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Published: February 1st 2009
Train to Ayuthaya
with a monk in the backgroundI left you last time as we were taking the overnight bus from Ranong to Bangkok.
Wednesday 07th January Arrive Bangkok 1½ hours early at 0500. Those of you that are keen blog readers will remember that when we were in New Zealand we visited the place with the longest name in the world. Well, that was a little white lie at the time. That was the longest place name in the English language. Technically Bangkok has a ceremonial name which is the
official longest place name in the world, but nobody knows it and everybody calls it Bangkok! Here it is in all it's glory anyway:
"Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit" So, there's no argument now that we haven't been to the place with the world's longest name because we've been to both! Back to Bangkok bus station - We grab a coffee and sat with Lonely Planet for a while. It's too early to get anywhere and we don't even know where we need to go or how to get there! We eventually figure that there is only one way into the
centre and that's by road. The bus is the cheapest option as tuk tuks take advantage of the fact that you have just arrived and know nothing and in true Thai tradition, rip you off for every baht they possibly can! Which bus though? We want to go to Siam Square because that is where Aimee's friend Karen is staying. The bus info desk don't know which bus goes there so they radio a colleague. We get sent to bus 511. Twenty minutes later we actually
find bus 511. I ask the driver if this is the bus for Siam Square. He doesn't know!! I show him the map and still he doesn't know!! We get off. We get on the next bus 511 and ask that driver. This one says "No, we no go there." We go to another information desk and they helpfully tell us we want bus 511. "No we don't. We've been to two bus 511's and they don't go there!" So they chat amongst themselves for a while and decide on bus 507. We get on bus 507 and ask the driver. He doesn't know! How on Earth can a bus driver not know where
Buddha Head
at Phra Mahathat he is going? A passenger helps and shows us on the map where this bus goes. It goes near, but not quite and we are quoted 70B (though I think he means 17B). "The other option," he says, "is to catch bus 511." GOD I could kill someone! Just to be sure we get off and decide to ask the next bus 507 what they think! A bus 507 pulls up so we get on and ask again. Unsuprisingly the driver doesn't have a scooby, but a very helpful lady tells us we need bus 79. That bus doesn't stop here though. If we catch bus 511 and ask for bus 79 they will tell us where to get off. So we decide to do that! It is now 0730 so we've been messing around for over two hours! Up comes bus 511 and we explain our story. Neither the driver or the conductor knows where to change for bus 79! Thankfully another helpful passenger does and she tells us where to get off. We do so, and don't get charged which is nice! Bus 79 turns up and Allelujah, it's the right bus and more to the point -
My Head
at Phra Mahathat the driver knows it! We're in rush hour and the drive takes about two hours. Hostel hunt. We're in the posh end of town so it's not cheap. It's 500B for a private room with en-suite and air-con and it's the cheapest we can find. Went to a SONY dealer to see about getting our camera fixed. They can't do it there but they say there is a SONY service centre in Bangkok and show us on the map where it is. It takes us about 1½ hours to get there. They can fix it - for 70 quid and it will take a week! Déjà vu! "We're not staying for a week and as this is the service centre couldn't you do it quicker?" we ask. "Oh no sir! We need a spare part from Singapore." We are absolutely fuming! We have to walk away before we kill someone! This is exactly what happened in New Zealand with our other SONY camera. It's really annoying because here we are, budgetting our asses off, not going out, eating from markets rather than restaurants, taking cheap, third class buses and trains to stay in budget and now we have to buy
a
third camera! Well, you can guarantee it wont be another bloody SONY one!! Went to get some beers and Aimee got some "SangSom" which is a dark rum. Slept well.
