April 20 Day 64
We got up and said goodbye to our host, who for some reason we had trouble friending on Facebook. We were told that if we referred anyone to her she would give us two nights for free. She mentioned a Slovenian guy who referred 4 people and got 8 nights free. We didn't mention that we wondered what he did in town for 8 nights and headed off to the train station.
We got our tickets but our train only had third class this time with our btickets costing less than $1 each. There was no cafe in the station but we grabbed iced coffees and Meg got some nice street food with noodles and eggs for our ride.
Third class had open windows and fans and rush seating. Everyone was able to sit, but we weren't together and although it was warmer it wasn't a bad ride.
An hour later we were at Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of what is now Thailand. We grabbed a tuktuk to our hostel and were immediately welcomed by our host, Willie. After storing our bags he gave us a half hour briefing on the layout of the city. He circled the order we should view the temples, how the passes work, how to get around and any detail you could think of. the thing was, once he started his spiel you couldn't interrupt him and break his flow, so even if the information didn't apply to you, you got it anyway. We heard all about a woman who biked to a far temple to see the sunset and got her bag stolen on the way back even though we had no intention of doing this.
We rented bikes and booked a boat tour, and then headed off in the 40 degree heat to see if we remembered how to ride bikes. It was intimidating as the driving we had seen in Thailand up until now had been appalling.
We made it to our first temple quite intact and went inside. It was a large site with many crumbling towers but the big photo spot was a Buddha head that had a tree grown into surrounding it. We walked around the rest of what used to be an important temple and it was nice that even with a fairly large number of tourists about we had tons of space and could go off and look at stuff on our own.
Coming out, we saw a portable store for fruit and veg. It was a scooter with about 30 plastic bags hanging off of it, each with about a half kilo of produce in it, ready for purchase. We were hot and thirsty and so drank the milk from a chilled and chopped coconut, which so really hit the spot.
The next temple was a short ride away and covered another large surface, this time with a large Angor Wat-style stupa dominating the site. We climbed up and saw the blocked stairs leading to the crypt. There was also a dark chamber off of the main one with an information board, but the wall above it was covered in bats so, not wanting to deal with their guano, we missed the information and just enjoyed the views out of the tower.
After walking down, we noticed some statues in the tower's alcoves but they seemed to be in too good shape to be original. As always, any fine work found at the site had been taken to the museum, leaving mainly visible brick ruins, but on an impressive scale.
It was now lunch time so we crossed the street. We avoided the tourist-filled place advertising vegan, non-spicy food and settled down at a local place next to a moto garage. After a leisurely meal, we got back on our bikes and headed across town to the giant reclining Buddha. This was a longer trip and we were pretty worm by the time we got there. It was a big Buddha outside with lots of people seeking money for good luck offerings that you could give. Apparently it was larger than the one we saw in Bangkok, but lacking a temple or other impressive surroundings, it was just big.
Our tourist map let us down as we searched for the tourist centre and it took a few stops and far too long in the heat to find it. Once we did, we got some info from the staff and they took pity on us when we looked distraught at the news that the closest water vendor was far away that they filled our bottle from their employee cooler.
The centre itself was completely deserted and deliciously air conditioned. The displays on history and local culture were quite good, but none of the interactive screens worked until the final and largest one sprang to life and we learned of the top 20 things to do in Ayutthaya. It was quite a good centre and a perfect place to cool off between temples (once you found it), it deserved to get more use.
We biked back to our place so that we could shower before our pick up to the boat ride. Our room was really nice but we just cleaned up, changed into something dry and headed out to wait for our tuktuk.
We shared it with a Spanish couple and waited in a shed with four French tourists. I didn't realize it until later, but in the shed some biting ants were crawling onto my arm and gave me some nasty nips before I noticed them at our first temple.
We crossed the river and got into our boat for our evening ride around the perimeter of the island city. he boat was very low to the water and propelled by a motor with a long pipe eding in a single rotor that you place din the water like a hand mixer. it worked, though.
The water was full of lush, floating leafy weeds that were picturesque to slide through. Our first stop was a temple with a huge golden Buddha that was more impressive than the reclining one due to its setting. There was also a wall of the temple with little alcoves for votive Buddhas. In front of the temple was the largest Buddhist shop I've seen with every offering you could imagine available. The only thing they didn't have were cold drinks, the only vendor we could find was a woman selling fish food to dump in the river.
