As agile as an ape in Ayuthaya

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HE SAID...
We left the raft at 8am and jumped into a songthaew(small pickup truck/ute with seats in the tray) to travel back to the hotel where our packs had been stored while we were on the river. We were caught in rush hour traffic in Kanchanaburi for a while, but eventually arrived and shared two day rooms to shower and freshen up. The strength of the previous night’s storm was evident - street lights had been blown down and gardens had been smashed.

We left the hotel at 9am and travelled into the heart of Kanchanaburi to catch a bus to Ayuthaya. We left at 9.30am. The bus was pretty basic (to say the least), but it still had the huge LCD screen up the front playing Thai pop videos (similar to the bus that took us from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi). The only difference on this bus was the lack of air conditioning, which meant all the windows were down. To compensate, the music needed to be three times louder. With four hours ahead, this was going to be a long trip. 😊

The sound system - with speakers screwed to the luggage rack above our heads and a massive sub-woofer speaker construction taking up the entire back seat - was impressive. I would have preferred a similarly impressive air conditioning system, but I’m travelling in a country where intense heat is a way of life and music is far more important than comfort. Fortunately, the music was turned off at 10.30am. We travelled another hour before transferring to another bus. On the down side, the only seat available on the second bus had no legroom to speak of, so I sat twisted sideways for two hours in the heat of the day (again without any air conditioning). On the upside, a Buddha figurine replaced the LCD screen of the previous bus, and there wasn’t a speaker system to be found. 😊

When we arrived in Ayuthaya we dropped our packs off in a couple of dayrooms and set out on a tour of three temples - Wat Yai Chai MongKhon, Wat Phanan Choeng and Wat Phra Mahathat. Maybe it was heat exhaustion, but the second temple had little impact on me. The big Buddha was impressive, but one image stayed with me all day - a prostrate woman at the feet of a sitting monk who blessed her while taking a call on his mobile phone. It seemed the principles of Buddhism were missing from this temple. The third temple (Wat Phra Mahathat) was very different. It was disturbing to walk around the ruins of a temple where the heads of nearly every Buddha had been cut off by the invading Burmese many years ago. However, the setting was beautiful and the atmosphere was serene. Even the squirrels loved the place.

We returned to our dayrooms for a welcome swim and shower. The chlorine nearly burned my eyes from their sockets, but it was a great way to cool down. We headed out to dinner at a Muslim Night Market just around the corner, where I had a fish omelette with bean sprouts, Ren had Thai duck noodle soup and we both had lime shakes. We walked back to the dayrooms, jumped into a songthaew and headed to the train station for our overnight train to Chiang Mai.



SHE SAID...
Ayuthaya is one of the ancient capitals of Siam, and we had a day there on the way to Chiang Mai. The four hour bus ride in non-AC buses first from Kanchanaburi to Suphanburi and then on to Ayuthaya was not the most comfortable journey, but it was certainly atmospheric and full of local character. I think this journey may have been more comfortable had we not just had a day and night on the Rice Barge, because even though the barge had passable toilets and bathrooms, it’s so much more relaxing having your own space in a hotel room.

Intrepid Travel had booked us shared day rooms in the basic but tolerable Sherwood House close to the historic park in Ayuthaya. We could freshen up before a day of exploring ruins, and again before we caught the overnight train that night. This was a brilliant and very thoughtful gesture, as we were all sweaty limp overheated beings in the searing heat of Central Thailand.

We left our large packs at Sherwood House, had a quick lunch there of gai pad khing (stir fried chicken with ginger) which we had pre-ordered the night before, and then boarded a songthaew for a few hours of sightseeing. Ayuthaya was founded in 1350 as a large Siamese kingdom. By 1700 Ayuthaya reportedly had a million inhabitants, making it one of the largest cities in the world at the time, however in 1767 they were invaded and destroyed by the Burmese army who burned many of the temples and decapitated the Buddha statues (even though they were Buddhists too). It is thought that they burned the temples because the Thai Army was known to use temples as training camps; and they decapitated the statues because there had been a practice of hiding golden Buddha statues inside stone Buddha statues.

