore banner on the side.

Ha Long Bay is an incredible place. Hundreds of karst islands jut out of the water, as far as they eye can see.

Unfortunately for us, the weather was very overcast and we didn't see Ha Long at its best. Added to this was the fact that since we have been in the Hanoi area it has become quite cold, with the temperature down to as low as 12 degrees. Wendy in her anorak, to keep out the cold wind, with Inez Pritz, cruising through the islands.We reached our destination as it was getting dark. There were many other junks anchored nearby, which made for a pretty photo, with their lights and the dark shapes of the islands behind them.

In the evening we were all taken by tenders to an island with a cave for a candle lit dinner, with traditional music and dancers. It was great fun, apart from the cold wind that blew through the cave. How the weather has changed since those days in Thailand!

Tomorrow we leave Vietnam for China, the last country we visit on the tour.

March 6th - Day 29 - Ha Long Bay, Vietnam to Beihai, China

2009-07-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

Today, we entered the seventh country of the tour, China. The drive from Ha Long was about 180kms, but once again we encountered many examples of incredibly dangerous Vietnamese driving. Cars, trucks and buses all overtake on blind bends and directly at oncoming traffic. I think I speak for most on the tour, when I say we will all be glad when we leave Vietnamese drivers behind us!

As we left Ha Long Bay we went over a long bridge. Following Do and Els Meuss on the bridge.

One of the French legacies, is that the Vietnamese bake wonderful bread. We have stopped and bought great French loaves from vendors by the side of the road. We went past this scooter laden down with baskets full of bread.

After about 50kms we left the worst of the traffic behind us and headed out into hilly countryside. Another example of the lack of animal welfare here in SE Asia. Each of these small baskets held a pig. You can see their legs sticking out from the bottom baskets.

We then came across a traffic jam, which turned out to be as a result of a collision between a jeep and a truck. There was total gridlock. The Vietnamese have the habit of driving up the wrong side of a line of parked vehicles and meeting the opposing traffic head on. The result is that nobody can move. We thought we would be there for hours, but luckily for us where we had stopped there was a slope down to a field and a muddy track running alongside the road for a couple of hundred yards, which ended on the far side of the accident. So, into low range gear and down the slope we went, to much consternation from the Vietnamese truck drivers. We ploughed our way through the mud and climbed the slope back to the road. Wendy took this photo halfway along in the field.

Once we were back on the road, our way was blocked by trucks and cars that had driven up past all the stationary vehicles. You can just see the line of parked trucks to the right of this truck who had to back up for a couple of hundred yards before we could get past him and on our way again.

All the other cars from the group that were behind us, took the same detour to avoid the accident.

The remainder of the drive to the Chinese border took us about an hour. When the advance car crossed into China it took Arne about five hours to get through Chinese immigration and customs. Apparently his was the first foreign car to cross at this border crossing into China in living memory! Once again HERO had put a huge effort into making sure we didn't suffer the same fate.The Chinese border as we drove towards it in no man's land.

The Chinese customs went to great lengths to confirm the car's details. Here you can see three officials trying to find the car's engine number, with me looking on behind them.

They then examined one or two of our bags. It appeared they were most interested in books and magazines, flipping through pages of Wendy's books to see if there was anything political in them!

Whilst at the border we met up with Lefung, our Chinese guide from the Great Tour of China in 2004. She was helping the event once again. Here she is helping Lynn Woolley.

Once through the border we had about 200kms of fast expressway to drive to our hotel in Behai. The Chinese expressways are amazing roads. They are virtually empty of traffic, I think mainly because the local drivers cannot afford the tolls. It was such a contrast to Vietnam!

The drive took us under two hours to our hotel for the final night of the tour.

Having to hand the car over to the shipping company tomorrow afternoon meant everything had to been taken out for re-packing. With the car going to the States from China, we couldn't leave anything in it we wanted in England. So, we gratefully took up Alan Crisp's offer to take some of our things back to the UK in his car. I then went to a local car wash to have it cleaned inside and out. The day ended with us all having a very good Chinese meal at the hotel.

Our wonderful tour of SE Asia will end tomorrow at the finishing ceremony just outside Macau, some 560 kms from Behai.

March 8th - Day 30 - Beihai to Macau

2009-07-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Our final day!