We puttered along to the next temple and were given no information. We immediately headed to the cold drink vendors and got a disappointingly salty lemon slushy. We saw clusters of big plastic chickens whose purpose escaped us. We walked around a new, ornate building that was not opened yet and finally found the temple. It had little free waters to drink, which helped get the salty taste from our mouths. It also had metre-long incense sticks burning on a lawn and its towers were an interesting mix of the new, the restored and the ruined.
Back on the boat we now headed to the real highlight, which had many Angor Wat-like towers on a large and nicely laid out location. We walked to the back of it where the setting sunlight really showed it off. we wandered around little alcoves with Buddhas in the corners and admired the many people who were wandering around the site in traditional dress, one of the 20 things you were supposed to do.
Back on the boat we got some nice sunset shots and then settled in for the rest of our trip. We talked with a honeymooning Chinese couple who still lived in separate cities while the rest of the city went by. Other than our motor clogging with weeds at the end, it was a smooth and enjoyable ride.
We headed right out for dinner after getting back to our hostel and tried to find the many supposed places with riverside restaurants serving freshwater prawns. We found one and enjoyed the nice view while battling some kind of fly that kept circling around us but not seeming to bite. The prawns were expensive but tasty, like getting 5 little lobsters that didn't quite taste like lobsters with strange but not too spicy Thai sauce. Yummy and worth it. I also took the opportunity to have durian for the first time which was nice enough but filling on its own. I think it's better in a shake or other drink and the durian burps afterwards were nasty. the view was pretty great and for some reason we got about 3 minutes of fireworks. The chef was an Italian guy who came over to talk with us several times and Meg asked for wine and got the most sickly sweet wine cooler ever.
We walked home in the dark without too much incident and settled into our room. The AC was on all night as the country refused to ever properly cool down.
We got up and said goodbye to our host, who for some reason we had trouble friending on Facebook. We were told that if we referred anyone to her she would give us two nights for free. She mentioned a Slovenian guy who referred 4 people and got 8 nights free. We didn't mention that we wondered what he did in town for 8 nights and headed off to the train station.
We got our tickets but our train only had third class this time with our btickets costing less than $1 each. There was no cafe in the station but we grabbed iced coffees and Meg got some nice street food with noodles and eggs for our ride.
Third class had open windows and fans and rush seating. Everyone was able to sit, but we weren't together and although it was warmer it wasn't a bad ride.
An hour later we were at Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of what is now Thailand. We grabbed a tuktuk to our hostel and were immediately welcomed by our host, Willie. After storing our bags he gave us a half hour briefing on the layout of the city. He circled the order we should view the temples, how the passes work, how to get around and any detail you could think of. the thing was, once he started his spiel you couldn't interrupt him and break his flow, so even if the information didn't apply to you, you got it anyway. We heard all about a woman who biked to a far temple to see the sunset and got her bag stolen on the way back even though we had no intention of doing this.
We rented bikes and booked a boat tour, and then headed off in the 40 degree heat to see if we remembered how to ride bikes. It was intimidating as the driving we had seen in Thailand up until now had been appalling.
We made it to our first temple quite intact and went inside. It was a large site with many crumbling towers but the big photo spot was a Buddha head that had a tree grown into surrounding it. We walked around the rest of what used to be an important temple and it was nice that even with a fairly large number of tourists about we had tons of space and could go off and look at stuff on our own.
Coming out, we saw a portable store for fruit and veg. It was a scooter with about 30 plastic bags hanging off of it, each with about a half kilo of produce in it, ready for purchase. We were hot and thirsty and so drank the milk from a chilled and chopped coconut, which so really hit the spot.
The next temple was a short ride away and covered another large surface, this time with a large Angor Wat-style stupa dominating the site. We climbed up and saw the blocked stairs leading to the crypt. There was also a dark chamber off of the main one with an information board, but the wall above it was covered in bats so, not wanting to deal with their guano, we missed the information and just enjoyed the views out of the tower.
After walking down, we noticed some statues in the tower's alcoves but they seemed to be in too good shape to be original. As always, any fine work found at the site had been taken to the museum, leaving mainly visible brick ruins, but on an impressive scale.
