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Published: February 12th 2008
Wat Chai Wattanaram, Ayuthaya
Splendid sunset over the ruinsTo get to the temple filled city of Ayuthaya, we decided to enjoy our first Thailand train experience. After picking up our passports the evening before, we headed off on Dec. 29th to make our way north. Getting to the Hualamphong train station and buying our tickets was fairly easy, first the bus, then the sky train, and then the subway with our bulging backpacks. Luckily, it was earlier in the day on a Saturday, so there were fewer people about.
Our plan was to get on one of the nicer trains, since it was our first time on a train trip in Thailand, then kick back and relax. We had a quick coffee, then bought our tickets. Not long after, we realized that we had purchased a third class train ticket. Imagining that this was fine, since our destination was a mere two hours from Bangkok, we made our way to the appropriate platform to await our train.
Once it arrived, a huge amount of people began to push and rush onto the train. We weren't even sure that it was the right one, but decided to get on anyway to get a seat, then check afterwards. Christine
Wat Phutthaisawan, Ayuthaya
Roosters and wats, what a combo! was half way through the doorway when the doors of the train suddenly slammed shut on her backpack. She was stuck! Thanks to the help of many local Thai people and much pushing and pulling, they finally managed to pull her through. All of a sudden her backpack was free, but the doors closed shut with Andy left outside. He had to run down past several doors until he found one that was open, then just made it onto the train.
After that little scare, it was a cramped, hot ride with lots of people, as well as someone's dog. It was great to ride with the locals. A guy sitting next to us spoke little English, but made the point of calling out the name of every stop to us, with a huge grin. He also made sure we knew when to get off. It made for a more interesting day than riding with a bunch of other tourists in a first class, air-con train.
Once we got off the train in Ayuthaya, we walked down a dusty dirt road to the canal which encircles the centre of the city, essentially making it an island. We caught
a tiny little passenger ferry across, which was jammed full of people, and made our way to the hotel area. We found a hotel, then were persuaded to sign up for a two hour river boat tour that evening. The tour was to include three stops at the more famous wats (Buddhist temples) along the canal.
At 4 pm we piled into the back of a pick-up, along with about 12 other people. It drove us a short distance to a small pier, where several small long boats were tied up. We then split into two groups; ours consisted of a German couple, an Italian couple, and us. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke...three couples were sitting in a boat, anyways, we digress. The boat almost tipped a few times as we all climbed in, and the Thai lady who was driving had a good laugh.
We set off along the canal that surrounded the city, passing many homes built on stilts, people bathing (and brushing their teeth!) and children playing and waving. First we stopped at Wat Phanan Choeng, one of the oldest and more popular temples in Ayuthaya. One of the Buddha images there
was cast in 1324!
Taking off our shoes at the entrance, we stepped inside. There were people praying on their knees to Buddha while holding lit incense. Folded bills were placed in front of specific idols as offerings. Beautiful red paper lantern hung throughout. It was a very spiritual sight to experience.
Outside the temple, there was a pier where literally hundreds of catfish were thrashing around in the water while people fed them pieces of bread. They were huge and fat, obviously well fed, and probably the luckiest fish in all of Thailand.
Our next stop was at Wat Phutthaisawan. There were some amazing rooster statues, along with rows of Buddhas and some ancient stone chedis (mound-like structures at Buddhist temples). Then back to the boat for our final stop, Wat Chai Wattanaram. It was built in 1629 and the architecture, although crumbling, was quite striking. There we were treated to a most beautiful sunset, which put the temples into silhouette.
At the end of our boat trip we were dropped off at the local night market. We decided to go for dinner with the German couple, Petra and Richard, that we had started chatting
Ayuthaya
Waterfront property with on our tour. After a delicious dinner of chicken and cashew, pad thai, fried rice and Singha beer, we took a wander around the night market and sampled some of the vendor foods for dessert.
Petra and Richard kindly offered for us to visit them in Germany and show us around Munich. Hopefully we can take them up on their offer in the future and sample some of that famous German beer.
The following morning we headed off on foot to finish exploring the more famous wats located within the city. After a short and hot walk we arrived at Wat Ratchaburana. It was built in 1424, and the temple was constructed to hold the ashes of two brothers who killed each other during a battle for the throne! This was one of our favorite wats, beautiful and filled with many partial Buddha statues. Some were headless (most likely due to the illegal antiquities trade) and many were in several pieces, some scattered about and some with pieces placed haphazardly together.
