Tue 22nd Jan - Escaping the madness of the city and heading for Ayathuya, 86km to the north east of Bangkok. Regular trains so a leisurely walk to Hua Lampong station. As usual, met by an assistant who asks where you want to go, points you to the right ticket window. Within 1 minute, you have your ticket and off to get the train. I was on train 209 leaving at 11:20 and due to arrive at 13:04. All for 15 baht!
Train passes through some lovely countryside.
Straight out of the station and in about 200 metres is a ferry to cross the short distance to the other side of the Mae Nam Chao Phraya...2 baht. Cheacked out some guat houses before settling on one in the central area of soi 1 off thanon Naresuan, opposite 'Tony's place'. After a sleep, booked a night tour of the ruins for 100 baht by Songthaew.
Ayuthaya was the capital of old Siam from 1350 to 1767.
At 5:30 off on the sunset tour, joined by a couple ladies from Quebec, a girl from Switzerland and another from Germany. There are so many sights in town that are spread out of a few kilometres that it is hard to do them on foot. Many of the important ruins are illuminated at night, which gives them an athmosheric appearance. The starting point for the tour was the elephant kraal and palace. Lots of baby elephants including one a day old. Most of the sites are closed at night so mainly photo stops, but will hire a bike tomorrow and return to explore in detail.
A meal with the girls at Tony's after the tour and decided to hire the bikes together tomorrow.
Wed 23rd Jan - In the morning hired a bike as planned for half a day as it gets too hot in the afternoon to be out. The sights in Ayathuya are spread out so picked a few of the main areas to cover. 'Wat Phra Mahathat' is renowned for the buddha head embedded in the twisted roots of a tree. One of the sad things about Ayathuya is that most of its sites were destroyed by the burmese, so not much is left. All of the buddhas on this site for example, are headless. Buildings wrecked. Close to this site is an attractive park with typical thai teak house that is worthy of a visit.
'Wat Phra Si Sanphet' was once the largest temple in Ayathuya, and has is mainly known for its line of three 'Chedi' (stupas) in a row. In the compound there is a 16m high buddha that used to be covered in 250kg of gold, but that was removed and melted down by the Burmese forces.
Adjacent is the 'Wat Mongkhon Bophit' Monastery. This contains one of Thailand's largest buddhas. Very impressive. Outside of the site is a constant stream of decoratively clad elephants with thai style umbrella'd hoodoos and equally ornamented howdahs/drivers. It was outlawed in thailand in 1988 to use elephants for logging apparently. Since then, tourism seems to be the only work these magnificent animals are allowed to do.
Headed across the river.....by the way....Ayathuya is an island inland at the junction of three rivers - Mae Nam Chao Phraya, Mae Nam Pa Sak & Mae Nam Lopburi! Stumbled on a great temple complex a 'Wat Thagharong' that didn't seem to be on the map of important places to visit, but was superb. I guess there are so many here they don't list them all. So many things to see at this complex it is hard to chose. It also seems to be a bit of a garden centre full of fascinating objects and gorgeous orchids. Fish swarm about in the adjacent river in amazing numbers. Catfish, pencil fish etc. One great advantage to this place was that there wasn't another foreigner anywhere, only locals.
It was starting to get really hot now, so headed back with a couple of stops on the way. Tired and hungry, so off to Tony's place again and finish off with a banana shake in the hammock and before long counting zzzzz....
So much to see, so little time....refreshed and off to the local market. This one is really interesting so stopped for a couple of fruit fixes...beautiful strawberries.... Followed later by an Interesting meal at a stall. Well I looked interesting in the pot....didn't see the chicken feet and bits in the bottom! Tasted good though.
Met up with one of the girls again and headed off to the night market at Hua Raw. Had to laugh ...stopped off at an ATM for some cash and as soon as I put my card in, it burst to life playing latin music and a video on screen....time to party and let's get down and boogie! Almost forgot I went there for cash...
Loads of good food to be had at the market, but not as big as had expected. The merchandise was a bit average too. So many flying bugs around due to the bright lights, so didn't stick around for long.
