Monkeys!!! (And More Temples)

So after ten days we finally left Bangkok, via a 3rd class, no AC train north to Ayutthaya. When we boarded the train we found that we were the only tourists in sight (apparently most "farang" spring for the $11 first class tix over the 45-cent 3rd class seats). The announcements weren't very English friendly (actually, only in Thai), but after an hour and a half we thought we had arrived at the Ayutthaya train station after spotting a map out of the train window. After getting off the train, however, we noticed the main road wasn't where it was supposed to be, and neither was the main river that was supposed to run alongside the tracks. However, we figured Lonely Planet must have made a mistake (wishful thinking) and decided to head south in search of the hotel. After wandering around the town for half an hour, and getting laughed at by some local teens when we asked how to get to the hotel in Ayutthaya, we realized we were actually about 15 miles SOUTH of Ayutthaya, and had gotten off at the wrong stop! We were embarrassed and frustrated, but sucked it up and walked back to the train station passed the laughing kids.

After a 45 minute wait, we finally caught another train and eventually did make it to Ayutthaya (at least it only cost us 15 cents for new tickets). We ended up having a great time there. The town's main attraction are its ancient wats (temples) but we were a little watted out after Bangkok (every town in Thailand has dozens and dozens of them), but it also had a low key, non-touristy vibe that was a refreshing change from Bangkok. We chose a hotel named "P.U." on the backpacker strip that had a more laid-back feel (it was mostly couples and didn't have a bar). It wasn't as nice as the Park Plaza, but it was quiet, clean and definitely worth $13 a night! After getting a hard-sell from the hotel staff, we signed up for a boat trip on the first night, which went around the town and stopped at a couple of wats by the water. The wats were not spectacular, but it was fun riding on a rickety boat with the hardworking driver, and the highlight was watching some locals feeding bags of (what looked like) Cheetos to swarms of giant catfish in the river. The catfish were tame-- or hungry-- enough that you could actually reach down and scratch them on the back while they ate. It was pretty amazing. Later, we realized this type of animal-feeding is really popular in Thailand. We've seen people feeding these Cheetos, as well as loaves of bread, to turtles and other fish. They also seem to feed stray dogs massive amounts of chow, since you can't walk down a street without seeing an obese dog panting and laid-out flat on the sidewalk. Lots of animal lovers here!

We were approached by a little Thai boy at one of the wats who was gesturing us to go to the back of the temple. He was really insistent, so we followed him and he took us to a giant, reclining gold Buddha statue. It was really cool, especially since we were the only tourists there. By that time we were late for the boat, so we thanked him, said goodbye and started hurrying off towards the entrance. The smiling boy followed us, and kept pointing at another Buddha statue and saying something that sounded like "baht" (the currency). Weary from the Bangkok scams, we picked up our pace and imagined some thug coming out of the woodwork to demand cash from us for a "tour." The little boy beat us to the pier, but then just smiled and waved goodbye, making us feel a little stupid for running from a 7 year old boy! It's hard not to be weary of people, since we are so accustomed to Bangkok, where locals almost always have ulterior motives for approaching foreigners at tourist sites. It's definitely a lot more laid back in the smaller towns, and it's great not to have to be on edge at all times.

Anyway... the next morning we rented bikes for 30 baht each (about $1) and explored the city. It was easy to get around to the temples and markets, once we got the hang of riding alongside bikes, cars, and elephants! We saw a few other foreigners riding bikes, including a Mormon duo in dress shirts with ties and long pants, and wearing safety helmets. How they deal with the humidity in those clothes, we have no idea.

We stopped at the Muslim market, where rows of food carts sell roti sai mai, a sweet sugary snack that tastes like cotton candy. The super-friendly vendor gave us free samples and glasses of water to wash them down. We wanted to be polite, so we took little sips of the water. It tasted bitter and was a pinkish yellow color... and it dawned on us that we were drinking swampy tap water! Definitely a tourist no-no. After a few tiny sips, we gave back the cups with a smile. Fortunately, we haven't had any serious stomach problems... yet ;) Just constant, mild stomach distress (and no, we aren't wasting away as some people have worried... we are looking better and healthier than when we were eating huge portions of NYC restaurant food every night!). We are hopefully getting some immunity to germs, since we eat at food stalls every day and use public squat toilets with no soap access.

The wats had the typical Thai dual pricing with locals getting in for free and foreigners paying 30 baht and up for entry. At one of the larger wats, a security officer with a stick chased after tourists who were climbing forbidden areas of the temples, and waved the stick at foreigners who weren't squatting down when taking photos with Buddha images (your head is supposed to be below Buddha's). We thought of doing something inappropriate so we could take a photo being assaulted by the tourist-beating stick, but decided against it!

After 2 nights in Ayutthaya, we boarded another 3rd class train to Lopburi, the famed "monkey town" and one of Thailand's oldest cities. We thought we we knew what to expect after our previous train trip, but we were surprised to find the train was already overflowing with passengers when it pulled in, with the 4-seaters holding at least that many adults and numerous children. Leslie managed to squeeze her way into a cabin with the help from locals, who took her backpack and put it in between other passenger's legs in a 4-seater. (There was zero space in the overhead). So Leslie spent the next 90 minutes standing over the bag, wedged between locals, and getting squeezed by the numerous food vendors passing through the train. Jake was not so lucky; he wasn't even able to get past the entrance, so he rode almost the entire way in the open space between two cars, struggling to hold down his pack and not get crushed by other passengers or food vendors. A couple of Thai kids took an interest in Leslie and had fun playing with the fabric of her skirt and the straps on her pack (she discovered after leaving the train that they had fastened all of the lose ties). While no one tried to chat her up, she got the sense that the locals were looking out for her, since a few of them tried to explain how many stops were left until Lopburi (*we've realized that no one, not even train staff, actually KNOWS this info*), and they let her know when the stop had arrived. No one spoke English, so communication was by gesture and it was pretty confusing. When we got to Lopburi, some passengers convinced Leslie to leave her bag with them and implied they would throw it out the window when she was outside the train. Though she was initially hesitant, she took the risk-- and they did pass her the bag as promised. It was definitely an interesting experience in 3rd class... but we booked 2nd class assigned seats for the next leg of our trip north.

We had low expectations of Lopburi, but were pleasantly surprised by this small town with a major monkey population. It's not very touristy, and for the most part we were left alone to wander the streets in search of monkeys. (One older woman who spoke good English did approach us and give us her calling card; when she found out we were American, she kindly pointed out the local KFC and air-conditioned department store, two stops which definitely weren't on our itinerary!). It wasn't hard to spot the monkeys, since they were playing in the overhead wires, roosting on window sills of apartments and shops, and even waiting patiently to cross the major streets. We came in time to see them make a mass migration to the Phra Prang Sam Yot, their evening roost. It was crawling with monkeys... some of whom were super aggressive. One climbed up Leslie's back and sat on her head until Jake scared him off. Another grabbed Leslie's skirt and pulled at it, then bared his fangs and started to chase after Jake. This monkey chaos is a major tourist attraction, and dozens of people feed baby bananas to the monkeys-- so they seem to expect food from everyone and are willing to do anything to get it. We saw a monkey climb into a pick-up truck full of locals and literally steal candy from a baby. We noticed every window in town had a security grid over it, no doubt for monkey protection. It was really amazing... how the locals deal with this every day, we have no idea.

We're continuing to work our way north toward Laos and will probably update the blog again in Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand.

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Part of trip: Round-the-world Trip

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