Tigers, boats, and yes, even a snake!
The past few days have been both amazing and frightening in nearly equal measures. Two days ago we went on our excursion to the floating market, a chaotic place where bad smells and thick black mists of flies are the order of the day. It reminded me of a scene from a computer game, I just could not believe that people genuinely live like that. Their whole life comes from the river, we saw people washing their clothes/crockery/children in the murky water. It made me wonder what the people do all day? They seemed very kind and content (as most Thai people do) to wave and smile at the tourists. We waved and smiled back, what else was there to do?
Pulling around the bends on our longtail speedboat (imagine a gondola and a speedboat had a child, then whack a Thai on the end of it,) our guide laughed as he pointed out the biggest lizard I have ever seen. It was roughly the size of an Alsatian dog. It lazed its way across the bank, eyeing our petrified faces. It looked immovable, then with a surprising amount of speed, it had vanished back underneath a house/shack. Seconds later we saw a local paddling down the river in no more than a rubber doughnut. Surely he knew? he must do, right? that meters from him and his teeny tiny doughnut is a freaking dragon. But still wave wave, smile smile.
Back off the boat and our tour guides are rounding everyone up. It’s then that I see it, a massive snake wrapped around a local’s neck. He’s letting folk have pictures with it. I over rid all of my senses and got right up close to the brute. Lauren was still in the minibus enjoying the air conditioning so I didn’t quite have that extra push to get him to put it around my neck. The thing was about two meters long and as thick as my thigh in the middle. Scary stuff.
Anyone reading this who doesn’t know me personally should note that about a year ago I couldn’t even look at snakes on T.V. or even talk about them for too long. So this is a big thing for me.
Then onto the tiger temple. A horrifically touristy place that nonetheless gave some great pictures. Ill try and get them up here but I’m having all sorts of issues at the moment and it’s too hot to try and contened against them. I did manage to pat one of the big beasty’s while it was off the lead, me and the Abbot that was there walked together with it, it really is probably quite endearing in retrospect, but at the time it involved more queing than you would expect to see on a theme park ride let alone to touch some big cats. The brochure we were given assures us that they aren’t drugged. Not sure how many tiger’s you could pat on the back and still have your arm, but here I am, still able to clap.
Then came the onward journey to Attuyana. We got a late train and arrived very late. The guesthouse we stayed at was called the Morodak Thai and while it wasn’t the best (no T.v. but clean) the lady that ran it was probably one of the kindest people Lauren and I have met yet. Everytime she saw Lauren she would present her with some freshly picked flowers, the lady would smile and even though she clearly didn’t understand a word of English, she spent her time finding out about Lauren and I, she was a real winner and if a friendly atmosphere comes over other perks for you then this is the place to stay in Ayyutthaya. The city itself is nice, relaxed compared to Bangkok. It was destroyed by the Burmese in the 1700’s so it is mainly temples in ruins (think Hadleigh castle but with redder bricks.) Lauren and I hired some push bikes and had some hair-raising moments crossing some roads. I also saw my first ever Elephant. Good stuff, sedatives.
Then came the sleeper train to Chang Mai. It took 11 and a half hours. Lauren and I estimate that we traveled about 500 miles in two three days over 4 different forms of transport, so thats quite an achievement. Chang Mai is almost like the anti-Bangkok; clean air, no hassle, slower pace. It’s really beautiful, although we haven’t yet venture out much, being so knackered from the past few days we’ve decided to just chill today in preparation for the big trek tomorrow.
Until next time friends and loved ones.
Tags: Ayyuttahaya, snakes, Thailand, Travel
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