The road tracklog
From Padang Besar to Surat Thani
from 14/12 to 15/12/2007

The border crossing with Malaysia is presented by the travelog in Malaysia.
I had found a bivouac along a beach rocked by wave noise. Alas around 9:00 pm the police dislodged me for my safety. I settled in the park of the Police station at approximately 500 meters from the beach. The police officers invited me to have a cup of coffee and the discussion rolled during nearly one hour on my journey by the means of an English speaking teacher.

The following day was a driving day in the intermittent rain. The road mainly skirts the littoral of the Gulf of Thailand. The roadway is often with four lanes before the accesses of the large cities. The road still raises the flags of the sixtieth birthday of the accession to the throne of King Bhumibol in August 1946. It is currently the longest royal reign in the world. Knowing that the Queen of England is the oldest monarch in the world! The entry of some cities still has a Triumphal arch with the effigy of the King, cf Siphon. The landscape is flat except before Surat Thani. After having vainly tried to find a bivouac on a beach, I stopped in the courtyard of a monastery at the edge of a river two kilometres before Surat Thani.

 
Triumphal arch 
Siphon 
the 15/12/2007 

The road tracklog
From Surat Thani to Prachuap Khiri Khan
the 16/12/2007

It was still a driving day on an expressway with four lanes whose left lane is sometimes degraded by heavy trucks. Exchangers are simple U-Turn according to the English denomination and intersections are managed by of Traffic-lights. I arrived around 16:00 at the chosen stage, Prachuap Khiri Khan on seashore and dominated by Wat Thamnikaram at the top of a hill with the effigy of the King at the bottom. From the summit the view on the littoral is idyllic.

 
Wat Thamnikaram 
Prachuap Khiri Khan 
the 16/12/2007 

 
The bay
Prachuap Khiri Khan 
the 16/12/2007 

It was the last day of road towards Bangkok. The Highway 35 was under work of widening. I stopped on the market square in Samut Sakhon along the express way. I wished to enter Bangkok in the early morning to find a carpark close to the embassy of France.

The road tracklog
From Prachuap Kiri Khan to Bangkok
the 17 & 18/12/2007

The 18/12 I left Samut Sakhom as of early dawn to arrive in Bangkok before prohibition to circulate for trucks. I was at the embassy of France around 07:30. The person in charge of the security of the embassy intervened with the chief of the Fire station so that he accepts that my truck parked during one week in the enclosure. It was not the ideal place, close by a wall in front of firemen’s trucks, Steyr-Man. But I was in Bangkok beside the mythical Oriental Hotel which I visited in the evening. It is not any more the hotel which I saw twenty years ago. It was restored and included in an ultra-modern one.
The days of the December 18 and 19 were devoted to administrative steps to visit the following countries. At this occasion I walked in the district of Silom, Sathon and Lumphini Park. Of course I didn’t recognize the city. It is furrowed by Expressways and Skytrain. Admittedly the traffic is more fluid, but it is massacred. I went at the end of the day to the Alliance Française to read the French-speaking newspapers.

 
Skytrain & Expressway
Bangkok 
the 18/12/2007 

 
Vehicle immobilizers 
Bangkok 
the 18/12/2007 

The 19/12 afternoon I visited the district of China Town with its shopping streets as Sampeng Lane built in 1782 close to the river for the carriage of goods. Further the worthy Bank of Bangkok of more than 100 years old.

 
Sampeng Lane
Bangkok 
the 19/12/2007 

 
Bangkok Bank 
Bangkok 
the 19/12/2007 

The 20/12 was a long day of visit whose strong times were the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, the Golden Mount and the Golden Buddha of Wat Trimit. Randomly of the walk I lunched in the street. Pollution is on two levels, the fumes exhaust, not cars which are recent, but buses and especially tuk-tuk and sound, not horns but the exhausts of tuk-tuk and boats on the Chao Phraya River. The police are very present in air-conditioned kiosks and by motor bikes. The temperature was approximately 34°C.

 
Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho
Bangkok 
the 20/12/2007 

 
Food stall 
Bangkok 
the 20/12/2007 

 
My lunch
Bangkok 
the 20/12/2007 

The last day of visit in Bangkok was dedicated to Wat Arun the third most important monastery in the city and to the Dusit Park. The LP presented it like a haven of quietude; alas it is wired for sound. It was almost impossible to find a place without noise in this megalopolis. The park gathers buildings as Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall which exhibits objects of a great artistic interest. I spent a long moment there. However the pleasure was trowel by the intransigence of guards, it is necessary to take off shoes and put belongings in lockers, paying in Vimanmek Mansion! It is impossible to take photos. I finished the day by a French-speaking newspaper review in Alliance Française.

 
Wat Arun 
Bangkok 
the 21/12/2007 

 
Abhisek Throne Hall
Bangkok 
the 21/12/2007 

The road tracklog
From Bangkok to
from 22  to 24/12/2007

In this Saturday 22/12 I left Bangkok in the early morning to exit this sprawling town. At 20 kilometres from Kanchanaburi I met Marcelle and Alain with their Land-Rover. We exchanged information during the lunch. We decided to see us again in Kampuchea at Angkor. I visited the Bridge of the Kwai River of which the metal frame replaced that one in wood three months after its construction. Back to my truck I was bitten at the calf by a dog, what a bad luck! I of course decided to go to the hospital accompanied by a policeman to make me look after and receive the first of the five injections of the anti-rabic vaccine. The bivouac was established at the location indicated by Alain beside the Stadium.

 
The Bridge over the River Kwai
KanchanaBuri 
the 22/12/2007 

Arrived in the morning at Erawan National Park I strolled on the track to see the seven cascades with turquoise water, colour due to calcium carbonate particles in suspension. By twice I walked adjacent tracks, “Interpretive trails” equipped with didactic panels. It was a pleasant day of relaxation in silence in the shade of trees. I bivouacked on a deserted carpark. The night was resting with a temperature largely lower than 30°C.

 
 
Erawan Waterfall 
the 23/12/2007 

 
Interpretive trail
Erawan Waterfall 
the 23/12/2007 

The last day in the province of Kanchanaburi was devoted to visit the Death Railway. At Hellfire Pass I walked one hour and a half on the unused rail bed where prisoners cut the mountain with primitive tools. Alas the museum was closed. Then in Death Curve at Krasae the railway is in overhang of the Khwae River. The railway which connected Thailand to Burma on 415 kilometres was built in 1942 by Japanese and resulted in the death of 6,982 Prisoners of War. The movie of the Bridge over the Kwai River is cinematographic epiphenomena. I went again at the Stadium campsite in Kanchanaburi in order to publish a page of my website.

 
 
Hellfire Pass 
the 24/12/2007 

 

Death Curve at Kra Sae 
the 24/12/2007 

The Christmas Day I taken again my progression towards the north of Thailand.