Thursday 08th January Off to meet Aimee's friend Karen who is on holiday with her friend Vicky. They treat us to a coffee which is nice of them, and then I become tour guide and take them up to Chatachak Market which sells everything from snakes to chickens and stuff you never even knew existed. Turns out it's a weekend market though and today is Thursday! Plan B then. We take a water taxi down a canal and goto the Erawan shrine which is little more than a street side shrine with josticks and flower garlands. The girls then go shopping, with me following behind! Later we go round to Karen and Vicky's hotel room which is
very posh! They have bought some snacks and beer and we have a mini party. We stay a bit longer than intended and the Skytrain has stopped running so we have to get a tuk tuk back to the hostel. It's 50B so not too bad!
Friday 09th January Had
Wat Lokayasutharam
42m long reclining Buddha in saffron a lie in. Went to buy another bloody camera. Generally wandered around the shops and took it easy.
Saturday 10th January Another packed travel day. Met Karen and Vicky for a coffee and a goodbye. Then it was Skytrain followed by MRT (Tube) to Bangkok's Hua Lamphong Train Station where we caught a train to Ayuthaya for 15B. It takes 2 hours and is a third class train. We don't really know where to get off as the station signs are in Thai squiggle but the timetable we have with the stations named is in English (Roman) script. A helpful Thai family sat opposite help us and we get off at the right place. We ignore more lying tuk tuk drivers and walk the two minutes to the ferry station. The ferry across the river is 4B and takes two minutes at the most. We then spend the next hour and a half Hostel hunting. We find a really nice one for 200B (4 quid) for a double with shared bathroom. All the other rooms on our corridor have private bathrooms though so it's only Aimee and me using the "shared" bathroom anyway. There is a bar area downstairs
Chill out area
in the Ayuthaya Hostel and a lovely seating area away from the bar where you can buy your own beer from the shop and relax in. Lonely Planet describes Ayuthaya thus, "In their race to reach the Gulf of Thailand three rivers (Mae Nam Lopburi, Chao Phraya and Pa Sak) converge to form the island of Ayuthaya, the former Thai capital........Life revolves around the river which acts as transport, bath, and kitchen sink." Aimee is full of cold so has an early-ish night. I head to the bar to watch Burnley vs Swansea on TV. As usual though, the Thais don't show the Campionship matches so I make do with Stoke vs Liverpool. I sit with the Hostel's chef and teach him some English football words like referee, corner, throw-in, pass, shoot, tackle etc.
Sunday 11th January Another lie in which we blame on Aimee's illness. Bummed about for the day. Another "spanner in the works" with regards onwards route planning. The Gibbon Experience we wanted to do in Laos is fully booked till 25th January. We need to leave Thailad on the 20th January because of our visa. The Gibbon Experience is right ion the Thai/Laos border and we can't hang around
for five days before we do it. Need to do more Lonely Planet reading and thinking! Aimee has another early night and I watch Man Utd beat Chelsea 3 - 0.
Monday 12th January Historical sightseeing/Temple day. Went to Wat Phra Mahathat which was built in 1374. It's 10B to get in but only if you are a local. It's a whopping 5 times more (thats 50B for thickies) for us foreigners - the racist buggers. Imagine if we did that in England? There'd be outrage! This Wat is famous for a Buddha head that has been overgrown by tree roots (see picture). We also get a couple of Buddha-esque pictures and got told off by Security. He even made us delete them from our camera but somehow a few escaped unharmed! (How did that happen?) We then went to Wihara Phra Mongkon Bophit which houses the largest seated Buddha in Thailand - made from Bronze. The final stop on the "easy-to-walk-to-and-therefore-free" Temple trail is Wat Lokayasutharam which has a 42m long reclining Buddha in saffron (that's orange to us straight blokes) robes. School day time again. This time it's Buddha images. There are 32 rules originating from 3rd
Sunset and beer
on the River Kwai Century India which govern the depiction of Buddha. The big 4 relate to his posture: RECLINING - exact moment of Buddha's enlightenment; SITTING - Buddha teaching or meditating. If the right hand is pointed toward Earth then Buddha is subduing the demons of desire. If the hands are folded in the lap then Buddha is turning the wheels of law; STANDING - Buddha bestowing blessings or taming evil forces; WALKING - Buddha after his return to Earth from Heaven.
