Week long passage from Bangkok to Chiang Mai via Ayuttaya, LopBuri, Phitsanulok and Sukhothai

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Day 102 (Mon 17^thDec)



Managed to surface around 10am, had a quick look on facebook to see my friend Megan was downstairs in my hostel. I met Megan in Shanghai and again in Beijing. I was due to leave early on but because of the session the night before it didn’t happen. Me and Megan sat in the communal area of the hostel watching some idiot abroad and crying with laughter. It’s a shame I was leaving the day she arrived but as my trip is a slower one she’ll catch me at some point for a good drinking session maybe in Laos.

After this I headed to the station to get my train to Ayutthaya, a place I had never heard off until a few days ago. It turns out this was once the central point of the Siam empire so it’s quite an important and historical place within Thailand. The trains here are so cheap its unreal. I paid 35 Baht (70p) for a 2 hour trip. The trains are however not the most enjoyable for me, they are rickety, only have poor fans on the roof, but the huge windows are good, except the breeze isn’t a cooling one, more a warm one. I spent the entire 2 hours doing the nodding dogs as my head slid down the wall as I dribbled. Bangkok really has taken it out of me, I shall not have a drink until Christmas Day I have decided, give the liver a break, it sure needs it.

I got to Ayutthaya and hopped of the train, having to walk across a few lines to get to the platform, not sure health and safety would have it in England but there are not many trains on this line so it’s safe enough, enough for a hung over mess like me.

A woman stood by a tuk tuk asked if I needed somewhere to stay, I asked her the price, she said 350 Baht so I said lets go. Got there, was a little cautious as the office seemed to be on the pavement but on being taken inside it was spot on. Nice big double room with in room en suite, which is a new one to me for 7 quid a night. The toilet and shower being in the same room as the bed, no doors.

I got some thai curry for tea and a drink, less than 2 quid and headed to bed. Fell asleep around 8pm knackered.



Day 103 (Tues 18^th Dec) Ayutthaya



Woke up at about 10am after nearly 14 hours asleep. While normally I would love that, as its so hot here in the night time, the sleep doesn’t quite revitalise you as much as it would at home. You pretty much sweat in bed also so waking after that amount of time I was goosed, could hardly move. Managed to make it out of bed and into the shower and got some breakfast. Got a map and headed into town to explore. First stop being Ayutthaya Historical Park, which is amazing, hopefully my pictures do it justice. There are ruins from the Ayutthaya Empire and they are like nothing I’ve seen so far, also not too crowded. Ayutthaya has tourists and all guesthouses are pretty much in one space but there are so many areas to explore soon thin out. The huge centre pieces to the ruins look like massive acorns and they are quite spectacular. Quite a lot of people seemed to be cycling the city, which I should have done; I’m just not keen on the driving skills of people here. After here I headed south towards the river. Ayutthaya is an island city, completely surrounded by water, but some of the nicer temples are outside the city river. So I starting walking towards them, then away from them to find a bridge and finally to them. I google mapped it and walked easily over 10 miles in the day in 35 degrees heat, so a good days exercise, and thats just site to site not walking in them. I took in 3 temples and 1 catholic church which I was surprised to see. The temples being Wat Kasattrathirat Vorawihan, Wat Chaiwattanaram, Wat Putthaisawan and Saint Josephs. All the places are beautiful, the temples can look quite eerie but I was very impressed with them and look forward to seeing more of this style or architecture. After all this walking I was shattered so got a tuk tuk to near where I was staying and took in another palace and ruins. Spent about 5 hours taking in the sights before needing some food. Had some noodles, headed back to guesthouse to go on computer for a bit, then got hungry again and went for a thai red curry, very nice indeed and the prices here are ace. So so cheap and I love it. Did a bit of skyping in the evening, I saw the evening, more like 2am but was good.

Ayutthaya has easily been one of my favourite places in 103 days and I certainly won’t forget my day walking around this amazing city. Its only 2 hours from Bangkok but often overlooked. It nearly was by me as I never heard of it, but I highly recommend it. Probably my second favourite place after Beijing so far.



Day 104 (Wed 19^th Dec) Lop Buri



After waking, packing my bags and getting food I headed to the station. I could have stayed here longer but there are plenty other places to see. Today was Lop Buri. Until a year or so ago I never knew it but saw it on An Idiot Abroad and thought it had to be done. Only an hour up the road from Ayutthaya and on the route north to Chiang Mai made it a certain stop. Also because it’s commonly known as Monkey Town. Got to Lop Buri around 1pm and walked a couple streets before finding a hotel. 250 Baht for a double room, I was sold without even seeing the room, 5 quid. The room is fine. My first note was to see the sign saying close all windows so monkeys don’t steal your things. I checked in at the same time a middle aged German woman who’d been on same time did so after putting our things in our room we headed out to the Monkey Temple, a mere 2 streets away.

