I will post this here, as it only came to light because of this event:
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One Thai Man’s Epic Overland Journey from the UK to Bangkok in 1970
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/ ... k-in-1970/
Most days, 76-year-old Anussorn stays at home, or his driver drops him off at his favorite Thai restaurant a few hundred meters away. On Wednesdays the gentle grandpa has doctor’s appointments.
But in the ‘70s, Anussorn was barrelling across Europe and the Middle East on his way from the UK to Bangkok. He threw back entire cases of beer in Switzerland. He ate hashish in Afghanistan, after smoking it “had no effect.” He stared up in awe at the Bamiyan Buddhas.
Soon after Khaosod English ran an article about an expedition driving from Singapore to London, which stopped in Bangkok on Sept. 2, a friend of Anussorn contacted us with the story of a similar journey.
Anussorn Thavisin, a former editor at the Bangkok Post (starting in 1971 and retiring in 2000), sat down with us to recount an epic journey few ever complete in their lifetime.
“It was my dream to do an overland journey. At the time, it seemed like everyone was driving from Europe to India because it was in fashion,” he said. “But I hadn’t heard of a Thai doing one yet.”
A few years ago, Anussorn suffered a blood infection, underwent two liver transplants, and endured a liver dialysis, with the illness causing him to lose parts of his memory. But he was determined to recount as much of his journey as he could.
It all began on 15 January 1970, when Anussorn, then 27, and three British schoolmates from university started on what would be a six-month journey back to his home country.
After graduating in electrical engineering at the University of Manchester, Anussorn, George Emsden, David Shaw, and Simon Richard drove around the UK saying goodbye to their classmates. They stopped at Derby, London, and Harridge before crossing over to the Hook of Holland via ferry.
“I had saved up for a second-hand Land Rover. But on one of our nights out at the pub, we almost lost the car because vandals loosened the wheels. When we went to drive it, the car broke down while we were making a turn and we hit a road sign. So we wasted money and two months while it got fixed,” he said. “We only had rough plans in our head, like that we couldn’t go through Yugoslavia because it was communist.”
Shaw was in charge of navigation and took most of the trip’s photos. Anussorn was the only one to keep a log of the journey, in a blue notebook which he still keeps today.
“Car almost 50,000 baht, spares 1,500 baht. UK–Holland 1,400 baht, Italy to Greece 1,500 baht, Ceylon–Singapore 3000 baht,” the first page says. “Total distance covered 15,000 miles, 24,000 km.”
A long article at the link:
This Land Rover is a Series 2 or 2A, it was the successor model to the car featured previously. It was known as a 4WD Safari Station Wagon, 4 door with a tropical roof and 2.25 petrol engine. I owned one many years ago.
