Ayutthaya wat tour

On New Years day I got up early to go to Ayutthaya, about one hour and a half to the north of Bangkok. During this short train trip I got to know I German girl, so what about traveling on my own….? She told me that the day before she did a daytrip to Kanchanaburi. Isn’t that the one that I wanted to do as well, but I was told by 3 different offices that it was closed…..? Right!

Anyway, I arrived in Ayutthaya and went by foot to my hostal. The centre of this city is on an island, which is not that big, so I got to know my way around very quickly. To reach this island you can take a ferry, which of course again is a big word for a very small boat. Kind of a hassle to get on it, as you have to get from the front of the boat directly on the riverside and vice versa, no bars you can grap yourself on to, no one helping you to get out or in. So I was balancing with one backpack on my back, one on my front, desperately not trying to fall into the water. The backpack street seemed completely empty and so did the rest of the city. I walked around a little bit, asking myself where all the backpackers had gone and was hoping that they would be on a wat-tour. But also in the evening no one around... :-( Poor me! Next to that my phone broke down and I couldn’t reach Eline, who was in Ayutthaya as well. To be short, I didn’t feel any good about this place. The only company I had were some ants, who didn’t like me that much, as they were constantly biting me and were all over my bed. In the end they even took over my Strepsils for my sore throat and I had to walk around for about 1 hour to find some new ones.
Luckily in the evening I ran into Eline and we made dinner plans to celebrate her birthday. We also ate some of her birthday cake, made of beans….? Well, it smelled like this specific dutch soup, called erwtensoep, and this is something that I really dislike. I didn’t want to give up that quickly, but after 4 bites I simply couldn’t anymore…

Yesterday we rented a bike and cycled around the wat’s here on the island. I saw some very impressive ones. But first we went to the train station to get Eline a trainticket. She left this morning for Sukothai. We decided not to take the ‘ferry’, but simply would go for the bridge. Not so easy when it is about 30 degrees, you have a bike which is way too small for you and the bridge is steep. However we managed, but not managed to get too the train station. We got kind of lost in a small neighborhood, very nice, where all the people and children came out of their houses to point us the off-road path. Very friendly!

Today I was planning to stay on my own, doing nothing besides reading, making new trave lplans, doing some weblogging. However, my day turned out to be a very good one again! In the morning I met Taylor, an American guy, who just arrived here as well and goes traveling in the south east of Asia for 6 months…. WOW! We spoke about the wat’s, he told me which ones he wanted to see and it seemed that I was missing some important ones on my check list. So I decided to rent a bike again, invited him and we went for a 2nd of cycling. Cycling is great, not so warm, but I do have to keep in mind to stay on the left side of the road…. ;-) Sometimes I forget, but with the busy traffic here I’m very quickly on the right side again (which means left…. haha!). Americans are not used to cycling, I noticed. He didn’t know how to unlock and lock his bike, to park his bike, etc. For me it was a normal proposal to join me on the bike, for him it was an unusual one. During our bicycle trip we met this little Thai girl, she was running to me because of the little bears on my backpack. First she played with these ones, later she saw my Lonely Planet guide and Taylor his yellow marker…. So she started to draw in my Lonely Planet, then drew on her, then on me and then on Taylor. Then my telephone received a sms….. So she wanted to play with that one. We had great fun! I made some nice photos, but can’t upload them, it takes too long, I’m sorry!
Tonight I will be leaving on the night train to Chiang Mai, arriving there in the morning. I want to make a tracking over there, do some rock-climbing and further I will see when I get there. The plan is to stick around there about 1 week.

About my change of plans: As this seems more like a city trip and I don’t like the cities here that much, I changed my mind to go to Laos, which was also about visiting cities. The cities are crowded, dirty, a lot of smog. I got a throat infection of it and my skin turns into the one of a teenager again…. Spots everywhere! I don’t mind getting younger, but not in this way. I went out this morning to buy myself a good cleansing soap to get rid of all the dirtiness on my face.
I wish I could see something more of the countryside. Han for example just made a tour by motorbike through the North of Vietnam and he is going to do the same in Laos. His photos and stories are amazing…. I wish I could do that, but am to afraid to do this on my own, as a woman. So that’s why I decide to leave the cities in Laos after Chiang Mai which gives me some space to do what ever I want. And that feels great!!! I heard about Pai, a very relaxing place in the north of Thailand, more spiritual. Next to that I’m planning to visit Marleen in Kuala Lumpur (ok, this is a city, but would be so cool to meet her and I have to leave the country for my VISA). I want to fill this extra space also with some more island hopping in the south of Thailand. Jacco just booked a trip for us for the weekend of the 19th of January to go to Ko Samui, for his birthday. On Sunday he will return and I go on to Ko Tao.
And for the rest…. No plans yet, luckily!

I’m sorry that I can’t upload more photos, but one is already taking about 10-15 min, so hopefully in Chiang Mai.

Big hug again, from Ayuttaha with love,
Marije