Bangkok followed the Bumiphon Reservoir, before a trek north again, back into Laos to investigate its Route-13 south.

I might as well have slept for this road - I'd have missed nothing. Apart from a few spectacular sunsets along the Mekong river...

Laos roads changed back into Thai ones following a Japanese/Laos-built bridge over the Mekong at Pakse. A concrete bridge which worryingly dips between each of its half-dozen supporting legs.

Fortunately, the night before, I'd chosen a delicate mix of curried sprouts with baked beans for my evening meal. For the quarter mile crossing (or half kilometre, depending on which shoes you're wearing), I was able to safely hover above the seat, reducing the truck's weight.

Once back in Thailand, it was a short hop to the Cambodian border post at Aranya Prathet/Poipet. The Thai and Cambodian governments are currently having a tiff, and are not allowing their countrymen to cross. Except, that is, for a police-bus load of illegal Cambodian immigrants who were being returned to their homeland, under the glare of Thai TV camera crews.

This border crossing must be unique. As you pass into Cambodia, after the immigration controls yet before the customs offices, you pass along Asia's equivalent of the Las Vegas strip, with half a dozen glitzy casinos. And more under construction. All chasing the Thai gambling Baht, which doesn't have a legal home in Thailand.