More Wats But A Bit Older This Time

January 20 - 22

One of the things that Casey really wanted to do in Thailand was go to a famous National Park, Khao Yai, which is only a few hours northwest of Bangkok. The only problem with this was that when we finished our touring in Bangkok, it was the weekend and we had heard that it was not the best idea to visit the park on the weekend since hoards of locals also visit at this timing making it a bit overrun. Since the main purpose of visiting the park was to spot wildlife and birds and since lots of people do not make for the best wildlife spotting opportunities we figured that we would have to figure out how to spend a few days in the meantime.

So we decided on Ayutthaya which turned out to be an interesting and worthwhile short side trip. Today Ayutthaya is a modern city with the traffic, 7-11's and internet stations of other modern Thai cities but it is littered with the ruins of the past. Ayutthaya was the 'second' major kingdom in Thai history which ruled over a large swath of land starting around 1350. The Burmese came through in the 1767 and conquered the capital and also destroyed many of the temples, buildings and other structures. The ruins have been left as they were, some have been minimally restored and the most centrally located ones have been designated as an historical park. Other ruins have been built around and they are just left as part of the landscape. It is a bit odd to be walking down a busy street and catch a glimpse of an old ruin that it seems there has been little effort to restore or improve but also no attempt to tear down.

We arrived by train from Bangkok and got Ayutthaya in the later afternoon. After the traveling and a long morning, Laura's mom decided to rest but Casey was raring to go (as usual) see what the town was all about. The old town where most of the ruins are concentrated is actually separated from the new town (which is busier) by a river which actually was made into a moat like structure for protection of the city (although it did not work so well against the invading Burmese). While the old town is still fairly busy, most of the 'must-see' ruins are within easy walking or biking distance from anywhere else in this square grid inside the moat. We were at first just going to walk around before it got dark and then maybe rent a bike the following day to go farther afield. But as we walked down the street a bike rental shop was still open and we decided why not just rent it now so we could have it in the evening and also early in the morning. Bikes were also very cheap to rent as they are most places in Thailand ($1 or $2 a day) which is very nice and unlike the Philippines where they are $10 or more a day if they even have any. So we started pedaling and were soon struck with the amazing views of the huge structures of Wat Phra Mahathat and Wat Ratburana (more Cambodian style temple). These were extensive complexes within the park with many ruins which were quite beautiful in the late afternoon light. We decided to bike in the historical park a bit but it turned out this was not such a good idea since Casey's wheel soon got a flat due to the thorns (the wheels were very thin). Luckily the bike guy was still around and he had no problems changing bikes and he just asked us to stay on the road which we did in the future.


Thailand Eats

After exchanging the bike we decided to head back to the hotel, pick up Laura’s mother and head to the night market for dinner. Choosing what to eat in Thailand is always interesting. We usually like to eat at local and cheap places as they have not only the most authentic and cheapest food but also usually the best tasting. I know this may be counterintuitive as this is not always the way that it works in the States (cheap often does not mean good tasting) but from our experiences in SE Asia street food or food from small holes in the wall is often the best. However unlike the other places that we have been, most places in Thailand do not have menus and when they do they are in Thai lettering. This does make sense as we are in Thailand, but it makes hard for people that cannot discern the Thai alphabet. Now in Indonesia for instance, meals at food stalls are not in English either but they do use the Roman alphabet so at least you can read and pronounce the different dishes and soon you learn what each is and if you like it or not. In Thailand this is not the case so you have a few choices. The first one is just point to what someone else has nearby that looks edible and they will dish it out. This works well unless there is no one else eating. Option number two is look through a phrase book and randomly pick out a dish that sounds good and see if they will make it for you. Sometimes they will and sometimes they will not depending on ingredients and such. A third option is to ask some people who have been here for awhile what are some good dishes and have them write them down for you (preferably in Thai alphabet so that you can show them to your cook and Roman alphabet for you). This also works and we have tried all three and have gotten pretty decent food most of the time.