We then walked across the street to Wat Mahathat. There we saw probably one of the most photographed sights in Ayuthaya, the stone Buddha face
with a large fig tree growing around it. There was a guard stationed next to it, to ensure that people crouched lower than the head while having their photos taken, as it is disrespectful to stand taller than Buddha. Again we wandered around the beautiful site, taking photos and admiring the stone structures. Later we visited several other small ruins of wats, then slowly made our way back to the guest house.
Ayuthaya was very relaxing, peaceful and beautiful, but we were on a tight schedule. In the morning we took a tuk-tuk ride to something that resembled a bus station. It was tiny, with one small booth to buy tickets at. We asked for the next bus to Sukhothai, and were told to wait one hour. We noticed another couple waiting, the only other two foreigners, and it turned out that we both had the same destination.
One hour came and went, and finally a bus pulled up, paused for a moment, then left! We asked the ticket booth attendant why the bus had left, and were told that it was full. We couldn't buy tickets ahead of time, and the man, who didn't speak much English,
Wat Phanan Choeng, Ayuthaya
The luckiest fish in Thailand! just shrugged his shoulders and replied 'Happy New Year'. As it was the morning of New Years Eve, we determined that he meant the buses were full due to people travelling for the holiday, rather than wishing us a happy (and possibly sarcastic) holiday. The four of us all had a laugh together, then began chatting while waiting for the bus.
Our new friends were from Paris, France and had decided, along with us, to get on the next bus that came along, even if we had to stand for the entire trip. Somehow, miraculously, the bus arrived, and we were all astonished to find out that there was room on it for us four. Not only that, but it was even a VIP bus, large and comfy.
We went from thinking that we would spend New Years at the bus station to taking a VIP bus with a couple of new friends, laughing and watching the Transformer movie. It was an amazing turn of events. We were back on track to spend the following day exploring the mesmerizing temples of Sukhothai, five hours away.
Once we arrived, we said goodbye to our new friends, saying that
Wat Phanan Choeng, Ayuthaya
Monks out for an evening stroll we would probably run into them at the temples the following day. As usual, we were all approached by tuk-tuk drivers wanting to get our business, as well as take us to their guest house of choice and get a healthy commission. Stubborn us, we decided we wanted to walk, since town looked fairly close on our map. We were wrong. It was a bit longer and sweatier than we had planned, marching along the dusty highway with our packs, but the exercise was good after a long bus journey. After about 25 minutes, we arrived at our hotel.
After checking out the room, which turned out to be quite nice, with wooden boards for flooring and a large bathroom, we found a restaurant to relax at while having a drink and some food. Since it was New Years, we tried our best to stay up until midnight, but sadly, after such a long day, we fell asleep early. We were woken up by fireworks exploding outside our window, and mumbled something that sounded like 'Happy New Year' to each other before falling back to sleep.
The next day we woke early and walked to catch the bus
to Old Sukhothai, to see the ruins. The bus stop was only a few minutes away, and as we approached, we saw the driver waving at us to hurry and get on. We ran, hopped on and sat down on the little bench seat of the mini bus. To our surprise, we were greeted by our friends that we had met the day before. With a laugh, we finally introduced ourselves (yes, we had travelled together for five hours and not even gotten each others' names) and finally officially met Emilie and Heiner.
We figured that it must be travellers' fate to end up on the same trip again, especially since the mini buses left every 15 minutes! We decided that we would rent bicycles and spend our New Years day together, peddling around the ruins. The bikes were old style rickety things, but we excitedly picked out our favorites, then headed off.
It was a really great and relaxing way to spend the day, riding our bikes along from temple to temple, amongst cows, stray dogs, and locals going about their daily lives. Basically taking photos, stopping when we liked and enjoying each others' company. Many of
the temples, even though they were in ruins, had fresh offerings of flowers, incense, candles and small statues. We rode out to some of the more distant temples, wandered around for a while, then called it a day.
Later that evening, the four of us went out for dinner and drinks together. We made a rough plan to try and meet each other the next morning to catch an early bus to Chiang Mai, the next destination for all of us. If fate would have it, we would soon be off on another fun bus adventure together.
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Lisa
non-member comment
I feel like I'm living the Amazing Race through your blog! Thanks for the updates ... I'm really enjoying reading about your adventures. Take care! Lisa