A Day Trip From Bangkok (Ayutthaya)

Member Name: ultras67

Product:	Ayutthaya
Date:	19/12/03 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easily reached and accessible from Bangkok in one day, Nice view of Thai history, Cheap travel

Disadvantages: Will look unimpressive if you have been to Ankor Wat in Cambodia, Trains can be CROWDED

Earlier this year, in July, I went with some friends on a sight-seeing tour of Ayutthaya ( or to give it, its full name Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya ) the previous capital of Thailand.

We went on a public holiday - one of the so called Buddha days that crop up through the year. This one was Kow Pansa, which marks the start of the "rains retreat", a two month period in the rainy season in which monks are supposed to stay within their temples and not wander around.

The origin of this particular day is that, this was decided by the Lord Buddha himself, as during this time, rice fields are planted with young rice plants and there are many small animals about, and the Buddha was concerned that monks traipsing around the countryside would damage crops and trample small creatures. It is also supposed to be a good time for monks to dedicate themselves to reading and meditation. Since the rains retreat starts after the planting of the rice fields, many young men are free to don robes for the duration of the retreat -there is little to do in the flooded rice fields during this time.

It was nice to get out of Bangkok and be a tourist for the day. The two hour train ride from Hualampong train station in Bangkok is amazingly cost only 15 Baht, ( about 25 pence ) per person, but was so packed at 7.30am that we had to stand all the way. Unfortunately, it was 3rd class only so no air con, the only ventilation was roof fans and the air coming in through the windows.

One of the things you notice about trains in Thailand is that you will never go hungry or thirsty as every stop will have people selling you cakes, rice, pork, chicken, coke, beer, water.. And if you cannot wait until the station there are people carrying it through the carriage for you. This is definitely not British Rail catering! The only trouble is that when the train gets crowded it can be a real pain squeezing up to let them through every five minutes and for them to ask
you the same question Water? Beer?.....

Standing in 90 plus degrees for the whole trip whilst being within 2 inches of umpteen other people can be very tiring and is not good on the legs. By the time we arrived, about 2 hours later, we were already a bit tired and we hadn’t even started walking around yet.

After a quick research of the Rough Guide we decided on a rough itinerary and set off. The best way to get around is Tuk-Tuk, prices are negotiable from 30 Baht up for a single journey to 300Baht for 3 hours. It will depend on your bargaining skills.

The first stop was the old Royal Palace grounds as a destination and discovered that basically it was just a low rise unimpressive bundle of ruined bricks in a muddy field overgrown with weeds. A wooden replica of part of the Palace was in the distance, so we selected another site from the book and went onward for another site that was more interesting.

After coming out of one place, we were approached by a souvenir seller who had taken out photograph on the way in and had quickly attached it to the middle of a plate with Ayutthaya printed round the edge. Tourist tat or nice rememberence? You can decide.

The problem I had was that basically seeing Angkor Wat in April spoiled me. The ruins, if I had seen them in February I would have thought they were really good, but after, they were frankly small beer. Nice beer but small.

As is usual in Thailand, there is a dual entrance fee for each set of ruins, one for Thais and one for everyone else and of course everyone else pays double. Ok, its not such a large amount, 40 Baht instead of 20 Baht but annoying still the same considering I work and pay taxes here.

After a couple of hours we started to flag and wanted to eat, so we set off to find a restaurant called "Tonie's". Happily, Tonie's also had a working fan, so we managed to relax for a while, a cold beer in the shade with the
pleasing breeze of a fan, and some delicious Thai food. What more could one ask for?

Thus fortified and refreshed, we left the hospitable environment of Tonie's and hailed yet another tuk-tuk. On to another temple and its adjoining ruins - one of the most important Wats in town - Wiharn Phra Mongkhon Bophit so my friends wife could make merit. There were throngs of people attending the temple to tamboon on this special day. "Tamboon" is Thai for "make good", and is important in the context of Thai Buddhism in that doing good, particularly with respect to things Buddhist, is thought to help assure a better life the next time around, or maybe even help them escape the physical realm altogether.

After the temple, we walked around some nearby ruins, including the resting place of King Rama 2, then having snapped our last pictures of the day, made our way back to the bus station ( or to be more accurate, a bus rank with a small collections of huts for shops and tickets ) in the middle of town. We had decided that the 15minute interval of buses would guarantee us a seat rather than risking standing for another 2 hours on the train. We found seats on a bus leaving in 10 minutes and leaned back and enjoyed the air conditioning. The fare back to Bangkok Mor Chit bus station? 45 Baht each (about 75 pence)

So all in all a nice day out but as I said, it was maybe a little spoiled by the fact that all the ruins seemed small and unimpressive after Angkor Wat.

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