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Leaning over to check how fast we're going - 150 km/h - I notice for the first time that the taxi driver has fallen asleep at the wheel. Behind us, the road stretches out straight and long, and I wander how long it's been since he nodded off. We nudge him gently, with a cautious hand hovering over the steering wheel in case he wakes with a start. Instead, he wakes slowly, almost lazily, and then grins sheepishly as he winds the windows down and turns the radio up. This proves insufficient stimulation, so he speeds up even more - 175 km/h. "To keep awake", he replies to our raised eyebrows, as if it's perfectly reasonable and should have been obvious. A surprisingly-cold wind shrieks through the cab in close-fought competition with the latest Thai pop sensation, as we hurtle through Bangkok's pre-dawn darkness toward the airport. Assuming I survive the taxi ride, I will soon be in the air, heading toward a South-East Asian country I have always been fascinated by - Burma/Myanmar...

Burma One: On the road to Mandalay...

Michael Meadows
2007-01-23 12:03:47

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Leaning over to check how fast we're going - 150 km/h - I notice for the first time that the taxi driver has fallen asleep at the wheel. Behind us, the road stretches out straight and long, and I wander how long it's been since he nodded off. We nudge him gently, with a cautious hand hovering over the steering wheel in case he wakes with a start. Instead, he wakes slowly, almost lazily, and then grins sheepishly as he winds the windows down and turns the radio up. This proves insufficient stimulation, so he speeds up even more - 175 km/h. "To keep awake", he replies to our raised eyebrows, as if it's perfectly reasonable and should have been obvious. A surprisingly-cold wind shrieks through the cab in close-fought competition with the latest Thai pop sensation, as we hurtle through Bangkok's pre-dawn darkness toward the airport. Assuming I survive the taxi ride, I will soon be in the air, heading toward a South-East Asian country I have always been fascinated by - Burma/Myanmar...

When we do arrive safely - and much earlier than I'd initially expected! - at Suvarnabhumi, (Bangkok's enormous new airport), I suggest to the taxi driver
that he should go home and get some sleep. This elicits a hysterical & strangely grateful laugh, as if I've just told him a hilarious joke and paid him a huge compliment in doing so. With a happy wave, looking as if he was deeply touched by what I'd said, he accelerates away into the dawn of the new day. Shouldering our packs with a smile, Brian & I turn and head into the airport. Brian's a fellow exchange student at Rangsit University, born and bred in New York, (with the street smarts to prove it). More importantly, he's a good mate and a fellow founding member of the elite & distinguished Adventure Squad A-Team (copyright Conover 2006). =P Brian loves to travel & is always up for an adventure - he was the first I told about my plan to go to Burma. (And a big thank you to ...