Plenty of bars close to the guest house, so armed with a book and a pleasant temperature to site outside, found a nice bar to listen to some live music from an acoustic guitarist who I could sing along with, sink a couple of watermelon and yoghut shakes and chill... Joined later by a nice french canadian lady from quebec that I had bumped into many times over recent days, so a nice finish to the evening.
Thu 24th Jan - Moving on to Pak Chong today to go to what is rated as Thailand's best National Park at 'Khao Yai' for a couple of days. Ferry back across to railway station, and usual efficient system of helpers to point you were to go. If you aren't bothered about which train you catch to a given destination then it is worth checking prices as they vary between trains. For example...Ayathuya to Phitsanulok could be 458 baht on one train and 23 baht on the next one an hour or so later. I was being picked up at the station at Pak Chong and had to be there for an afternoon trek, so needed a particular train, unfortunately not the cheapest, but still ok. Train 71 due to leave at 11:25 for 173 baht 2hour journey time.
Met a few people at the station who I had got to know, so time to make sure we could contact each other for future travels if our paths cross.
The station guards keep checking where you are going and tell you when your train will arrive, which track and where to stand. So traveller friendly, it is another reason I love this country. Not too bad for timing and left at 11:38. On the train they have rubbish bags for your refuse and people who sweep the floor to keep it tidy!
Staying at the 'Green Leaf' Guest House, which is on the way between Pak Chong and the park. Could stay inside the park, but as usual the accomodation is much more expensive. Was collected from the station which saved some hassle. Had booked a 1 1/2 day tour with them in advance (cost 1500 baht).
After checking in, set off for a swim in a nearby natural spring to cool off. Next was a stop at a cave, home to three species of tiny bat. Some fun stuff on the way... A low growing plant has seeds they call the 'Popping pods'. Put them in your mouth and they explode. Wet them and stick them behind your ear and they explode...the locals need to amuse themselves somehow!
The bat poo (Guano) is harvested from the cave every two weeks and used for explosives and fertiliser. The grounds had tamarind trees, which are in season at the moment. Tamarind is really nice to eat sraight from the tree. The dry pod covers are broken off to reveal the sticky paste that covers the inner seeds.
Apart from the bats, some of which were no more than a couple of centimetres long, there was a funky looking spider called locally the 'Hairy Mary centipede'. About 8cm long and raised up on long wiry legs and could really pick up some speed.
Another creature with a cute little party piece was a tiny gecko. If you lay It on is back and stroked its belly, it would play dead. You could also hang it on your nose or sick it behind your ear, and it would freeze there. Probably wondering what stupid idiot would want to put I behind their ear in the first place!
The main event of the outing was the bats at sunset. About 2 million 'Wrinkle-lipped' bats took to the air at about 5:45 in a long chain that swarmed its way into the wind...an awesome sight. The amazing thing was that you could simulate a high pitch hiss and watch the swarming bats react to it, pulsating in the sky overhead as they snaked their way across the sky....absolutely amazing.
Fri 25th Jan - Up early for a day trekking in the jungle of Khao Yai NP.
Khao Yai NP covers 2165 sq km and incorporates one of the largest monsoon forests in mainland Asia. It was also made famous for it part in the Danny Boyle film 'The Beach', where the 'Nam Tok Haew Suwat' waterfall featured.
Plenty of birds to spot, such as the great hornbill and some nice kingfishers. A few troups of White handed Gibbons also made an appearance, although getting a good view in the dense canopy of the jungle is a bit tricky at times. Many Macaques about, upto their mischievous activities as usual. They are quite clever when it comes to getting near to humans for food. Seeing them on their hind legs running upright along the road is funny.
The waterfall that featured in the film is a bit of a nothing really. I haven't seen the film myself, but others claimed it looked nothing like the colour it was in the film. Insead, I is a murky brown and unappealing for a swim. Obviously, either the lighting was different or they used some form of digital effects. A nice trek in the jungle overall. A highlight was a 4m long python that one of the guides wrestled out of the jungle into the clearing in the evening. Got some nice close-up shots before I realised it was staring straight at me and getting closer, so backed off rapidly!
