The Journey North to Laos: Ayuthaya

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Ayuthaya

Leaving Bangkok is almost impossible. I wouldn't say that the night life keeps you there, as all the partying and drinking and staying up nights can get old pretty quick. But, when you do finally decide to leave, it gets really hard to figure out how. Not only are the busses crazy and the trains hard to find and the cab drivers utterly lost and clueless, but nothing is in English and no one really cares to help. Then, if you do ever make it to the bus station, you have to figure all that out--and you are still in the city. And it's a big city. It probably took us two hours before we ever left it, and by that time Mike and I had both fallen asleep, so we never actually realized the moment we'd left Bangkok.

But we were obviously in a totally different place by the time we woke up. The only Farang (foreigners) on this commuter bus, we were dropped on the side of a dirt road in a sleepy little town called Ayuthaya. The laid back rural atmoshpere reminded me a little bit of Sedro-Woolley at first, especially when we found a street with nothing but auto shops and mom and pop restaurants.

That first night was spent at a little guest house called Tony's Place. It's romantic and unusual, with the overhanging roofs of the several small structures that make up the place letting in a few stars and letting out some rays of dim light. We played cards with a couple of English girls and had a few beers.

The next night went pretty much the same, after a day spent being guided around Ayuthaya's famous ruins by a Dutchman. We also discovered a bar called Moon Bar, a folk-cover singer named Mr. Noi, and a great Thai Life-band called the E-Sarn Band. In the meantime, I'd met an American veteran and ex-pat named Bob, who gave me the lowdown on Thailand and let me in on his insights into the experience of Americans abroad.

I slept on a night bus to Chiang Mai on the way out of town. After being kept awake for five hours by the chatting of a restless-spirited New Zealand girl, I passed into a sleep so deep that I didn't even wake when the bus hit a water buffalo.

But that's the next chapter...

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Photos

The famous head in Ayuthaya
(Thanks to Kay Metcalfe for the picture.)

Me and my litter
(Thanks to Kay Metcalfe for the picture.)