Ayuthaya

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After our nightmare with taxis the previous day we were already over Bangkok so we decided to get out of town. On the advice of a taxi driver we crossed the main road outside our hotel and tried to catch a taxi to Bang Sue train station where we planned on catching a train to Ayuthaya - the old capital city of Thailand.

We tried and failed three times to get a taxi driver to use the meter. I slammed the door shut on the third one in frustration and Jo casually pointed out that I would probably have been better just leaving it open! Our fourth attempt was successful and we joined the 12 million population of Bangkok in the early morning rush hour. We were in the cab for almost an hour to go the eight kilometres to the station and the bill came to less than THB100 - around NZD4.

Breakfast was meat of unknown origin on a stick courtesy of one of the dozens of small stalls set up railside. The kebabs came in at five for THB25 (NZD1) so we gorged on three batches.

Getting tickets was easy and cheap - a ridiculous THB40 - less than NZD2 for the hour trip to Ayuthaya. The train was certainly not the most modern one we'd ever been on but it did the job - albeit slowly.

We got past the touts at the train station and found a street lined with guest houses where we ordered coffee and water from the friendly lady at Saifon Guest House. Jo had a plate of fruit and I had spring rolls. Motorcycle rental was only THB150 each per day so we booked a couple of Honda 125cc bikes. We left our PNG drivers licences as collateral - Lonely Planet warned of scams so we figured we'd best leave something not worth the plastic it was written on just in case. I also took photos of the bikes so we weren't accused of damaging them. When the lady saw me doing this she just said there was no need...

"I no check bike" she said, rolling up my shorts "I check knees"

We Ayuthaya is an inland island surrounded by rivers and is no more than a few kilometres coast to coast at its widest so the bikes seemed to be a good investment. We'd walked plenty far enough in Bangkok the previous day.

After a quick stop at the tourist information centre in the middle of the island we decided to do a loop on the outer road and check out a few of the dozen or so Wats that are the main attractions of Ayuthaya. Most were free entry but the Chantharakasen Palace was THB200 each. The loop took a few hours to complete - much longer than I had anticipated as there seemed to be something to see every few hundred metres.

The Elephant Taxi Kraal is located in the middle of the island and was, as expected, very touristy. Jo didn't want to ride the elephants but THB50 (NZD2) for a basket of food seemed a good price for feeding them. I joined the masses with my camera and snapped away.

We found lunch at a large but empty restaurant where we both ordered good Thai curries. Even at an obviously tourist oriented restaurant the prices were around the NZD5 for a main - good value for money indeed.

Our final stop in central Ayuthaya was Wat Phra Si Sanphet, located close to the Elephant Taxi Kraal. We still had a few hours to play with before the last train back to Bangkok so we crossed one of the bridges to the outer areas of Ayuthaya to try and find a more temples. Unfortunately our map was not to scale and did not have many street names for these areas so it was very hit and miss (more miss to be honest) but we stumbled upon a few photo-worthy Wats on the way.

We returned our bikes to Saifon Guest House and snacked on meat of unknown origin kebabs while waiting for the train back to Bangkok that has suddenly become THB10 cheaper than the outward journey.

It was dark when we reached Bang Sue station and we once again had to try three or four taxis before we found one prepared to use the meter. We only wanted to go a few kilometres to Talat Rot Fai, a night market mentioned in Lonely Planet that looked interesting. Our driver told us that the market was no longer there and we think he took us to the place it had moved to just a few kilometres further out. Something may have been lost in translation but the market we ended up at certainly seemed to be the sort of thing we were looking for... "all about the retro" as Lonely Planet stated. Many of the stalls and shops were selling antique signs and memorabilia. I could have filled a container with the whiskey signage alone but unfortunately we were not in a position to carry any of it with us. We had dinner at the food stands located in the middle of the market and my BBQ octopus with chilli sauce for NZD1 was excellent.

We were very lucky to strike a taxi driver that used the meter as soon as we left the market. He was only a young bloke and had clearly not yet been infiltrated by the inner scams of the Bangkok tourist taxi trade. He spoke reasonable english and we chatted all the way back to the hotel. He was extremely grateful for the THB40 tip on the THB80 cab ride.

We got to bed around 1030 and decided not to spend the additional night that we had booked in Bangkok. We decided to make our way out of town to Kanchanaburi the following morning.

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Photos

One of the rentals
Already held together by tape. We didn't have too many worries returning it in the condition we got it!

View from the train
I don't remember seeing this place in the brochures