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Life.Culture.Discovery.

Three men, one vintage Land Rover, and a 900km trip through southern Thailand

A slow drive from Bangkok to Phuket with random turns down hairy side roads is a great way to see – and smell – life in the rural south of the country, where you’re never far from the sea

Reading Time:4 minutes
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The Land Rover navigates a bone-crunching dirt road.

It feels like hours since we last stopped. I’m cramped from sitting hunched over and my sweaty legs are sliding all over the vinyl seats.

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“Ugh … ooofff … damn!” I grunt as we bang over a pothole, the jolt making my spine throb. The 53-year-old Land Rover bucks like an angry bull, its suspension rigid with age and practicality.

“Turn right here,” I shout at the driver, Torben. The crunching of knobby tyres on tarmac, a throbbing diesel engine and windows open for the fresh air – the air-con having long since given up – rob our conver­sa­tion of nuance.

The view from the Land Rover.
The view from the Land Rover.

We jounce down a narrow dirt lane atop a dyke, with fish ponds on either side and no one in sight.

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“Where do you think this goes?” Torben asks, clenching the wheel as he pumps the heavy clutch and drops a gear. The trans­mission gives a rattling snarl.

“I have no idea. Let’s see.”

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