The drive to the shipping warehouse near the border with Macau was just under 560kms, all on these great Chinese expressways. So, over 350 miles was covered in well under five hours.

A few photos taken on the drive. The first of us overtaking Paul and Jayne, not something we did very often, especially when Jayne was driving!

Driving up into the hills of south-western China. Not a car to be seen!

More empty road. OK, there is ONE car in the far distance.

Eric and Lynn Woolley, with Simon and Andrew as their passengers, drawing up alongside us in one of the toll booths.

We arrived at the warehouse just after 12.30pm. For the next couple of hours we all celebrated the ending of the tour as one car after another finished the event. Again a few photos. The first of the champagne being offered around by Eric and Lynn. Apologies to Simon if it was his!

Congratulations being shared between Lynn and Inez.

About to cross the Finish line behind Car No.4, Jim and Helen.

Crossing the line, with John Brown waving the chequered flag.

Do and Els finishing with Richard Smith on the left.

Rolf, Inez and Peter Pritz, finishing. How Inez manages to survive, sitting in the back of their two door Pajero, Wendy and I will never know!

True to form Paul Wignall had to do something different! He hurtled towards the finishing line, slamming on the brakes and screeching to a halt in front of a very startled John Brown.

Tom and Rosalie Gatsonides shaking hands with John and thanking him for another great event.

Felicity and Jeremy being flagged through. Sadly, they will not be at the finishing party this evening as they have to fly back to the UK today.

Eric and Lynn 'hatted up' in their Vietnamese pith helmets.

And with their passengers, Simon & Andrew, and a beaming JB.

Paul attempting to play one of the musicians instruments, or should I say, playing the fool!

The last car in - Jingers and Greg crossing the line.

Once everyone was in, we loaded all our bags into the coaches and headed off for the border. Our first view of a misty Macau and its high rise casinos.

It took about an hour to cross into Macau, pulling our bags through immigration controls, as they couldn't be left on the coach. It was then a short drive to our hotel, the Westin Resort, and the final party at a local Portuguese restaurant.

We took a short coach ride to the restaurant, which was in a small square. It was pretty cold as we sat outside under awnings. At first we all thought this wasn't going to be much fun, but how wrong we all were. There followed a great evening of prize giving, speeches and singing and dancing to a local band. Wendy and I actually won two of the photo competition prizes!! Many of the locals joined in and when Eric Woolley took the mike to sing, he brought the house down. What a great voice he has.

Stupidly, I did not take my camcorder, so I've no photos to post of a fitting end to the event. I'll try and get some from those who took their cameras.

We leave Macau this evening for Hong Kong airport and our 11.25pm flight back to London. I'll post a final summing up about the event when we get back home.

Before I sign off three very big thank yous. First to John and Joanna Brown for once again organising a successful event, which we have thoroughly enjoyed. The second is to those who have posted comments. As I have said before, it has made doing the blog, often at the end of a long hard day, worthwhile. Finally, I cannot thank Wendy enough for putting up with my Victor Meldrew moments, my driving and being such a great navigator and photographer. Virtually all the photos I've posted have been hers.

March 9th - Macau

2009-07-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

As we have a couple of hours before we head off on the Turbo Jet ferry service from Macau to Hong Kong airport, I have a chance to post about our morning here in Macau.

With the event over it has been a time of saying goodbye to many of our old and new friends. Some have already left for home, wherever that may be, while others are spending a day or more in Hong Kong. Hugh and Julie Brogan are going to Hong Kong where he once worked and then on to Phuket for a few days. Lucky them!

It has also been a time of thanking John Brown and all the HERO team for laying on such an excellent event. We can only hope that he will organise another one. We would like to go to North and East Africa, both areas of the world we haven't been to before. We will just have to wait and see.

Turning to today, we took the hotel shuttle into Macau, passing the vast casino complexes that are springing up all over Macau. The new casinos have thousands of rooms, like the Venetian which is modelled on the Las Vegas casino of the same name, complete with the Camponile in Venice's St Mark's Square. There is even a lagoon complete with gondolas!

There is building going on everywhere and one can only wonder how the credit crunch will affect Macau.

We drove over one of the bridges that leads to the old town of Macau.

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the ferry terminal and we took a taxi into the centre, to the Senado Square. What a contrast to the skyscrapers all around it!

