From temples, meditation and monks of the Old Capital to shopping centers, night clubs and modernity of the New one

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Ayutthaya and Bangkok

And we are back in Thailand. We flew in on Wednesday and were supposed to meet our Japanese friend over the weekend so we decided to head to Ayutthaya first and then come back to BKK. From the airport we went straight to the train station and took what must be the cheapest train in the world to the old capital (13Baht/0.3$ per 2h ride). We wanted to stay on the Ayutthaya Island so we had to take 2 minute ferry (4Baht) on the other side of a river. We found our guesthouse immediately and walked around to check where what was and how we could go about this place. It was too hot to embark on the temple tour so we rented the bikes only for the evening when temperatures went down a little. We were not in a hurry as we had to be back in BKK on Saturday and majority of people visit Ayutthaya over one day – as it is supposed to be enough.

Spiritual or sect-ish ?

We went around some major temples in central plain and were not amazed. We must have been spoiled by Bagan and constant comparison was not helping. All the temples are just really spread across the town and between buidlings so it is not as cultural experience as we hoped for nevertheless impressive. The town itself has a nice charm to it and we liked evening strolls among the food stalls and night market and even ones walked to see the closest temples at night. We were just walking by one of them when we saw thousands little lights spread across a field on the opposite side of a road. Initially we thought it was some kind of wedding or private ceremony but we got curious enough to go to check. We finally heard some chanting and saw many people sitting in meditating position between the lanterns. Got invited in and joined the crowd of yogis and Buddhist believers. Even though we only joined for a little while and we had no idea what that was about we really enjoyed the atmosphere and the music. Only later on we found out that this was the pilot event for a monthly meditation for foreigners in Ayutthaya and that they were checking what all the falangs thought about it. First of all their marketing was not great as there was only 5 of us and the rest was drinking and listening to a live music at the street where all the guesthouses were and secondly it seemed a little bit sect-ish to us. We got asked to join the monks at the podium to have a discussion and we were amazed that they were foreigners as well. One guy was from Liverpool and another was a retired philosophy professor from New York who joined the monastery indefinitely ….hmm …. and his wife was apparently ok with that ….. hmmm. They were doing some self finding (being cynical as I am I can say self hiding or running away from something) and they were now involved into this meditation sessions for falangs. We had a long and fruitful conversation about Buddhism and I asked many uncomfortable questions to all which I got: ‘That is an excellent question’ but no real answer. The professor was a Christian and Buddhist in the same time so I was really curious what is the relation between the two and what Buddhism take on Jesus was and so on but being a monk now he could not freely express his thoughts and it was visible (apparently Jesus had bad karma that he died on cross …. hmmm no comment). Nevertheless it was an unexpectedly interesting evening and we enjoyed every bit of it.

Ultimate backpackers’ district

This time we were supposed to visit Bangkok as typical backpackers staying at Khao San Rd etc. Everybody doing the typical backpackers route through SE Asia has some strong opinion about this place and very often they are not very good. What we heard was that Khao San Rd is just a huge party/rip-off/mugging place where people either loose things or gain some unwanted things like weird friends or trouble or just simply have the time of their lives. We were wondering which it was that we were going to experience. From the train station we took a bus to Khao San Rd which was a nice ride through Chinatown (3Baht each). Bad thing about this place is that there is no subway system going there and you are left with taxi or loads of changes of buses to get anywhere else. Good thing is cheap accommodation and all the very much needed travelers’ infrastructure. But why would you need to go anywhere else when you are at Khao San Rd? There seems to be everything you need around. We entered the street and we already kind of liked the experience. Loads of people that looked and dressed like us (scruffy look is not hard to pull) and behaved like us – backpackers shopping, drinking, playing games or just generally enjoying themselves. There were load of restaurants and bars playing laud music even though it was early afternoon and loads of shopping stalls with everything you may need when you travel.

