Oh - in any case, the reason for the title of this section is because everyone - and I do mean everyone - in the hotel is nice. And greets me with some sort of polite greeting, accompanied by a 'wai' (this involves putting your hands together in prayer position and bowing slightly). Even the road signs proclaim how nice people are. While this is quite nice, it can get on your nerves after a while. Especially after coming from New York the previous week. {Note: in later travels, I discovered that while not everyone wais and smiles and greets you politely, a large number of people who you interact with do. David and I speculated on what it would take to visibly annoy someone. We found out when we ignored the 6:50 boarding time for our 7:30 flight and showed up at 7:15. Apparently, many flights don't actually board at the gate, but require a shuttle bus to the actual plane. The stewardess at the gate actually looked cross when she asked, 'Where were you?' That was about the most we got on this trip.}
In any case, we went on to visit the Bridge itself. The curvy bits are original, apparently; the middle section was bombed out late in the war. While we were crossing the bridge, one of Kanchanaburi's "floating discos" (that's the houseboat you see) went under the bridge. So much for solemnity. It was a catchy tune, however, and it's been running through my head for weeks.
First-class? Have I gone soft? In a word...yes. Sorry, my days of Interailing it through Europe and sleeping on the pull-down seats (if we were lucky enough not to have anyone else in the cabin, which was only about 50% of the time) are over. Way over. My back demands at least a flat surface, and my paranoia requests a guaranteed seat (bed, now) in a cabin with as few people as possible. Unfortunately, the railway did not guarantee a trip without anyone else at all, which resulted in my sharing a compartment with someone in dire need of a nose job. Yep, snoring. ALL NIGHT. Note to self: travel during day, sleep in real bed in real hotel at night from now on. Which, by the way, was what I stayed in in Chiang Mai and Ayuthaya. Hostels are all well and good in expensive, cool Europe, but in hot, cheap Thailand, where I can get my own room with A/C for $12 a night, screw it - I'm sleeping well.
Ah well. At least I got a couple of nice night and day photos from the train.
Now, I'm annoyed.
Pretty much every damn day, I'm asked if I'm "looking for a girlfriend." By the guy who picked me up at the airport to take me to tha Marriott. By the travel agency when I booked a train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. By the conductor on the train once I got on. In various taxis.
Disturbing, quite frankly.
So for the purposes of this trip, I've suddenly acquired a fictitious jealous girlfriend back in the States.
Which is not to say that there isn't a lighter side to all this. For example, on our way to have a meal at Cabbages and Condoms (a rather unique dining experience with quite, uh, fascinating decorations, including the body condom by the entrance), we walked by the Clinton Entertainment Plaza. Initially I thought that perhaps this was simply coincidence. Until we noticed the cafe at the entrance called "Bill's Coffee Shop." And then there was the go-go bar called - of course - the White House.
One saving grace of the hotel is its central location, next to a lovely small park called Buak Hat Park. Nearby is Wat Pheuak Hong and Wat Phra Jao Mengrai; the latter featured a row of multicolored praying dolls (the iBuddhas?)
In the evening, I found a decent vegetarian restaurant along the moat, which was lit up at night (due to the Queen's birthday or just as an everday occurrence, I wasn't sure). But it was quite pretty.
The next day, I took another walk around the city, stopping by Wat Phra Singh and quite by accident stumbled upon the ruins of Wat Chedi Luang. These were located just next to Wat Phan Tao, which had a beautiful standing buddha inside the main temple.
Once I got there, I found (fortunately) a nice hotel for 500 baht a night which I would recommend (at least for budget travelers) While it was not the nicest of all possible rooms, Wieng Fa was clean, had air conditioning, and a hot shower. But I have to save my kudos the most for the Moradok-Thai restaurant on Thanon Rotchana: on the Queen's birthday, having not eaten since breakfast that morning at 10 AM, I show up at 6 PM only to find that the restaurant owner has given the staff the day off (and why not?) - but she cooked me a lovely vegetarian meal anyway. Best Thai food I had during my entire stay (OK, the large Singha probably helped, too, but it was damned good). If you are ever in Ayuthaya, you are all required to go eat there.
Oh, right - the sights.
Although I only had one day in Ayuthaya, I did manage to see a good chunk of the city, visiting several wats, some in use, others in partial or complete ruins. I also visited where the grand palace is marked on maps - but, as it turns out, it's been completely destroyed.
