25. Worst road in history
Trip Start
Jan 26, 2007
1
26
70
Trip End
May 31, 2008
Cambodia/Thailand border, Thailand
Saturday, May 5, 2007
When we got the ticket, the agent said that it would take 5 hours to get to the border of Thailand and then a further 8 hours to get to Bangkok overnight. So that was fine, until we got sight of the bus. We've never seen anything as dirty, it didn't look in great shape from the outside and the seats were all ragged and torn. It started to rain a little bit when we set off, it wasn't that heavy but it had rained heavily the night before.
About 10km out of the city the roads started to get a bit worse, when i say worse, the amount of potholes meant that there were more potholes than tarmac. Another 5km after that...the tarmac disappeared altogether and we were on a dirt track.
The rain picked up a little bit then so all the cars were driving in anything but a straight line trying to avoid the puddles which had formed in these massive craters in the road. The bus was hoping all over the place, the windows were rattling, the window wipers weren't working properly and the rain was seeping in through the roof. This journey which was supposed to last 5 hours took eight. The guys on the motorbikes had to walk beside their bikes because they couldn't keep their balance. It was unreal, the absolute fastest you could go on the road was about 15 mph, max, or else you'd be off the road.
After 8 hours of that we had to try to negotiate customs and visas for Thailand which took ages and a good half mile walk over the border in the now pouring rain. Funny though because on the border there were loads of gambling casinos and gambling resorts because it’s a no mans land and there were loads of Thais on holidays there. When we got through customs we got lost trying to find our bus for Bangkok. We found it just in time as it was pulling off with the driver going mad because he was late. Jenny made a mad dash for some crisps and water to fill up on for the journey to Bangkok.
After that it was plain sailing on fantastic, beautiful, dual carriageways with lovely, black tarmac.........mmmmmmmm......tarmac.....