However it seems that some people fall into this last pattern but have only mastered the language of three dishes: som tom (a green papaya salad), tom yam (a hot and sour soup) and the most popular pad thai (fried noodles). While these three are wonderful dishes and I think some of the best, it seems that many farang do not venture out of this list at all. Hey if you want to live on pad thai three meals a day for a month in Thailand, be my guest but you are limiting your palette just a bit. And there is a lot on the Thai menu to offer but I know some people are not used to the spicy and other flavors so whatever floats your boat. Another thing we have found out is to avoid places which cater to tourists for Thai food (such as many of the ones in Lonely Planet) as every time we have been to a place like this the food has been pretty bad. It is not spicy even if you ask for it (I know not all Thai food is spicy but if it says spicy on the menu it should be spicy and not bland), it will certainly cost more and it just does not taste good in general. Sure they will have an English menu and maybe even have a wooden chair instead of plastic but if you are going for food quality I have found it often to be lacking. Now if you are looking for Western food, Lonely Planet does do a decent job there pointing you in the right direction. Hey they are after all Westerners writing it and many Westerners will search high and low for the best restaurant that has food like home.

Anyway (back to Ayutthaya eating at night market) we walked around the market a bit and looked at the food stalls and finally chose one. We were even handed an English menu. It seems that enough foreigners come through Ayutthaya that nearly every place has an English menu even the cheaper stalls and restaurants. During this meal we tried something that said it was a spicy curry soup and we decided to try it with frog. It was one of the spiciest dishes I have ever had and not bad and the frog was good except it was a bit bony. After dinner we had a mango and sticky rice desert and then walked to Wat Rataburana which is one of the four temple complexes that they light up at night. It was even more striking at night than during the day and we stood in awe at this ancient structure for a few minutes. Ayutthaya is still gorgeous today when in ruins but during its heyday (in the 1600’s and 1700’s) it is said that traders, diplomats and travelers from around the world who visited the city proclaimed that it was the illustrious city that they had ever seen.


A Morning of History

The next morning we rose early to get up before the extreme heat hit (in the flat plains of Ayutthaya this heat starts before 10 AM) and started off on our bikes passing a number of temple complexes on the way. Our main stop which we were privileged to be the first at was Wat Phra Si Sanphet which is right next to the old palace grounds. Three spires remain in this complex which is probably one of the most photographed areas of Ayutthaya (both at night and day) and I clicked away a few shots as well. It was nice to be the first people in the complex and have it to ourselves for 20 minutes before the tour buses started rolling in. Being in the presence of these ruins makes the history of the area come alive especially when there are not a hundred loud tourists clicking the cameras (not to say that I am not one of them; at least the camera clicking part sometimes). There were also a lot of birds in the complex and I caught my glimpse of a spectacular Indian Roller (a bird with flouresent blue wings) and also I believe I saw a Hoopee. Unfortunately I did not bring the binos as I had not expected this to be a birding adventure. From now on I will bring them everywhere I go in Thailand as there really are birds everywhere.


Following this complex we headed to Wat Mahathat and went inside (unlike the previous afternoon) which also was very nice. The most interesting thing in this place is the head of a Buddha statue which fell off but got entangled in the roots of a nearby fig tree. This is probably the second most photographed image of Ayutthaya and we also clicked away here. After this one we biked out of the old city and went to a newer temple complex (built during the end of the Ayutthaya kingdom reign I believe or possibly even after the city fell to the Burmese: I cannot remember). This place was Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon which certainly is in better condition as it was not destroyed during the Burmese attack. It has a beautiful courtyard with many Buddha images and a large reclining Buddha. Since it was getting later in the morning and many people had arrived from Bangkok or on other guided tours, this place was quite a bit busier than the other two. This was our last wat of Ayutthaya and they had provided an interesting window into the past but it is still hard to imagine what this city and kingdom must have been like.

In the afternoon we decided to go to an arts center that has been set up by the Queen to provide local people with training and employment in art and handicraft production. We had high expectations for this place but it ended up letting us down a little bit. The handicraft village where we expected some unique things and demonstrations of people making things turned out to be all the same products sold everywhere else in Thailand without much uniqueness in tiny air conditioned stores which was not all that interesting. There were however some neat buildings where people were being trained or working on a variety of different mediums of artwork (glass, sculpture, batik, woodworking, etc…). This was probably the best section of the center. There was also a large store where they sold many goods (again mainly stuff you can find other places) but there was also a gallery upstairs that had some interesting things.

All in all Ayutthaya was an interesting detour which is a good way to get a more concrete picture of Thai history. Unfortunately we did not make it to either of the two museums because they were closed on Monday and we ran out of time on Sunday. Perhaps we will come back here again at a later time to check them out as we have heard they are quite good. We were a bit watted out by now and were raring for some time in the woods and could hear Khao Yai NP calling so we packed up and headed onward west by train the next morning.