Ayuthaya is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and even though only partially restored, it wasn’t hard to imagine the grandeur that once was. Magnificent ruins of the old city still remain and it is easy to see that it would have been a sight to behold in its time.

We visited three of the more famous Buddhist monuments here...Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon was originally built as a meditative space in 1357, however two centuries later it was re-modelled as a victorious statement of a king who defeated Burma. As with most of these very old temples, it has different layers of history being unveiled by deterioration. As striking as the restored white statue of the main Reclining Buddha is, I actually preferred the unrestored large sitting Buddha whose roof and walls have collapsed around him, but he still sat proudly in the open air seemingly only slightly touched by time. The chedi (stupa) here are of different styles, predominantly domed chedi in a Sri Lankan or Lanna style, or thin tall prang chedi in an Ayuthayan or Khmer style.

The second temple we visited - Wat Phanan Cheoeng - pre-dates the founding of Ayuthaya, and has extensive Chinese iconology and deities. The main Buddha statue sitting at 19 metre tall is quite impressive in size and its gold leaf effect. However I found myself more drawn to the hundreds of less ostentatious Buddha images in the surrounding walls apparently placed there by visiting devotees. There is also an interesting Chinese shrine here for a King’s wife-to-be who is said to have killed herself on arrival in Ayuthaya from China. Golf suggested that the single people in the group could pray for a partner here, the only catch being that if your wish was granted you had to come back here and make an offering of thanks to the princess deity. I wasn’t taken with this temple complex at all, firstly I found it was lacking in any sense of spirituality and secondly I found it’s devotees loud, pushy and showy. So I wasn’t at all surprised when Golf translated that the large group praying in front of the main Buddha statue was literally chanting ‘more money’.

The third temple complex we visited - Wat Phra Mahathat - was my absolutely favourite of all the temples and sites. There are picturesque ruins of a vast temple complex burned down by the Burmese army centuries ago. However it is now most famous for a Buddha’s head which is surrounded by Bodhi tree roots. Golf remembers visiting here as a child when the Buddha’s head was only just above ground level - it seems the tree has grown about 30cm since then. Ironically, there is a certain air of sanctity and serenity here even though it has been so desecrated and violated in a horrible act of war and power. The complex is listed as a World Heritage site and is in various stages of pre-restoration. However I really hope it doesn’t get over-restored like some of the other sites.

We returned to Sherwood House to freshen up and then Golf took us to the local Muslim Night Market for a quick dinner before boarding the overnight train for Chiang Mai. Andrew had a very tasty fish omelette with bean sprouts and I had Thai duck noodle soup which was incredibly tasty and intensely satisfying. The accompanying lime shakes Andrew and I had with added salt were exactly the refreshing drinks our dehydrated bodies needed. For dessert Kim, Lee and I shared soft bread squares which came with a pandan and coconut cream dipping sauce that had caught Lee’s eye before. t was just awesome! I need to find out what this was called so I can look out for it again. 😊

We were in soft sleeper class on the overnight train, which is a large air-conditioned multi share compartment with seats that converted into dormitory style bunk beds two high. We’ve travelled on overnight trains in Asia before, and this was by far one of the cleaner and better organised sleeper trains we’ve caught.

See you in the northern climes of Chiang Mai in about 11 hours!

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Comments

[KD]

Milli Vanilli Does Neighbours
I was wondering how long that attraction would last :-) Interesting that the Burmese would desecrate Buddhist temples. I wouldn't have expected that. I'm still terrified of most of the food, although the toast and jam sounded nice...

[RENanDREW]

Re: Milli Vanilli Does Neighbours
The burmese were after the gold in the statues and the Thai armies used the temples as training camps - apparently hence the attacks... :(