On the way, monkeys everywhere. They literally roam the streets, electricity cables and buildings. The first one I saw was trying to eat a light bulb, they are crazy. The temple cost a quid to get into. On going round the first corner they are simple hundreds of monkeys. They are playing, being cleaned by parents or generally being mischievous. I enjoyed seeing the monkeys but they can be little buggers. I saw one guy get his sunglasses nicked which was amusing to me. The monkey straight into his pocket and off up the temple to hide with the prize. I managed to get a couple pictures of me in the middle of the monkeys but they just run around like nutters. The staff try to stop you letting the monkeys jump on you. Why am I not sure? They only seem to want to be friendly but the staff scowl and shout at them; surely this will only make them aggressive. It’s generally only the babies and youngsters that jump on you also and I enjoyed messing about with them and taking some really cute pictures of them. They are amusing as anything to just watch.

On leaving we headed to King Narai’s Palace which is where the King once presided. The grounds aren’t massively appealing on entering, there really isn’t a lot there and the ruins are a lot less impressive than Ayutthaya. I didn’t stay in here too long before heading to hotel to have a break. I then took a wander to a statue of the King, a little outside the city the map made it seem, try 4 miles. I walked to it, was not impressed as it was a small statue in the middle of a rounadabout. Good 2 hour round trip for pretty much nothing bar good exercise so not all bad I guess. Legs are tired now after 2 hard days. 36 degrees here today. Found a place to get some chicken breast, rice and little bowl of soup for a massive 75 pence, food is for nothing. I have mentioned it the last few days but it’s insane. I’m spending about 4 quid a day on food max. The train trip cost 13 baht/26 pence for an hour journey.



Day 105 (Thurs 20^th Dec)



I left around lunchtime after having another look around. Today I was moving on to Phitsanulok. I didn’t really know anything about where I was going except the name of 2 guesthouses to look out for on arrival. The train was due to be 3 hours long and I didn’t enjoy the 1 hour the day before so I went for an air conditioned seat instead, this cost about 4 times more than a coach bench seat but was worth it. It also included some food which happened to be rank. No idea what it was and the rice was as dry as anything.

I arrived around tea time and found my way along with most other people on the train to the Lithai Guesthouse, which is more like a hotel and only 5 quid a night so can’t complain. I then wandered around town for a bit, found a few night markets and got myself some street chicken kebab which was tasty. Back to my room to do very little and get my head down.



Day 106 (Fri 21^st Dec)



Woke up late so knowing I’d need to check out paid for another night. I then went out to explore the town which took all of 2 hours. I was done by around 1pm so figured I’d use the room and sleep. There is literally nothing to do or see there, the only drawing point to this place is that I read its one of, if not the oldest city in Thailand. That is all well and good but even the temples that are there are very small and not very impressive. In the evening I went to night market again for some more food before once again sleeping.



Day 107 (Sat 22^nd Dec)



I moved on as soon as I was up. I headed to the station and got the bus to nearby Sukhothai, famous for having plenty of ruins pretty much inside a set of city walls. The walls themselves are nonexistent and the main ruins are all centered around one area. On getting off the bus (more like a jeepney but rubbish) I hired a bicycle. This was in hindsight probably a mistake. 1 for the fact that I could have easily walked the ruins and 2 I looked like mary poppins. It was a ridiculous bike but I stuck with it even after some local kids laughed at me. I raced around the site seeing all the ruins, got bored and decided to go out the main road for a bit to see if there was anything out there, there wasn’t. I came back flying down the main road and got some food before heading back to guesthouse. This is the cheapest place I’ve stayed since my first hostel in China at 3 quid a night but it’s the best, luckily its only for 1 night.



Day 108 (Sun 23^rd Dec)



Another transit day of which this week there’s been loads. I got on the bus and went to Lampang, which was 3 odd hours away. I got off the bus walked 1 block around, found a map, realised there was nothing there and went straight back to the bus station to hop on the next bus bound for Chiang Mai. There was nothing going on it seemed in Lampang, maybe due to it being a Sunday so I did one, knowing Chiang Mai would have more going on. Got to Chiang Mai and checked in a day early into the hostel. Straight up to the room mid afternoon for a nap, which seemed to be everyone elses plan as the room was full with people sleeping, most having come on overnight buses or trains from Bangkok. In the evening I headed out to a couple bars, mainly to watch the football and play some pool, beating a few other tourists which covered my nights drinking so wasn’t a bad way to end the day in which nothing really happened.



Next – Christmas in Chiang Mai

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