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eventually found the place just before the
military imposed curfew started.
The following day, I drove into the
middle of Bangkok through a heavy traffic,
which made driving a little stressful; cars,
motorbikes and people were everywhere.
The good thing about driving a truck is
that I could see over the cars in front of
me, the bad thing was that it is not easy
to manoeuvre. I had a meeting at UNICEF
Thailand’s office to discuss the balloon
event in Chiang Mai the following month
and luckily they had reserved a car park
for me on the street.
That meeting was followed by another
meeting with some balloonist friends of
mine who were arranging the various
flying permissions needed in Chiang Mai.
This time it really was in the centre of
Bangkok. The streets were very narrow
and I thought it wasn’t such a good
idea to drive the truck there as I had no
idea where to park it. Luckily for me the
Intercontinental Hotel was just down the
road from the meeting place and they
kindly let me park there.
That night, I found a hotel close to the
airport. Bangkok is a really happening
place at night and has something for
everyone. The military imposed curfew
ended while I was there and it was a relief
tomany, especially those in the hospitality
industry.
The next fewdays I spent going around
Bangkok. There was a large military pres-
ence around Victory Monument, but that
was the only sign of Thailand being under
military control. It was fun to walk around
the backstreets to see how the city really
worked and how people carried out their
everyday life: I came across hundreds of
people doing aerobics in the park dressed
in brightly coloured clothes, there are also
small markets selling all kinds of weird
and wonderful things. I even got a haircut
at a backstreet barber for a few dollars.
Everything is very reasonably priced and
some great deals can be found in themany
shopping centres and markets around
Bangkok – a heaven for all shopaholics!
Siem Reap was my next destination
and I left early in the early afternoon for
Cambodia. But that’s another leg of my
journey that I will be sharing in the next
issue. If you like the project and would
like to know more about it or make
a donation, please go to our website:
www.flyinghighforkids.com or follow
us on facebook: www.facebook.com/
flyinghighforkidsproject
FireFlyz | 31
Throughout the weeks spent in Kuala
Lumpur, I made two more media flights
over Putrajaya before saying goodbye to
Malaysia and made my way to Thailand.
The 1500km drive to Bangkok, Thai-
land, was a relatively easy one. There are
many plantations on the way up: palm
oil, pineapples, durians and plenty of rice
paddies. The roadwas good; a toll road up
to the Thai border, but no tolls on the Thai
side. Border formalities weren’t a problem
and the border officials were helpful too.
For a first land border crossing with my
truck and balloon, it was an easy one.
I parked at a service station for the
night just outside of Hat Yai, 80km north
of the border. There are a lot of good
service stations to park at in Thailandwith
toilet facilities, a supermarket and often
a restaurant. It is the Thai version of an
Australian roadhouse.
I arrived in Bangkok the following
night and found my friend’s place despite
some difficulty due to my GPS not having
a detailed map of Bangkok and one of the
roads I had to take was closed. Wondering
what to do, I stopped at a restaurant and
had an interesting conversation with a
friendly drunk guy who drew me a map
and pointed me in the right direction. I