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Published: January 23rd 2011
Wat Phanan Choeng, Ayatthaya
Attendants sort out the saffron robes for the giant buddha.After presuming our bus would take us to the Ayutthaya bus terminal, we were unexpectedly dumped on the side of the highway in a cloud of dust after scrambling to grab our bags when the bus attendant suddenly yelled AYUTTHAYA!Such is Thailand! We found some guy who agreed to drive us into the centre of town in his ute so soon we arrived safely at our guesthouse. (PU Inn)
The staff were friendly enough but immediately bombarded us with the hard sell on the 'Sunset Boat Trip'! We decided it was too good an offer to pass up...$16 for the four of us to take a two hour longtail boat ride to some of the more remote temples on the far banks of the river. After a bite to eat and quickly unpacking our bags we were collected by songthaew and taken to the riverside where we hopped aboard a longtail and set off down the river.
We cruised along and enjoyed the spectacle of riverside life....local people having their baths, doing their laundry and washing their dishes in the Mae Nam Pa Sak. We stopped at 3 temples, but the highlight was definitely the last one,
Wat Chai Wattanaram, an
Big gold buddha
at Wat Phanan Choeng impressive Khmer style temple built in 1630, with a steep central tower 35 metres high.
We arrived there just before sunset, wandered the grounds, climbed the tower, then settled down in the dusky light by the river to watch the sun slowly sink behind the temple as we listened to the faint rythyms of drums being played in a nearby monastery. It was serene.
The boat then took us down the river further and dropped us off at a riverside Night Market just in time for dinner. We found a spot with a great view of yet another temple across the river (lit up at night) and we settled down to a nice meal of satay sticks, fried squid and prawns with basil. The cook was doing a great job and provided a bit of a fire show with his flaming wok. After the meal we realised we'd forgotten our map so jumped into a tuk tuk/songthaew combo to get back to the guesthouse.
Day 2 in Ayutthaya and we hired a couple of bikes to explore the historical park. You may be thinking 'this whole Unesco Listed World Heritage Site thing is getting a bit monotonous'...well you're not wrong!
The kids and I were definitely feeling 'all templed out' so after a brief ride through we decided to have an early lunch and bid our Temple Todd farewell to let him explore his beloved ruins in peace for the afternoon. Lunch was a great noodle soup from Uncle Lek's noodle house (where the kids proved to be a huge hit for the locals) then the kids and I tracked down a pool at another guesthouse and spent the afternoon cooling off with swims, iceblocks and pineapple shakes. Just what the doctor ordered! Temple Todd went exploring for a couple of hours and came back happy with tales to tell including how he bought a bunch of lotus flowers, some incense and a candle, then made an offering at a giant reclining buddha.
With everyone happy we finished the day with another great meal at a street stall, then returned to the guesthouse for our last night in the Former Royal Capital.
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