Ayutthaya
Its a tough one to pronounce – you can imagine the difficulty I had at the bus station when I had to get the correct bus. Think its something like Ah-u-tee-ah. So where is ayutthaya? First of all it is not in cambodia, its a small town about an hour north of Bangkok. I had the best of intentions to make it to cambodia but circumstance had other ideas. I had it all planned out, get the boat from Ko Pha Nang, a bus to Surat Thani where I would then jump on the night train to Bangkok from here twas a 6 hour bus ride to the border, walk across to jump on another bus that would take 5 hours or so to take me to the city of Siam Reap.
First of all the train was an hour and a half late, the spin was okay. The guy sitting across from me had less english than I had thai, we did make a swap at one stage. I traded 1 can of chang beer for one of his dessert things. At first I thought it was just a bread roll but inside there was lots of sweet jam goodness – tasty stuff. I arrived into bangkok feeling like a zombie, its impossible to get a solid sleep while in motion. I made my way with some skill across the city to collect a new phone. The public transport in the city is superb. I was able to jump on the metro, the sky train and the skywalk to make my way to the shopping centre I had been in before, into the nokia shop where I bought a nice little phone for myself. It makes calls, it sends texts and it allows me to check up the bbc sports website when there is a soccer match on so that will be enough for me. By the time I got my stuff together I figured it was time to find the largest cup of caffeine to wake myself up again.
While munching through the toasted ham and cheese sandwich that accompanied my coffee it occured to me that this could be the last couple of hours that I spend in thailand, what have I seen? What can I tell people about thailand that makes it unique. Given the nature of the islands and its clientele, you don’t exactly get emersed in a foreign culture. Everything is geared towards you and your home comforts, don’t get me wrong its lovely n all but not really that different than what you would get on a european sun holiday. So with these thoughts in my head, guilty thoughts. I resolved to give thailand a few more days at least. My new plan was to head to a town up north of bangkok, not that far away. If I still wasn’t digging the place well then I could jump borders with relative ease.
So to ayutthaya. It fitted the bill nicely. It used to be the capital of the siam kingdom before those pesky burmese came in and ransacked the place, after which the local king up sticks and found a new capital in bangkok. The burmese it seems were the local version of the vikings back in the day. So there is plenty of historical fodder in the town, time to get acquainted so to speak. The bus journey was short and incredibly unspectacular. This part of thailand is incredibly flat and built up so you see no countryside at all.
I got dropped off in the town, not sure what part of the town. The next hour of traipsing in the intense heat and humidity, ignoring the overcharging tuk tuk drivers I was convinced that the street lined with guest houses was just around the corner. I was in a serious state, sweating absolute buckets. I eventually gave in and asked the local policeman how to get to tonys place, the accomodation listed in the guide. Got there eventually, threw the bags down and took the most eagerly awaited shower of my life. The room was okay, it would’ve been a whole lot better if the walls were sealed. I got devoured that night by the flood of mosquitos. Really having a tough time with the little cretins in general, its the only thing that is constantly annoying me on this trip….
Tonys place, the room apart is a great place to hang out. I supped on a few beers and didn’t venture much further than the 7-eleven to pick up a new toothbrush. I woke up the next morning though with a re-invigorated desire to get out and explore. The town, which is on an island where 4 rivers meet, is awash with historical monuments from the old Siam/Kyhmer era, the new town was built around the old town so finding the monuments was a bit like a treasure hunt. I rented out a bike and took to the streets. It was great fun, the heat was serious but the breeze from cycling made it a bit more bearable. Given the island nature of the town the next bit is just pure typical of my luck, at the furthest point from the bike rental shop I could have been (while still being on the island) my back tire gave way – could’ve been the heat that did the damage but I reckon the size of my arse also played a part. I searched around for someone who could fix it and luckily enough I found this family who took me in, I thought yer man was just gonna give me enough air to get me back within walking distance of home but no, down he got and with some serious skill and speed took the wheel apart and repaired the tube, had me back on the bike within 10 minutes. Class stuff, the whole family were sitting out the front of their house, not one of them had a word of english but I could tell they were giving their daughter a serious slagging about the white boy.
Back on the bike I made my way back towards home, on the way I found the local market. I love markets, the one in jodhpur in india was amazing. This one was also up there. Thais love their meat, there was any amount of fish, chickens, pork or beef stalls. I parked the bike and took a wander, now time and again the stench of fish would go close to knocking you out but I made it through. I sat down at one stall, not a random stall, the stall which I thought was serving the tastiest looking food. This old man was eating this rice dish that looked superb, I pointed to the dish and said that I wanted that. Now this is where things get lost in translation, the woman who ran the stall thought I wanted the actual food that was on the old mans plate – she muttered something and the poor man, heartbroken looked at me with dispair. I copped it straight away and frantically gestured for her to throw a new dish together that I wasn’t out to steal the food from his mouth… We laughed about in the end, the dish did the job nicely aswell.
Another quirky thai thing (could well be asian) cropped up on my way back. The heat was serious, so its vital that you get fluids in at every opportunity. I passed this stall, where this man and his son where sitting under the shade of their giant picnic umbrella – his business was soft drinks. But all his drinks were out in the heat, I asked him for one, but one that was cold. He picked one of the top, filled a plastic bag with some ice he had stored in a bucket then proceeded to top the bag up with the coke and ice and stuck a straw plump in the middle of it all. I cycled back to tonys place with a plastic bag full of ice and coke 🙂 it works!!!
Had a few beers that night and made arrangements to head further north the next day, thailand isgrowing on me….
ciao ciao
Tags: thailand
Phil Gill
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