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But when I began to setting out on my own journeys behind the wheel, the roads suddenly looked different. The white floating clouds, farms, villages and roadside folk were lit up by my newfound feeling of freedom and discovery.

"Haven't you heard of aeroplanes?" I hear you say. Well, what I've realised is that tarmac, with its roaring trucks, strong roadside coffee and crowded toilets at petrol stations, is the best route to intimacy with a country.

I spend the first hour of my drive from Bangkok adjusting to my changing surroundings. Cracks in the concretegrey backdrop of buildings reveal wider and wider stretches of green - the recovery from bigcity eyesore is underway. The long straight road to Nakhon Sawan shimmers in the heat of the sun and it's only when I stop for petrol and step out of the car that I feel the relief of the cool winter breeze.

The ribbon of roadside culture changes when I cross the border into Ayutthaya. I see and smell it all closeup: barbecued rats sold on both sides of the highway; rattan products offered along the road to Sing Buri. I'm tempted to stop and buy, but rat's not my favourite dish and I don't want to haul a reclining chair all the way to Chiang Mai and back.

A BangkokChiang Mai trip offers the choice of driving straight through to Kamphaeng Phet or going to Phitsanulok via Nakhon Sawan town. If you prefer a scenic route, opt for the latter. You'll also get to witness the birth of the Chao Phya River, which happens - as we all learn at school - in Nakhon Sawan. Crossing Dechativong Bridge I stop to watch its churning birthplace, formed by the meeting of the claycoloured Nan and the muddygreen Ping flowing from the north. It's an awesome sight, and old songs about the mighty Chao Phya bubble up in my mind.

If you have the time it's worth stopping at Sukhothai. Turn right off Highway 1 at Nakhon Sawan onto Highway 117, the road that loops north to Phitsanulok. Small pickups overloaded with sugarcane ply this route but I also see a group of monks perched precariously in the back of a truck on their way back to the temple. Though it's narrow, 117 is straight and flat, and I drive through wide open spaces with the breeze blowing through the window.

To get to Sukhothai by nightfall, I turn onto Highway 12 and pass through Kong Krailart district, a landscape of green rice fields dotted with white wading birds.

Mobility is more important than ever in our modern world of shrinking distances, but it can bring us stillness too. A visit to Sukhothai demonstrates that irony well. Many just passing through fall in love with the ancient Thai capital's serenity and end up staying by the Yom River, taking strolls through the night market and cycling to Sukhothai Historical Park. If they are heading in my direction - north - a visit to Si Satchanalai Historical Park on Route 101 is worth it too.

After a long hilly drive I arrive in my overnight stop of Phrae, a historic town that dates back to the ancient kingdom of Hariphunchai. Surrounded by mountains and threaded by the Yom River, Phrae is famous for the indigo hues of its mor hom clothes that deck the shops and stalls. After climbing the hill to pay my respects at Wat Pra That Cho Hae, whose Chiang Saenstyle temple is the most sacred in the province, I hit the highway again.

The short drive back along route 101 leads to Denchai where I turn onto Route 11 for Lampang town and Chiang Mai.

Driving the Super Highway through Sarapee district to Chiang Mai city, an image from those childhood trips north always pops into my mind: local Lanna women in traditional sarongs, cycling home after work with parasols in their hands. It was an exciting sign, putting an end to all those "Are we there yet?" questions that I'd been bugging my parents with.

It's also a lesson - that some of the most memorable parts of a journey happen in places not visible from 25,000 feet up in the air. As the years pass and the world changes, images like these linger in your heart longer than your childhood self could ever have imagined.

How to get there

From Bangkok to Chiang Mai in three days

Day 1: Take Highway 1 (Phahonyothin Road) and turn onto route 32 through Ayutthaya, Angthong and Sing Buri Provinces. Then take Route 11 for Phitsanulok, where Route 12 will get you to Sukhothai.

Day 2: Take Route 101 to Si Satchanalai Historical Park then 101 for Denchai and Phrae.

Day 3: Head back to Denchai and swing onto Route 11 for Lampang, Lamphun and Chiang Mai.