Tuesday 13th January Made the decision to try Plan B (or is it Plan Z?) We're going to go to Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai over the next few days, then head to Cambodia, Vietnam,
then Laos before returning to Thailand. Not sure how to get to Kanchanaburi though so we're off to the bus station to see what we can do. Turns out we have to catch a bus to Suphanburi which is 60B each, 1½ hours. We change buses and catch a Kanchanaburi bus from there for 45B each, 2 hours. It was a lovely journey through paddy fields, past farmers, water buffalo and sugar plantations. Lonely Planet states: "the fertile plains of Central Thailand are the geographic
and cultural heart of the country." When we arrived we headed to the Hostelly side of town by the River Kwai which was about a twenty minute walk from the bus station. We decided on the first hostel we walked into. It's 280B a night (5.60 quid) for a double with en-suite. We have a terrace that is right on the riverbank looking West so we expect lovely sunsets. Hunted down the night market for food then sat on the terrace. We were soon joined by our neighbours from both sides so as well as us there were two Aussies (on honeymoon) an American (from Georgia) and two Lancastrians (from Bury).
Wednesday 14th January Lazed about and got our bearings. We're in no rush as we plan to see out our visa's till the 20th Jan. Watched sunset over the River Kwai with a few beers.
Thursday 15th January Time to do a little sightseeing. Not a lot though. Went to train station and bus station for info on getting to Bangkok on Sunday. Next stop was the incredibly informative, "Thailand - Burma Railway Centre" where we found out all about what happened. The story made famous by
the movie, "The Bridge On The River Kwai" can be summed up in my own true style like this: The mission was to build a railway line 415km long. If they start at both ends they can meet in the middle - just like we did with the Channel Tunnel. Engineers estimate the track will take 60 months to complete. The Japs decide to use PoW's (that's prisoners of war, girls) and force them to complete in just 16 months. Less than 200,000 workers were used during the construction. Of those, 115,000 were killed. That's 235 people per day. 6 out of 10 died. That means only 4 out of 10 survived! As it was physically demanding work (manually blasting through rock with dynamite etc.) many were killed in accidents. Some were killed due to illness though many would have been cured if the Japs allowed medical aid. Basically the clever Japs decided not to offer aid or even to feed the injured/sick. The thinking behind this was that the men would get back to work as soon as possible in order to get a good feed. The majority of deaths though were caused by the Japs' mistreatment of the
PoW's, underfeeding and overworking, physically beating, and all too often, simply murdering them. (In the Japs defense though, this is a war. Soldiers kill soldiers in wars I guess). Unsuprisingly the railway is nicknamed "Death Railway." After the museum we looked around the Kanchanubari War Cemetery where 6800 PoW's used to build the line lie. We found an "A. J. Wood, age 25." Aimee is an A. J. Wood, and is also quite spookily 25 years old! Unrelated to the story, we saw the Chinese Cemetery which is next to the War Cemetery and
very different looking. Another sunset on the terrace - may as well take advantage whilst we're here. Beers flowed into the night..........
Friday 16th January Rented bicycles today for 40B each. Took them to the infamous Bridge On The River Kwai which we walked across and had a picnic lunch by. We then went on a Mystery Tour through the countryside where we saw loads of local villages, farmers in fields, buffalo and general Thai stuff. We stumbled across some Chinese Temple things and another of the PoW cemetery's - this one in it's original location. Quite sadly there were many headstones for "A Soldier
of the 1939 - 1945 War, Known to God." Evidently they have more bodies than names! Cycled down to the night market for tea and got fed for 50B - pork fried rice and hot, red curry with chicken and rice. Found a stall selling bugs so I bought some for brunch tomorrow. Only 10B for a bagful! Took things easy with a few beers on the balcony.
