The vast majority of auto commercials you see on television qualify the driving scenes with "professional driver on a closed course." When we first started planning for The World by Road, we though it would be an interesting angle if we pushed that we were by no means professionals… an angle that your average consumer could better relate to. We are simply ordinary individuals driving two cars around the world… albeit in some not so ordinary situations.
After four months on the road, I can’t help but think that we have become professional drivers in our own right. To date, we have only driven in countries where you drive on the left hand side of the road. Given that our trucks are left-hand drive, you must not only learn to become comfortable at driving on the opposite side of the road, but doing so in a vehicle that is significantly larger than most other vehicles out there.
Australia served as a good proving ground for identifying where new blind spots exist and learning the ins and outs of driving on the other side of the road in relatively calm conditions. Here in SE Asia, it is a whole new ballgame. There are a lot more vehicles on the road, traffic and roads signs are rarely in English and although there are traffic laws, it seems that people only follow them when it is convenient. In Thailand for example, there are long stretches of road were medians prevent you from making right turns as often as you would like. To avoid having to drive further down the road to where you can make a u-turn, people simply use the shoulder and head into oncoming traffic to get to their desired destination more quickly.
Driving into Bangkok was our latest test behind the wheel, and I am happy to say that Steve and I passed with flying colors. This was quite an accomplishment for us since it was just the two of us. Steve drove little pepe while trying to navigate and read the map and I followed in the thundra, blocking traffic when we needed to change lanes or make a sudden turn. The approaching afternoon rain darkened the skies on the way into the city and the rain, compounded by the air quality in and around Bangkok, necessitated the use of headlights at 3 in the afternoon. Relatively speaking, the road to Bangkok is in pretty good condition, except for having to avoid two foot deep potholes that jump out at you every now and then.
About 20km outside of Bangkok we hit gridlock. The traffic was not as bad as we had expected, probably because it was a Sunday afternoon, but it was still pretty intense. Officially, the highway is three lanes but by now, people had formed five lanes of traffic in hopes of moving faster, only to realize it adds to the problem. To make matters worse, people don’t really do a good job of securing loads onto their trucks. It is quite amazing to see just how high people can pile unsecured bags of rice in the back of a pickup truck. At one point, a large rainwater container fell off the back of a truck in front of Steve which he quickly avoided. Luckily the momentum of the container carried it forward allowing me to slip by unscathed as well, however, after a quick glance into the rear-view mirror, it was apparent that other motorists were not as fortunate. After weaving our way past a few more minor to moderate accidents and stopping to jump across the seat to pay the expressway toll (one of the additional requirements of driving a left-hand drive truck by yourself) we were in the city. Again, with luck on our side, we managed to find the right exists, make the right turns, avoid the plethora of mopeds and tuk-tuks and arrive safely at our destination in central Bangkok.
Driving in and around cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and now Bangkok has dramatically increased my alertness, patience, accident avoidance and not to mention my offensive and defensive driving skills. Couple that with the off-roading we have done and will soon face when we cross into Cambodia, I’d say my driving skills are becoming quite impressive.
We also just found out that when we arrive in China, we have to take a driving instruction course in order to be issued the licenses and number plates we need to continue on. I won’t go into how taking a driving course from a Chinese instructor in China makes me feel, but it should make for some good video. Considering all of the driving we have done thus far and all of the conditions we have found ourselves in, I would have to say that some of those professional drivers you see on television might have a thing or two to learn from Steve & Steve.
