Stop Twenty-One, Ayutthaya, Thailand - 13/08/2015 to 16/08/2015
(Written by Her)
(Written by Her)
Unlike most we intended to stay a few days in the small town of Ayutthaya, 2 hours North of Bangkok. Once the ancient capital city of Thailand, Ayutthaya is now a recognised UNESCO site with ruins that could keep any traveller happy for at least a week. We left Kanchanaburi at 6:30am on a 3 hour train journey back to Bangkok where we changed train stations and inevitably trains, onward to Ayutthaya. When we arrived at our small guesthouse above a café we had been travelling for 7 hours in 3rd class on wooden benches with air being generated solely from open windows in the cabin, not the most comfortable but certainly fun.
 | After getting freshened up, we wasted no time in locating ourselves a tuk-tuk that we could use for our entire stay. We ended up booking a middle-aged couple who drove around all day together. We were taken with the idea that the two wanted to work together, her speaking broken English with the tourists and he driving around to various sites. It was very sweet. We thought, if ever we find ourselves disillusioned with life, perhaps we will move to Ayutthaya, buy a tuk-tuk and drive around all day together in a little cabin made for two... |
On our first day we decided to hit the most popular sites. Wat Maha That is the most famous site in Ayutthaya as its home to one of the iconic images of Thailand, the image of Buddha in the tree. The story goes that the head fell from a sandstone sculpture of Buddha and landed at the base of the tree, where it grew in amongst the roots. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it has some help!
Next we went to Wat Phra Si Sanphet and Wat Yai Chai Mongkol. There were signs everywhere asking tourists to refrain from standing on or sitting on Buddha statues out of respect for Thai culture. Nevertheless, we saw one young girl sitting cross-legged in Buddha’s lap posing for her boyfriend snapping photos. One local man got so mad her screamed at the girl to get down and don’t do that again. It’s the most angry we have ever seen a Thai person, and given her lack of regret, he remained very restrained.
Finally we visited the reclining Buddha (Wat Lokkaya Sutharam), a giant Buddha statue lying down at the edge of a lake. There were shrines for local Buddhists to pray and an older woman selling flowers to lay at Buddha’s head. We bought a bunch, before taking some photos and chatting to an Italian couple who had also made the journey.
We walked around the sites, amazed that this place is not advertised more as a prime tourist destination in Thailand. There is so much to see, much of it within a small, manageable radius. Sites are relatively cheap to visit, averaging at about 50 baht or $1.5 per temple. Our hotel was very clean, although the only available option was a shared bathroom. We found some nice restaurants and we really enjoyed the people.
We have been meaning to visit a floating market since our days in Bangkok but never found the time. We made a special effort to get up early on our second day in Ayutthaya to attend their local floating market. Our friends collected us and we travelled across town. To us, floating market means people selling their wares from a boat on the canal – like in the Mekong. This was less of a floating market and more of a river side market, where vendors sat in boats that were docked, or even built on dry land. Nevertheless, it was very quaint and picturesque. We walked around buying some local snacks, watching children feed the fish with 10 baht bags of fish food.
Afterwards, we headed to another temple. The heat in Ayutthaya was very intense, we felt the sun was particularly strong and when walking around ruins, there are few places to go for shelter. Our drivers lent me an umbrella to use as a parasol like many of the Chinese tourists. It helped…a little.
More than anywhere else in Thailand, we noticed that Ayutthaya was full of trekking elephants i.e. elephants that you could rent to ride around the temples or the floating market. The elephants were significantly larger than those we saw in the Elephant sanctuary (maybe a different breed), and were donned with red cloaks, gold colour saddles and a parasol to keep their riders cool. This was exactly the kind of situation that is bad for the elephant. Walking around the roads, carrying a load too heavy for their backs and freaked by the passing traffic which reverberates through the soles of their feet. Having spent the day in the elephant sanctuary we felt very bad for these poor Ayutthaya elephants and vehemently rejected the many offers of a ride.
Before leaving the city, we were advised by our guesthouse to visit the night market for dinner. The nightly market is a regular hangout for locals so we went along for an hour or so. We were really surprised by the variety of food on offer (very little else mind). We were able to feed ourselves for less than $5 each including a drink and dessert. There were women grilling skewered meat, and barbecuing seafood. There were people making Thai-style spring rolls, and sushi. There was fruit slices, waffles, ice-cream and smoothies. There were even corn fritters and stir fries. I settled for some sushi and fruit while himself was in his element, trying this and that. Sometimes not even knowing what he was eating –a risky little game if you ask me!
Our time in Ayutthaya was laid back and relaxed except for one element – the train to Chiang Mai. Given that it is rainy season in Thailand (i.e. low season), securing sleeper train tickets 2 days before your travel date should have been no problem. Not so! We tried to book our tickets when we arrived in Ayutthaya, to be told that the train was booked out for the next 2 days. Damn! The guy on the desk wasn’t very helpful suggesting that maybe we could try a different date, take a bus, or fly. I didn’t fancy 15 hours on a bus and flying meant returning to Bangkok first was really was a pain since we were already on route to Chiang Mai.
We figured the best thing was to wait and see if we could get something in a couple of days. We returned to the train station for the second time the following day at 11am, this time the desk clerk said there may be a cancellation so we should check back after 12! We returned for the third time after 12pm the following day to find that there were an abundance of cancellations. The way the rail booking system is set up in Thailand means people can book tickets 60 days in advance without paying and if they are not paid by 12pm on the day of travel then the seats are put back in the system….annoying! It meant that both travelling to and from Chiang Mai we were not able to purchase tickets until after 12pm on the day of travel. Its fairly risky if there aren’t enough cancellations for everyone but it worked out.
At 8pm (1 hour delayed), we said goodbye to Ayutthaya and boarded the sleeper train to Chiang Mai.
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