ROGER CRUTCHLEY

Just about any place you go in Thailand these days there's an Internet cafe lurking around the corner. And on Khao San Road, home to thousands of low-budget travellers there are dozens of places to email and surf the Web. It is a reminder that times have changed somewhat since Crutch's overland travelling days, back in the pre-historic era.

In those days we had to rely on pigeons to get messages through. Well okay, it wasn't quite that bad, but travel information was stuck on notice boards in dodgy hotels throughout Asia. You would get messages that read something like: "Don't eat at Mrs Solaki's in Calcutta unless you have health insurance," or "Beware of the friendly one-armed man in Kabul. He's after your traveller's cheques."

Travelling in the days before dot.com, continued