This is a test

A dramatic sunrise as seen from the sheer cliffs at Phu Chi Fa in Chiang Rai. Photo/Kitchana Lersakvanitchakul

The second leg of the Smart Caravan 8,800 Kilometres, a promotion for the Toyota Hilux Vigo from Pai in Mae Hong Son to Udon Thani, is considered the "most dangerous and deadly".

It's almost entirely off-road, with somewhere around 5,000 wicked curves.

What better place to send a bunch of journalists? Assuming you don't like journalists.

"The route is challenging, but it's also scenic," says Komkrit Sangfuang of Thai Rath. My co-driver in pick¬up No 9 is managing an optimistic view.

"We drive up and down steep hills overlooking an abyss, and it's full of ruts dug out by the torrential rain."

Tassanee Dechsura, one of the hosts of Neo Time Media's "Modern Car Lifestyle" on TV's Channel 5, has the passenger seat in No 6.

"I'm really excited, but I'm pretty scared too, because my side is right next to the canyon, and this is my first time in an off-road vehicle."

There are nine pickups filled with media types, and others carrying people from Outdoor, the firm that's organised this trek.

We're test-driving the vehicles across 1,338 kilometres over the course of six days.

The overall route is a five-leg, 23day, 8,800km odyssey across the entire country, skimming the Lao and Burmese borders.

On our leg someone has counted 762 curves, most of which twist like an "S".

In February the temperature in the charming and peaceful little town of Pai is around 13 degrees. I wonder what I'm doing here, having never experienced a caravan trek longer than Bangkok to Hua Hin.

But my buddy Komkrit, tasked with test-driving the Hilux, has somehow talked me into it, and with him at the wheel we set out to the Pong Duead Hot Spring in Huay Nam Dang National Park.

At 160 kilometres an hour it feels like we're on a speedway, and our walkie-talkies fail to keep the stream of pickups linked, even as we brace to head off-road. It's nerve-wracking to consider what lies ahead if we're on our own.

Adrenaline flushes out my anxiety, though, as we thunder across rough turf all the way from Ban Tal Jed Ton to Ban Muang Noi - 30km of rocks, stumps, ditches and the ever-present menace of the abyss.

When I take the wheel I struggle to control our direction, trying to stick to the semblance of a clay path.

The walkie-talkie kicks in with warnings to beware of boulders and tree stumps that could easily burst a tyre. Moments later I do indeed smack into stump, not with a tyre but the metal of the chassis. Fortunately there appears to be no damage.

Then we hear that No 1's left front wheel is spinning loosely over the abyss, and people can be heard pleading for this journey to be over.

And we're only halfway there.

Somehow the wonderful scenery to either side doesn't escape us. I grab quick glances when the road ahead doesn't seem so dangerous, but when my partner asks me to smile for a photo in motion, that's just not possible.

I've been plotting for a while now how to get the steering wheel back in my buddy's hands. He's more experienced, after all. The moment finally arrives.

Only later do I learn that my section of the route was merely Level 2 on the ascending off-road lethality chart.

Of course, that's still bad. Had we plunged over the cliff, I'm told, it would have been impossible to tow us back up - unless a tree stopped us part way down.

Komkrit muscles the wheel until we reach Ban Huay Hok in Chiang Rai's Amphur Vieng Haeng, where we'll cool down at Wat Phra Borommathat Saen Hai and Wat Fah Vieng Indra.

While sightseeing in what used to be the stomping ground of drugs warlord Khun Sa, we get to stay at a resort on Doi Mae Salong.

The next morning I'm the designated driver as far as Phra That Doi Tung, and then it's Komkrit's turn to Phu Chee Fah, another chilly spot on the route.

I get in some calisthenics spinning the wheel round serial V-shaped curves, another first for me. The engine cuts out on one jag and, terrified I'm going to flip us over, I let another pickup pass us.

The curves keep coming, all day long, through the national parks at Phu Chee Fah in Chiang Rai to Doi Phu Kha in Nan and Phu Rua in Loei.

On the final day we drive along the Khong River, headed at last for Nong Khai and Udon Thani.

The river, it has to be said, is enviably flat.

BOX

Fear in motion

Watch some of this adventure online at www.Nationmultimedia.com.