It was now lunch time so we crossed the street. We avoided the tourist-filled place advertising vegan, non-spicy food and settled down at a local place next to a moto garage. After a leisurely meal, we got back on our bikes and headed across town to the giant reclining Buddha. This was a longer trip and we were pretty worm by the time we got there. It was a big Buddha outside with lots of people seeking money for good luck offerings that you could give. Apparently it was larger than the one we saw in Bangkok, but lacking a temple or other impressive surroundings, it was just big.
Our tourist map let us down as we searched for the tourist centre and it took a few stops and far too long in the heat to find it. Once we did, we got some info from the staff and they took pity on us when we looked distraught at the news that the closest water vendor was far away that they filled our bottle from their employee cooler.
The centre itself was completely deserted and deliciously air conditioned. The displays on history and local culture were quite good, but none of the interactive screens worked until the final and largest one sprang to life and we learned of the top 20 things to do in Ayutthaya. It was quite a good centre and a perfect place to cool off between temples (once you found it), it deserved to get more use.
We biked back to our place so that we could shower before our pick up to the boat ride. Our room was really nice but we just cleaned up, changed into something dry and headed out to wait for our tuktuk.
We shared it with a Spanish couple and waited in a shed with four French tourists. I didn't realize it until later, but in the shed some biting ants were crawling onto my arm and gave me some nasty nips before I noticed them at our first temple.
We crossed the river and got into our boat for our evening ride around the perimeter of the island city. he boat was very low to the water and propelled by a motor with a long pipe eding in a single rotor that you place din the water like a hand mixer. it worked, though.
The water was full of lush, floating leafy weeds that were picturesque to slide through. Our first stop was a temple with a huge golden Buddha that was more impressive than the reclining one due to its setting. There was also a wall of the temple with little alcoves for votive Buddhas. In front of the temple was the largest Buddhist shop I've seen with every offering you could imagine available. The only thing they didn't have were cold drinks, the only vendor we could find was a woman selling fish food to dump in the river.
We puttered along to the next temple and were given no information. We immediately headed to the cold drink vendors and got a disappointingly salty lemon slushy. We saw clusters of big plastic chickens whose purpose escaped us. We walked around a new, ornate building that was not opened yet and finally found the temple. It had little free waters to drink, which helped get the salty taste from our mouths. It also had metre-long incense sticks burning on a lawn and its towers were an interesting mix of the new, the restored and the ruined.
Back on the boat we now headed to the real highlight, which had many Angor Wat-like towers on a large and nicely laid out location. We walked to the back of it where the setting sunlight really showed it off. we wandered around little alcoves with Buddhas in the corners and admired the many people who were wandering around the site in traditional dress, one of the 20 things you were supposed to do.
Back on the boat we got some nice sunset shots and then settled in for the rest of our trip. We talked with a honeymooning Chinese couple who still lived in separate cities while the rest of the city went by. Other than our motor clogging with weeds at the end, it was a smooth and enjoyable ride.
We headed right out for dinner after getting back to our hostel and tried to find the many supposed places with riverside restaurants serving freshwater prawns. We found one and enjoyed the nice view while battling some kind of fly that kept circling around us but not seeming to bite. The prawns were expensive but tasty, like getting 5 little lobsters that didn't quite taste like lobsters with strange but not too spicy Thai sauce. Yummy and worth it. I also took the opportunity to have durian for the first time which was nice enough but filling on its own. I think it's better in a shake or other drink and the durian burps afterwards were nasty. the view was pretty great and for some reason we got about 3 minutes of fireworks. The chef was an Italian guy who came over to talk with us several times and Meg asked for wine and got the most sickly sweet wine cooler ever.
We walked home in the dark without too much incident and settled into our room. The AC was on all night as the country refused to ever properly cool down.
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| One of the ancient temple sites. |
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| It's a very big Buddha. |
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| The temple at sunset. |
So, while you are away are you catching the final season of Game of Thrones?
ReplyDeleteWe always do media silence to avoid spoilers. A friend of our always gets a bootleg DVD that he loans us and we have a nice binge at the end of the summer. Interesting segue...
ReplyDelete