Saturday 17th January Ate some real tasty, nasty looking stuff today. Had some sort of grub/larvae things, a grasshopper, a cockroachy thing and a whole, deep-fried, baby frog! The grub/larvae thing and the grasshopper were like nuts, shell and all. The cockroachy thing had a nutty taste with the texture of a prawn. The frog was like salty shoe leather - it was awful! Still, you have to try these things don't you? Had a bit of a relaxing day and an early night ready for the journey tomorrow.
Sunday 18th January Up at 0600 for a 0720 train. As it's part of "Death Railway" there is a ridiculous "Tourist Price." It's 100B for a three hour journey. Doesn't sound a lot but if you compare it with the 15B
A day on the bikes
going past Buffallo! for the two hour train from Bangkok to Ayuthaya, and the 50B, six hour journey from Bangkok to Aranya Prathet which we will do in a few days, it's crazy. It annoys us even more when we find out the locals don't have to pay at all!!! We pay so much it's free for them! We're really getting sick of the bloody Thai's!! We get to the station in plenty of time, grudgingly buy a ticket each and watch the sunrise. The train rolls up on time at 0720, however it then sits at the station for half an hour whilst the locals get off and get their breakfast. We got chatting to a Thai guy who eventually tells us "Khao San Road - this is your stop" which made sense as there seemed to be plenty of people getting off. So off we get. He screwed us good and proper!! It took us three hours to find out where we were, walk to the hostelly area and find a hostel. We have a private double room with shared bathroom for 220B (4.40 quid). It's about a ten minute walk to Khao San Road which is where the cheap bars/food
stalls are. Had a relaxing afternoon and a meal out then a few cheeky beers at the hostel.
Monday 19th January Kind of an information gathering and sightseeing day. First we went to the Cambodian Embassy for up to date information on visas and prices. We're just double checking because of the crap we had with the bloody Thais! First we took an Express Boat down the Chao Phraya River. It took us about ten minutes to find the pier, only to be told that the boat no longer stops at this one! We then spent twenty minutes trying to find the next pier and eventually caught the boat. The river is
filthy! It's like the Thames was about 30 years ago. In fact, we saw an old fella hanging over the edge and literally crapping straight into the water. He then proceeded to splash his balloon-knot and give himself a really good clean out! Nice. The boat took us all the way from North West to South West Bangkok in about 30 minutes and only cost 13B each. We then headed inland on the Skytrain for 25B each. When we got off we were a bit disorientated so
A Grasshopper.
It's a bit nutty....... we asked at the Skytrain info which direction the Cambodian Embassy was in. "It's closed," she said, "It's moved to the other side of the city." Bloody Hell! A wasted journey then! Oh well. We'll just turn up at the border tomorrow and see what happens. Next we took the metro/tube to the train station. Our train leaves at 0555 tomorrow and takes six hours. It's a third class train and only costs 49B each. A bus will cost 250B each and the lady at the Tourist Info asks us why we want the train. "It's very cheap for a minibus. I can arrange it for only 750B each." Yes, I'm sure you will love! Let me think, 50B or 750B, which is it to be? "Well you'll have to get here early for the train. It is very busy and you will have to stand up for six hours with your bags." Do you think she was ripping us off? We'll try our luck thanks! We next walked through Chinatown to another pier and caught the boat back to the hostel. Ate at a food stall again, spent our last few Bahts on stuff for lunch tomorrow and got
Sunrise
over Kanhanubari Train Station an early night.
Annoyingly, this is where I shall leave the story for now. The journey to Cambodia is an epic and so I will put it and the rest of Cambodia onto a seperate blog in a few days/weeks or so (it depends on the ease of internet access in Vietnam). Stay cool!
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Your Kid Rob
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Camera
I owe you a birthday and christmas present so get a camera and i'll weigh you in. Send me your bank details and i can transfer the $$$