Tuk-Tuk to the Road. Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent
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we did begin to wonder whether we might be creating the wrong impression.
As for Ting Tong herself—well, she’s pink, hot pink! And she really is the most rocking tuk tuk in the world. We got a bit of a shock upon arriving at Anuwat’s factory on Monday morning to find a bevy of Anuwat’s workers swarming round her and no roof, seats or wiring. But they’ve done wonders and tomorrow she’ll be ready for us to test drive. We learnt later that Anuwat thought we were leaving next Sunday, not this one, hence the uber-chilled approach to finishing her. Anuwat is a diamond though and has been giving me and Jo the five-star treatment, chauffeuring us around sticky Bangkok and kitting out Ting Tong to perfection, down to the latest MP3 player.
Tomorrow morning it’s breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel, then a visit to the Laos embassy to get our visas, and then mechanical training at the factory in the afternoon. We’ve managed to find a cameraman to come and help us out with the filming, so he’ll be with us for the next few days capturing the action.
We are having quite a week of it here in Bangkok. The time is flying by and every minute is filled with things to do.
Ants’ health took a turn for the worse today and Anuwat and I decided a visit to hospital was in order. They are not sure what is wrong yet so are keeping her in overnight to do tests. It’s not ideal, since we leave on Sunday. Fingers crossed she makes a very speedy recovery. I am fine and seem to be in good health on my very poor diet of fags, Coke and the odd grasshopper. Grasshoppers are actually quite tasty—a bit like a greasy Kettle Chip—although yesterday I got a leg stuck in the back of my throat, which induced a little retching episode. I am happy to say that I did not throw up.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the tuk tuk factory and I learnt all of the mechanical skills that we hope will keep Ting Tong in tiptop shape. I also had a little drive, reaching a top speed of about 10 mph in second gear. Shit! If I go on like that, it’s going to be a hell of a long journey back to Blighty. Perhaps the next challenge will be to do the trip in reverse—I am pretty nifty at reversing Ting Tong.
I went to the Laos embassy this morning on a double mission, first to obtain our visas and second to try and get special permission for us to cross into Laos at the Friendship Bridge. Currently the Laos government has banned Thai-registered vehicles driven by foreigners from crossing into Laos at this main border. This is a little bit worrying, because it is our intended route into country number two.
The traffic in Bangkok has got to be the worst in the world: think permanent rush-hour in the UK and you are still not even close. Coming back from the embassy this morning I opted to take a motorbike taxi, perhaps not the safest method of transport, but by far the quickest. I got back to the hotel in nearly half the time and was so happy that I was still alive I gave the driver a healthy tip.
Two days till Lift Off and my dad arrives from the UK today to spend a week travelling with us. It is very exciting, and having half a parental unit with us will certainly help to calm me down when we get lost or can’t find the right gear, i.e. anything above second. Having said that, we will be travelling a little slower with Dad in the back!
Anyway, I’d better go now before a power-cut wipes this blog and sends me ting tong.
Ugh! I have just returned from a 24-hour sojourn in the Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok. Not ideal two days before Lift Off. I am feeling too feek and weeble to write much now and need to get horizontal again and get my strength back before we start.
It was nothing serious—just a high fever, the shakes and sweats, a viral infection, throat infection, ’flu and pharyngitis according to the hospital medical report. I’m sure it’s all been brought on by stress. What with all our final preparations, the launch party and arriving here, the past two weeks have been physically and mentally very challenging and my immune system caved in. We were at the factory yesterday learning mechanics and filming and I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter. By the time Jo and Anuwat took me to hospital last night I was a human radiator and my temperature had hit 104 °F. After a surfeit of pharmaceuticals, it’s now down to normal. I’m feeling very weak though and not quite sure how I am going to get enough strength to leave by Sunday. Where there is a will there is a way…
I can’t believe it! The tukathon has actually begun. At 11.49 a.m. on Sunday morning Jo, myself and Ting Tong, under the watchful gaze of Queen Victoria’s statue, turned left out of the British embassy in Bangkok and set sail for England. After so many months of planning, it’s extraordinary to think we have actually embarked on our 12,500-mile journey and that for the next three months we will slowly be heading home, each day inching a little closer across the globe.
Having only come out of hospital on Friday I was unsure whether I’d actually be able to go with Jo for the first few days. But after a shaky day on Saturday and a few green, wobbly moments on Sunday morning we were off and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
On Saturday night we took Ting Tong to the Khao San Road and got a taste of what the next few months might be like. Even in Bangkok, where tuk tuks are ubiquitous, people stopped, stared, laughed, took pictures and shook their heads in amazement when we told them we were driving our pink bomber all the way to England. Jo drove her into the Khao San and we parked her up for a few hours while we did a few interviews, people took pictures and Jo clambered on the roof-rack and risked her and Ting Tong’s life for some photos. They’d better be good. Ting Tong went down a storm and, although we might be a little bit biased, she really must be the most supersonic tuk tuk this planet has ever seen. Everyone who sees her definitely goes a little green around the gills. Thanks Anuwat—you are a total star, and Jo and I are both very, very happy that we found you and your amazing tuk tuk factory.
Sunday morning was an early start as we had to load all our kit on to TT and be at the British embassy by 10 a.m. After a rigorous security check at the gates, we cruised up to the front door of the ambassadorial residence to find a pack of photographers and TV crews waiting for us. When Nuttanee, the embassy’s press officer, had said she would be able to get some press along to the launch, we never expected such a good turnout. Maybe it was the lure of a morning at the ambassador’s residence, where they do make exceedingly good cakes.
The next two hours were a blur of interviews, photos, smiling until it felt like our faces might crack, hanging off the side of Ting Tong for more photos, giving the ambassador and his wife a lift in TT, and hurried goodbyes to cousin Bert and Hannah, Jess and André. Then in we got and off we went. We could never have dreamed our launch would be such a grand affair, and we owe a very big thank you to Mr and Mrs Fall for their amazing hospitality. Even better—Mr Fall might get a tuk tuk fromAnuwat to drive around Wiltshire in his retirement. Spread that tuk tuk love!
Since then, we’ve been speeding north in Ting Tong, eliciting smiles wherever we go. Jo was at the wheel for the first two days, cursing everyone’s slow driving and bombing past astonished drivers at 60 mph in the fast lane. Despite the floods in the north of Thailand, the terrible Indonesian earthquake and all the strife in East Timor, we made it into seven Thai newspapers on Monday morning and onto two TV