The Fun Stops Here

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Finding Transportation

We only planned one day in Ayathaya to see ruins and then head off again to the next town, Lampang. So before we visited the ruins we needed to figure out what bus to catch and when. We wandered the “tourist” street asking questions about public and private buses, cost and departure times. The shops along this street (and many other Thai streets) are shaded by awnings weighted down with steel rods so they don't flap in the wind. As we wandered from one tourist information center to the next, Capri was caught with her head down and walked straight into a steel rod hitting her noggin along her hair line. Dazed and confused she rubbed her new bump and her eye's glossed over but no tears and no blood. She gained her composure quickly and we continued onwards, with heads held high.

We found what seemed to be a good deal on an overnight private bus ride, but then after handing over the money we realized that the bus would not drop us off at a hotel or bus station. Instead, at about 4am we would be dropped off on the side of the highway outside of town. The fellow insisted that they would be plenty of taxis to take us to a hotel at that wee hour of the morning, but we were more than a bit skeptical and opted to get our money back.

From there, we made the trip to the public bus station and purchased first class tickets on an overnight bus. First class entailed reclining seats, A/C, blankets, and a bathroom so I was quite looking forward to the luxuries. It only took about three hours, but we had tickets in our possession and we could now go and enjoy the ruins.

The Bike Ride

We hired bicycles and after testing a bike or two each we rode off with full tires and brakes that worked. Mind you, Vic's brakes were more than a bit screechy but they still stopped the bike so he was good to go. The sidewalk was littered with roadside stalls and had a few missing cement pieces so we opted to ride on the road with the scooters, motorbikes, cars, trucks and buses. Capri was nervous with all the bigger traffic buzzing by her and wove in and out of parked cars. We insisted that it was safer to just stay on the side of the road because then other drivers could at least see you and she hesitantly obliged. We came to a fairly busy roundabout and while the road was busy, it wasn't crazy busy and I got a bit too cocky riding my bike across and almost got hit by a fancy painted tour bus. Tip: Once you enter the roundabout you need to recheck traffic when you want to exit the roundabout. Capri was much more cautious crossing the street than me and opted to walk her bike across, however, it proved to be no safer. She looked the wrong way (opposite to home for her) and came within inches of being hit by a motorbike. A bit shook up from the close encounter, Capri wasn't convinced that she wanted to ride bicycles again.

Becoming Buddha

Ayuthaya was once an ancient capital in the 14th century and many wats or temples were built during that era. At our first stop we paid the $1 entrance fee and scanned the signs, which were all in Thai and stick man pictures and thus, made no sense to us. So we simply wandered around observing the natural beauty and imagining what it would have looked like in it's prime hundreds of years ago. The ruins included numerous headless buddha's made of stone that would either sit upon a raised stone slab or line interior walls of what was once the temple area. Jarrod had a wise idea for a photo and instructed me to sit behind the buddha and my head would become his. Snap, Snap, Snap and the photos were complete. A security man then approached us and I thought at first that he was offering to take Jarrod and I's picture together as he was gesturing towards our camera. Before I knew it, the security guards demeanor changed for the worst and he grabbed our camera out of Jarrod's hands. Jarrod tugged at the camera and got it back after a bit of force and only then did we realize that the security guard was very angry about the photos we had taken with Buddha and my face. He started saying “Police!” and putting his wrists together like handcuffs. The security guard pulled out his cell phone to call the police and at this point Capri started to panic. The fear in her eyes said everything as she covered her face and cried out “Oh God, No!” She likely had visions of us all going to jail like in the movie Brokedown Palace. Jarrod went through the photos one by one and deleted each one that was with the Buddha and Jarrod and I calmly repeated that we were very, very sorry; we didn't know we couldn't take photo's like that. The security guard was still doing the cell phone thing, threatening to call the police while we walked away. We wandered through the remaining ruins at that sight and later noticed another sign, written in Thai, with a headless stick figure Buddha and a red X where his head should be... and then it made sense. I take it that it is disrespectful to take such photo's and I apologize to any Buddhists I may have offended, like the security guard. But really, if it's that important the least they could do is have some English on the signs considering it's a pretty popular tourist attraction! We're likely not the first, nor the last, tourist to do that!

Happy Hour

After a few more ruins it was time we headed back to catch a long-tailed boat ride on the river that surrounds Ayuthaya to see more ruins on the outskirts of the city at sunset. Capri had had a tough day and seemed a bit worn. She needed a nice, relaxing boat ride to calm her nerves. We visited a few temples and watched hundreds of temple fish get fed and then ended up with noodle soup and pad thai for dinner at the local night market. The boat ride was just what the doctor ordered and Capri felt much better after so many mishaps.

A Chilly Night Ride

From there we collected our luggage from the hotel and made our way to the bus station for the overnight trip to Lampang. I was quite impressed with the bus as we got everything promised (reclining seats, blankets, a/c) and even a little snack and a meal ticket for later. I quickly dozed off and a hour later when we stopped for dinner (9pm) Jarrod and Vic got off the bus to get something to eat. I slept well until a lady woke me by tapping my leg and saying “Ticket, Ticket” I didn't have my glasses on and I sleepily fumbled around blind for the bus ticket and handed it to her assuming she was a legitimate ticket checker. Moments later she returned my ticket minus my meal stub but with a mini milk and then she was gone. It took me a good five minutes to figure out what had just transpired, my vision is so bad with out my glasses I didn't even notice that she had a basket of milk with her - and I hate milk! I had, essentially, been robbed of my meal ticket! Turns out she played the same trick on Capri too. Next time I'll be sure to spend my meal ticket on something tasty.

After dinner the bus continued on route northwards. I woke a few times with cold feet and decided that I wouldn't pay extra for a/c again. They pumped the a/c to the max and it was freezing! Finally I had had enough of being cold, Capri too, and Jarrod asked the bus attendant to turn the a/c off. And he laughed. I put my glasses on, and realized that the bus driver and attendant were wearing poofy jackets, mitts and balaclava's. The a/c was off. The air outside was cold and our bus didn't have a heater. Instead, the attendant gave us an extra blanket each and I wrapped it snuggly around me trying to keep in my body heat. Capri shivered all night long and barely got a wink of sleep she was so cold. This is Thailand - It's not supposed to be cold! We arrived at the Lampang bus station at 6am, just before sunrise, and still needed to find a place to stay. Jarrod phoned around to different hotels while Capri and Vic sat silently with their heads down. The only words Capri said between getting off the bus and arriving at our hotel was the statement “That was the bus ride from hell.”

We all checked into a mid range hotel that had hot running water. We took a bath and then I headed to bed for a few hours while Jarrod went for a walk around town. With some sleep in a warm bed, hopefully, Capri would recover.

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Photos

Headless Buddha
For Example...don't put your face where Buddha's head has fallen off!

Badass Biker Gang
Vic, Capri and Carol

Knives and Kids come together
He was practicing outside a temple some kind of martial art form.