Christmas came earlier this year

We stayed a little bit off the street in a lovely old Thai house (Bamboo Guesthouse, 270Baht per room) and we really enjoyed it there. We met some very interesting people there like an older couple from US who were just flying back home after 5 months of travelling and after 10 min of conversation liked us so much that they gave us all the stuff that they could not take with them. We were amazed at what they left us as we were actually in need of many of those things. Our American Santa helpers gave us really good quality snorkel gear, brand new sarong from Bali (still with tags), hand sanitizers, chocolate, real coffee candy, dried mango from Bali, loads of vitamins, Brazilian nuts (s expensive in Asia) and I got brand new Batik skirt from Malaysia. When we walk up in the morning they also left us a flower in a bottle in front of our door – could they be lovelier??? We also met Claude who is a journalist/photographer and he is currently on contract assignment in Asia making porters of people in villages. He told us many interesting things about Philippines as his beloved country (has been many times and even speaks Filipino language) and also told us about the research he did once about Khao San Rd.

You have been warned!!!

He used to interview people working in travel agencies in town to find out about travel scam that are taking place in here. Every guidebook and forum about booking transport from BKK says not to book it from Khao San Rd as you may lose some stuff on the way. He was explained that travel agencies can offer such cheap transport options because they make money on stolen goods. Everybody, even police is involved in this and all the used things they sell on Khao San Rd come from buses going between BKK and Koh Tao etc. Of course we heard about it before he told us and we did not even plan to travel with any of the private agencies but government bus but we have to admit that it comes much pricier than the agencies ;-(They told Clause that they always put somebody in the luggage compartment and they would take anything from your luggage that has any value for sale, even trekking shoes but they would also try to rob people when sleeping going through their bags. Some would use sleeping gas to sedate all the passengers. Their usual practice is to wake everybody just 1 minute before they have to leave the bus, rush them out of the bus and leave as soon as they can. You don’t even get a ticket but a sticker so you cannot really prove that you were on that particular bus. I am sure it does not happen to everybody but to enough people that they can make a living of it. Claude has been robbed twice on those buses but thanks to his friends in BKK he managed to get some compensation from a bus company. What a business someone came up with ha? That is why it is written in Lonely Planetand other guidebooks – Do not take buses from Khao San Rd – you have been warned!!!

Long time no see

But of course our main reason for sticking around in BKK was a reunion with my friend Naoko who I haven’t seen for nearly 5 years. We have initially met in India, shared a room for 3 months and try to see each other as often as we can but with our busy lives and huge distance between London and Tokyo it is not as often as we hope. I was amazed when she announced she would come to see us just for a weekend and it was the best weekend ever!!! We did not have much time but wanted to do some nice things in BKK so we started with seeing the famous Chatuchak market which Tomek and I were both disappointed with cause it did not look like a typical Asian market to us and we did not find anything we were really looking for. We enjoyed a stroll and but only managed to find some beautiful salt and pepper set shaped like an elephant. Still counts for something ;-) We then decided to visit a LP recommended Jezz club and have some fancy drinks. We don’t do that often but that was a great opportunity to let go and relax. This bar was amazing and we loved the interior, service and great music. Cocktails were no bad either ;-) We managed to take last train and bus home but seriously it is not worth it as for two people taxi works cheaper. Subway is pricy in BKK and it actually works out more to take public transport from Sukhumvit (trendy area with shopping malls and bars) to Khao San Rd than a taxi for two. The next day we all went for a trip to floating market which was pleasurable but nothing special in our opinion. We did not see much of the floating seller’s just canals and villas around. We did nothing else in BKK – no temples, no palace (probably going to regret that one day) but just did not feel like it anymore. It was obvious to us though that the Old capital was all about spiritual experience and the New capital believed in commerce, money and pleasure. We were just looking forward to the ‘Tour of the Islands’ we were just about to begin…..

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Photos

Tomek posing
I have to force him to do that so he may not always look happy;-)

love Thai food
such a difference after Burma... this masterpiece was cooked at one of the night stalls;-) yummy

pint of beer at Saxophone Pub
should have seen Tomek's face and how happy he was

Comments

[thaigirlspattayagirls]

Beautiful Thailand
I am a regular visitor to Thailand. Thailand is very beautiful country. It is nice to visit Thailand for spending your holidays. Natural beauty of Thailand, food of Thailand, thai girls everything in Thailand is so beautiful that i love to go their since 10 years.