Lovely old Portuguese colonial buildings have been restored and the roads have all been pedestrianised.

Narrow streets lead off the 'main' walkways, very reminiscent of southern European towns.

We walked past the recently restored Church of San Domingo.

Inside there was a beautiful altar and some wonderful statues in side chapels.

After visiting so many temples in SE Asia, it came as quite a surprise to see a Roman Catholic church once again.

We walked on up to the ruins of St Pauls Chruch. All that is left of the church, is the facade. The church has become the iconic image of Macau.

Just above the church is the old fort of Macau with its canons pointing out over the city.

Dominating the skyline is the extraordinary Grand Lisboa casino and hotel. It really is an amazing sight.

We then took a taxi back to the ferry terminal and caught the hotel shuttle back to the hotel.

The couple of hours before boarding the Turbojet to Hong Kong airport was spent doing our final packing and saying goodbye to some of the few remaining participants and HERO crew.

The Turbojet took us an hour to get across from Macau to Hong Kong airport. We fly out with Bob and Thelma who are on our flight to Heathrow. The adventure has come to an end. Such a shame!

March 11th - London - A summing up

2009-07-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, it is all over. We are back in London after a 13 hour flight from Hong Kong.

As is usual after one of these events, we both can't really believe we won't be getting up at 5.30am, packing our bags and heading off on another long day's drive. In fact we both suffer from withdrawal symptoms at the end of a John Brown tour!! It becomes such a way of life, that even with all the negatives, the positives are so huge, you come to ignore the hardships.

On each of the five previous tours we have done, I've used the sentence 'We feel very privileged to have been able to see these countries by driving through them.' Now once again it is an appropriate way to describe our tour through SE Asia.

We have seen people and places that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Hopefully, some of these wonderful memories have come across in the blog, but there are many, many more that I just didn't have time to put down in a daily blog.

We have over three thousand photos and seven hours of video, so we will always be able to look back on the tour and be reminded of many of those very special moments.

Now, we would like to give our final thanks to all those people who made our five week journey through SE Asia such fun. So, here goes.

First, to John and Joanna Brown. We know how much hard work and effort goes into planning an event like this, over a considerable period of time. Well, let us tell you both, it has all been worthwhile. A huge thank you for getting us all safely to the finish.

Second, to the crew on the event. The support they have given everyone, like when so many went down with a tummy bug, as always, has been tremendous. That support is a major reason why Wendy and I sign up for a John Brown event. We know we will be helped if/when times get bad.

Third, to all the other participants. Without doubt this has to be up there with the friendliest group we have travelled with. It is such an important part of an event for everyone to get on with each other. It has been one long party from beginning to end. Thank you to all the crews of the other 22 cars. We will miss you!

Fourth, to all those people we have met from the seven countries we have visited. There was never an occasion when we were not greeted with smiles, interest and help. SE Asia has been like India, Central America and S.America, in this respect. It will never cease to amaze us how generous the poor are with their hospitality. This is especially so, when you see how difficult their lives must be living in universally poor housing conditions.

Fifth, to everyone who has followed the blog and especially to those who posted comments.

Now we must turn our attention to our next drive from California to Alaska, in July/August of this year. As I write this the car is being transported to the port in China from where it will be taken by container ship to Los Angeles. Bob and Thelma Howells are joining us in their Toyota Landcruiser to do a drive through the Pacific western states of the US, into Canada and then on to Alaska. We hope to drive as far north as you can, all the way to the shores of Arctic Ocean. We will then drive south to finish in Anchorage.

I'm already thinking of an appropriate title for the blog. When we did our drive across the States in 2007, I called it 'Two Across the States', referring to the two Landcruisers we were driving. Any suggestions for the Alaskan trip?

April 6th

2009-07-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks Tony Garry from Australia for your kind comments about my SE Asia blog.

When a comment is posted it is e-mailed to me for moderation before publishing or rejection. The comment does not give me an e-mail address to reply to. So, Tony if you get a chance post another comment with your e-mail address and I can reply directly to you. I will not publish it on the blog.

South-east Asia in just over two minutes!

2009-07-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Accompanied by the music of Enya a two minute video tour of South-East Asia using one photo from each of the 33 days we were in South-East Asia. Apologies for the poor sound quality at the beginning. It gets better. I hope you enjoy it.