'Wat' are you lookin' at? Weekend trip to Ayutthaya

Wats, wats, everywhere! Ayutthaya is a charming mid-sized city, built mostly on an island, and was an ancient capital of Thailand, established around 1350 on a Khmer settlement. Though the people of Ayutthaya successfully defended themselves from attacks many times, the city finally fell to the Burmese Army around 1767, at which point the capital of Thailand was moved to Thonburi (just across the river from Bangkok) and then Bangkok.

History lesson over, fast forward to present day. Ayutthaya was left with ruins galore from the Burmese sack of the city, but also has a lot of new wats (temples) as well. It is the perfect place to explore on bike (rental=$1/day), as I did both Satuday and Sunday. The city is not extremely large, but the wats are spread out enough that it is more enjoyable and expedient to travel between sights by bike, motorbike or tuk-tuk. The city, with its ubiquitous ruins, reminded me in some ways of Antigua, Guatemala. Although the ruins are of an entirely different culture, I still felt the same ambience. They feel like the kind of ruins you can just hang out and lounge around in; read a book or write in your journal, for instance. The Historical Park is also a massive semi-green space with walking/bike paths running through it that lead to various sights and comes to little benches and pavilions along the canals at various points. For me, Ayutthaya was a lovely, enchanting little place. I even felt that nagging (annoyingly whiny) thought of, "Why couldn't I have been placed HERE instead of in the industrial h-hole that is Chonburi?"

My parents are supposed to be here now, but due to unforseen circumstances, they were not able to come after all. This, of course, was disappointing and made me slightly mopey. But I decided to make the most of a less-than-ideal situation and go to Ayutthaya anyway, as I had wanted to do with them. I went alone this weekend, but was determined to meet other people to hang out with, and therefore I did.

After school on Friday, I dashed off to hop the bus for Bangkok (I'm getting good at this little trip by now) and once in the city, made my way across to the train station. The train for Ayutthaya (which is about 2 hours) is only 20 baht (less than 60 cents). I was in the last car and it was eerily nearly empty. The conductor kept coming through, though, and repeatedly asked me where I was going, so I was hopeful that I would be sure to be let off at the right stop if I wasn't able to see the sign in the dark. There were a lot of stops on the train, and just as I suspected I was never able to read the signs from my view in the last car. At one point a lot of people started getting off, though, and the timing was just about right for us to be in Ayutthaya, so I showed my ticket to a couple people in the next car up, but they just gestured for me to sit down. Everyone who was getting off at the station had cleared out, when finally (just in the nick of time?) a conductor appeared and told me to get off the train. I was not in front of the station but he said to hop out anyway, so I did and then had to scamper about 50 feet down the line to get to the platform, shaking my head at the "This is Thailand" (TIT) moment I had just experienced. Just as I got to the platform, the train pulled away as I laughed maniacally into the night (no, I didn' really, but I kind of wanted to).

I got a tuk-tuk right to the little soi that is the 'backpacker' strip in Ayutthaya and checked in to an itty bitty but totally legitimate little room at Ayutthaya Guest House (less than $5/night). Though I was pretty tired, I told myself that I WOULD go out to meet some people, and there was supposed to be live folk music playing, which, of course, I adore. So I showered, pulled myself together, and set out to see what there was to see. I ended up meeting some Kiwis and a British guy, but the best part was that I ended up hanging out with the two Thai guys, Gai and Soh, who were playing at the bar. They have some English skills and certainly can sing nicely in English, including the entire Beatles catalog, as well as John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, and other favorites. The British guy and I ended up going with them to another one of their friend's little street restaurant where a birthday was being celebrated with lots of food, whiskey, and beer. It was a fun night, communication consisting of pidgin English, pidgin Thai, and lots of hand gestures.

On Saturday I slept in, had a delicious lunch at one of the other backpacker guesthouses and then set off on my bike to explore. The ruins are fun to look at and I REALLY enjoyed being able to tool around on a bike in a city where it isn't too terrifying to do so. An interesting thing about Ayutthaya is that most of the ancient buddha images had their heads and right arms cut off by the Burmese Army, who believed that that would take away their powers. I saw one very well-known buddha image, which is a big buddha head that is resting in the roots of a banyan tree. There is a guard positioned just off to the side of the tree to ensure that unwitting tourists do not stand too close to buddha head, looming over it, which is considered to be disrespectful. You have to crouch down before the buddha to have your picture taken.

After my day exploring, I decided to do one of the evening tours to the wats that are floodlit. Much to my dismay, no one else had signed up for the trip, so I rode in the back of this little older couple's tuk-tuk. The 'tour' consisted of them stopping at a wat and telling me its name, me trying to capture a nighttime image, and then us hopping back in the tuk-tuk to head to the next wat. Despite all that, it was neat to see the wats lit up at night, as well as watch the sun set from one of the bigger chedis. I also really liked the huge reclining buddha, with the nearly-full moon just up above his head (see the photo). Saturday evening was a little quieter, but I hung out with my new Thai friends again for a while before heading off to bed.

Sunday was more bike-riding and sightseeing, more ruins, wats, reading in the park, but also a visit to the Royal Elephant Kraal. I am truly a little obsessed with elephants and could watch them for HOURS, especially the babies. The Royal Elephant Kraal is a place where they take care of elephants that are hurt or sick, but it is also a training place for elephants that are used to give tourists a ride in Ayutthaya. Though I know it is a great photo opp for people, I have a lot of reservations about using these animals in that way. However, I suppose if they are treated humanely and not abused (like I've read/seen videos about), then it is not the worst thing. At the Elephant Kraal, though, I learned that when logging was outlawed, suddenly all these domesticated elephants were out of work and couldn't be released back to the wild because they had become dependent on humans. So therefore they had to find other ways to employ them because those are some massive mouths (and stomachs!) to feed. The saddest thing to me is when you see someone herding a baby (or full-size) elephant down Khaosan Road in Bangkok, or in any of the other big cities, offering tourists the chance to feed the elephants and take pictures with them (for a price, of course). It makes me unbearably sad for the elephants, who seem sad and bewildered (or am I just projecting? haha). Anyway, I loved watching the baby elephants play and challenge each other. They seemed well cared-for there, although they did get some swats when they repeatedly, awkwardly climbed over the low fence that 'guarded' the little baskets of corn that you could feed them with.

I would whole-heartedly recommend Ayutthaya as a nice place for a visit. I hear that some people find it to be boring, but maybe it was just the perfect weekend amusement for what I was looking for right now. I got just as much out of riding a bike around (I've missed it a lot, I realize, since leaving Boulder) and hanging out with Thai people my age, than I did from the sights, though they were also interesting.

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