Living in North India I have heard countless stories from my friends and family who have driven to Leh, Nepal, Jaipur, you name it. I have friends who drive to Agra just to spend the weekend there. I myself have driven to various places, but mostly from Kanpur to Dehradun.
The long windy trip exhausts me even before it begins. I can, with utmost confidence, say that driving is not my preferred mode of transportation. I am an impatient traveller. I cannot reach the place I’m travelling fast enough and wish with all my heart that some scientist somewhere would listen to my plea and invent teleportation, so that I wouldn't have to waste the precious hours that I could spend exploring a place, cooped up in a car, bus or plane.
Last week I read an article which stirred the adventuress in me. The gist of it was that one could drive to Thailand. An international road trip! How amazing is that? With further research, I learnt that there would be many beautiful stops on the way, thus making the journey as exciting as the destination or maybe more.
What is AH1?
Asian Highway 1 (AH1) is the longest route of the Asian Highway Network, running 20,557 kilometres from Tokyo, Japan via Korea, China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria west of Istanbul where it joins end-on with European route E80, says Wikipedia. Just looking at the names of all these countries makes the traveller in me dance in anticipation.
The Asian Highway network was endorsed by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in 1992. The AH1 has various sections in all the countries it connects, but the one that pertains to us is the Myawaddy-Thinggan Nyenaung-Kawkareik section that connects India to Thailand via Myanmar. You will have to cross two borders to reach Bangkok, which means two more stamps on the passport. As a collector of immigration stamps it thrills me to no end!
The drive is approximately 3,800 kilometres from Delhi to Bangkok and will take around 62 hours of non-stop driving. This is unrealistic because driving for 62 hours straight is not only unhealthy but dangerous and, moreover, that way you will not be stopping to see the beautiful places you cross.
During this road trip the first border crossing will be in Moreh, Manipur, from where you enter Myanmar. Just reaching this border will take a little more than half the total travel time, but you will cross through India’s beautiful and untrampled North-East, which itself is a feast for the senses.
Once you cross into Myanmar you will pass through the quaint towns full of Buddhist history, including the capital Yangon, enigmatic Mandalay and ancient Bagan. Each of these places deserves an overnight stop so you can visit the mighty temples and trek among the green mountains. You can stroll in the corridors of the palaces and do a picnic by the Inle Lake. Don’t miss the immensely golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.
The border town between Myanmar and Thailand is Myawaddy. Just cross the bridge connecting Myawaddy to the Thai town Mae Sot and you have entered Thailand. The journey doesn’t end here though. Bangkok is towards the south of Thailand and you will be travelling through many cities of Thailand to reach the beaches, curries and massage parlours of Bangkok, which you will yearn for after such a long road trip.
Your road trip vacation will end with a ‘Bang’ with the sights, scents and sounds of the gorgeously carved ‘wats’ (monastery temples), delicious food and colourful streets of Thailand!