I started off at Wat Mongkhon Bophit, a working temple, then headed north to see the ruins of Wat Phra Si Sanphet. Interestingly, even the buddhas in ruins at this Wat were clothed in attire appropriate for the season. After trekking through the nonexistent Grand Palace, I visited Wat Phra Meru. Apart from the usual buddhas and temples, this wat had a nice garden with a fish pond and a bridge to nowhere, as well as an odd tree that was growing out of the top of one of the chedi. (My understanding, perhaps wrong, is that there are two types of these towers, chedi and prang; the former are Thai-style and have a concave profile, while the latter are Burmese-style and are convex). One example of a prang is the one at Wat Phra Ram, which I climbed up (as far as there were steps, or things which could be considered steps) to take a panorama of the city (in which you can see both prang and chedi).
On the way back, there was a train that came in just at the right time to Bangkok's airport. Unfortunately, it was not an express train; neither were there any seats in 3rd class. Still, I can't complain about the price: 11 baht. That's a quarter for an hour-long trip. Not too bad.
Note that I didn't say safe. Options range from motorcycle taxi (which I had neither the courage nor the foolishness to try) to the private cars hired by hotels to transport guests to and from airports and train stations. I assume there's an upper end to this which I didn't experience, but actually - come to think of it - I haven't seen a single stretch limo so far. (My Lonely Planet, however, informs me that one can order a helicopter to take you from the airport to certain hotels...) The largest car, by far - and safest - was the Volvo wagon owned by David Law's father's friend, Yeap Soon-Sit.
Moving down the safety spectrum, we have taxis - which I increasingly relied upon in the later part of my travel. Why? Well, to explain that you have to look at the low end - the tuk-tuks. This onomatopaeically named transport is, essentially, an open-air trike, driven by men (and occasional women) who seem to relish the thought of martyrdom by being splattered across the front of a city bus. (Artemis and I thought it worth a try the last day she was in Bangkok). While it was fun to take these for a while, I realized that armor class probably correlates with longevity, and opted for the air-conditioned taxis. At 35 baht for the first 2 km (that's about 70 cents), who can complain?
Unconvinced? OK, here's shots of what you see while you're in the back of a tuk-tuk, a pickup truck, and a Volvo. Now, which one do you want to be riding around in? While in Bangkok, though, I stuck whenever possible to the sky train. This form of conveyance is quite nice - plus you get your exercise hiking up and down the stairs to get to the damn thing. But at 300 baht for 15 rides, I can hardly complain. Besides, the great advantage of above-ground transport is that you never have to get your bearings after you leave a station. (This is not to say that I never got on the wrong platform, since the Thais drive on the left-hand side of the road and their other forms of transport mimic this).
Ah, yes, there's also water transport. Public boats, private hotel boats, and water taxis ply the rivers. For example, the Marriott had a shuttle which took you from the inconveniently located hotel to the Sky Train and back every 30 minutes. (In my experience, only after 30 minutes would it pick you up from the Sky Train. Perhaps my public transport karma was way down for taking too many taxis.) Ah well. This shot of a water taxi was taken while wandering across the Bridge on the River Kwae.
Later that day, we went to see the Grand Palace, which contained a temple housing the Emerald Buddha (sorry, no photos allowed - but seeing as it's about a foot tall at most and 50 feet away, it'd be a bit small in any case). The temple grounds include rather fierce-looking guardians, a golden chedi (Phra Siratana Chedi), as well as several prang. The inner walls were covered with intricate murals, which were being carefully restored while we were visiting.
Outside the temple, we toured the remainder of the Grand Palace, which had quite impressive halls, as well as opportunities for David and myself to make fun of various statues.
Unfortunately, once this kind of thing is started, it becomes difficult to stop. However, we switched to emulation of statues while we were at nearby Wat Pho (which had a really big reclining buddha) in various yoga poses.
(An example of the elusive Thai Napkin)
For example, tourists often want to know where to find the buddha (or, rather, tha largest and/or most interesting one, since there are often many) in the temple. Some therefore create helpful English signs indicating where it is. However, I wouldn't like to find out what lies in the opposite direction from this buddha. I've used many toilets in my time, but a massage toilet is a new one. Other places have the international sign for "Buddha this direction."
At most temples, you are expected to give a small donation - perhaps 20 baht. Moreover, you can specify how your donation should be used by placing it in the appropriate basket - for building, food for monks, the poor, or even other species.
When entering or walking around temples, it is important to be respectful. Apparently one very specific temptation was too much, so one temple in Ayuthaya had to put up this sign.
Signs of globalization are everywhere. It's quite fascinating how global restaurants can modify their cuisine to suit local tastes - and their signs to match the local language, too. This particular place had taro root pie. Other businesses copied the emblems of famous companies, even if they're in a different business, such as this clothing store. And just when you thought you'd gotten away from them, this church turns out to be right next to your hotel.
That's all, folks! Comments very welcome, just drop me an email. Until my next trip...
