Day Tripper

Sunday, October 10, 2010
Ayutthaya, Thailand
A weekend in Ayttahaya was just what I needed, Getting a little dull and boring around here.

I took a taxi for the one hour trip north to Ayutthaya which was dumb, but ...   
I know I could take the white van 1/2 hour and 75 cents south to Victory Monument in Bangkok, then get a 1.50 bus for the 1 and 1/2 hour back north to Ayutthaya but I couldn't figure out how to get the bus from here north. And don't bother asking a Thai, they want to be so helpful that even when they don't know the answer, they'll tell you anything just to have AN answer.

So I took a regular off-the-street taxi, which for $12 US was a steal but expensive compared to my current transportation budget.

I stayed in a genuine teak Thai guest house that was recommended in the Lonely Planet and it was lovely. Not Radisson type lovely but quaint lovely, with a dining area over the lily pond. The little old lady who runs the guest house had perfect English and told me that she had won a scholarship to study medicine in Israel and was a professor at a university in Bangkok until she retired. Wow.
 
I spent 3 hours Saturday morning walking around the ruins in blistering heat . Every tuk tuk driver and his brother tried to pick me up as they couldn't imagine anyone fool enough to walk around in this. (Surprisingly, Thais do very little walking;  they stay close to home or get transportation.)

The tuk tuk drivers in many cities have shot themselves in the foot by charging outrageous prices to the falangs or, as is the case in Ayutthaya, badgering tourists into "all day tours" and the like when you only want a lift to the next temple. So it's best to avoid them altogether - I wonder if they realize they've ruined their own business. One fellow pestered me from across the street, then went down the road, turned around and pestered me from my side of the street. They're always hoping to find a tourist right off the plane who thinks nothing of paying $3 for a ride or who is only here for a week and doesn't care what they spend.

It occurred to me that I could make a fortune with a hop-on/hop-off van service around Ayutthaya . The ruins are quite close together and people could come and go and stay as long as they pleased. Write that one down.

It was so hot!!! I bought 5 bottles of water in the course of one day!

Then I took a nap and took a guided night tour from the guest house. It was like looking at the Acropolis at night - we couldn't go in many of the ruins, but they were flood-lit and even more beautiful than in the daylight.

May camera pooped out after Wat #1 so I don't have many pictures.

I also went to what I think is the only elephant sanctuary in Thailand.   They take the elephants off the streets (like in Bangkok, where they have them walking in the pollution and traffic, pestering you to buy 20 B worth of sugar cane to feed the elephant) and then they use them in shows and transporting tourists around the ruins - which to me seems like more of the same, but somehow their scheme is lauded by everyone .   There were about 6 baby elephants, one only about 1 or 2 days old, so cute.

At another stop, they had 2 of the cutest little Thai kids, about 4 years old, dancing with the elephants. You have not lived until you've seen and elephant turn around and shake his booty in time to a pop song.

I was able to easily find the bus station in Ayutthaya and for 50 b had a pleasant, air-conditioned hour and a half ride all the way into Mo Chit bus station. From there, I had to take a motorcycle taxi in bumper to bumper traffic to the sky train, sky train to MBK for shopping, sky train to Victory Monument to catch the white van for home.

Picked up dinner on the street, picked up my laundry, then I I curled up in a ball on the sofa while 2 ladies cleaned my apartment, I feel so decedent. 
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