Now I Remember

... I remember what it is that I absolutely hate about long distance public transport by bus/coach...

Its not the noise, its not the crowding, its not the fact that people are so apparently "unaware" when it comes to being the least bit considerate for others. Its not the inevitable delays in arrival and departure times or the meal stops at designated roadside restaurants where there are no other options... Its not even the constantly screaming children or the sickeningly common inconsiderate smoking habits of others... I can deal with all those with comparative ease...

... Its the shape of the damn seats!

Its amazing that such a simple thing can turn my life into a living hell... but thats what it does, and now I remember that it always has done.
Pretty much all of my recent travelling has been on a motorbike, and as such, Im in control of pretty much all of the other factors I mentioned above, so I figured it would be those things that gave me more difficulties... And on a motorbike, there is no back rest, so I would have imagined that having something instead of nothing would be preferable!

But its just not so.
It turns out that the modern "sculpted" shape to the back of any "coach class" chair, be it in a bus or aircraft is an absolutely awful design for someone of my stature! Yep, the carefully designed shoulder hollow and neck support seem to be designed for the statures of the average western female and the average eastern male of somewhere between 150cm and 165cm tall (just a guess). But for me at 182cm tall, the hollows and lumps are in the EXACTLY WRONG places!... Even a flat board of hard wood would be far better than the padded shape on offer!
... And of course the shape is completely non-adjustable, so there is not much I can do about it... I try using padding to help, but its of very limited value, so mostly I just have to "live with it" and accept the fact that after the average eight hour bus trip, it will take me two more days to start to feel normal again.

By the way, Ive now abandoned the beaches of Southern Cambodia and bused my way back to Bangkok and thence North to Chiang Mai....Far too many hours on bus!

I shall just have to avail myself of more of the abundant Thai-massage vendors about the place :)