This is the fifth day of my trip to Thailand during Lunar New Year. If you missed the previous entries, check them out below
This morning, Nicole and I slept in a bit before heading to the bus station for adventures. Today we were visiting Ayutthaya, once the largest city in the world, now a bunch of neat ruins.
On our way to the Skytrain stop, we got delicious street spring rolls. We’d purchased them a few times on previous days. They cost little more than a nickel and they come with a sweet sauce similar to Tijuana Flats Sweet Chili sauce, which I also recommend if you’re ever in the South Eastern US.
We took the Sky train to the bus station. It was located right behind the Weekend Market where we’d gotten all of our awesome souvenirs on day two.
The Bus Station, aka David Bowie’s Labyrinth
The bus station is insane. There are literally hundreds of windows each going to different locations and none of them are properly labeled. Nicole and I went from counter to counter, each time being told “this is the wrong counter, go to counter x.” It was maddening. At our last counter, a man asked for cash only and, after we paid, he left his counter and walked with us to a van out back. Bear in mind we’re at the bus station, not the van station (there is no van station). We hopped in the van and the counter attendant handed some money through the window to the driver. If this was a Liam Neeson movie, this is the part where we would have been kidnapped. Luckily this was not a Liam Neeson movie, and unfortunately I still do not have an IMDB page.
The van was no bigger than a standard church van, similar in size to the bus we took when we visited the floating market days prior. There were a handful of Thai people in the van just traveling around, possibly home, possibly to work, point being, we were the only tourists and very out of place. The van didn’t have a set itinerary per se, and by that I mean it stopped randomly and people got on and got off. About two hours later, when I was wondering if we were going to have our organs harvested, we arrived at Ayutthaya.
Thai-Mexican Standoff
Sometimes you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. Sometimes you have to say no several times to a Thai van driver before he drives you to the bike shop instead of the Tuk Tuk depot. A common scam in Ayutthaya, as the internet told me, is to try and drop foreigners off at the Tuk Tuk depot on the outskirts of town instead of in the center of town. Tourists are then forced to get a ride into town from a Tuk Tuk driver and pay money for no apparent reason. It also forces you to spend the day taking Tuk Tuks everywhere because you never make it to the bike shop.
This happened to us. The van stopped in front of a bunch of Tuk Tuks outside of town and the van driver told us to get out. A bunch of Tuk Tuk drivers smelling fresh meat approached the van and in their worst English tried to coerce us out of the van, like some sort of reverse pedophiles.
It was pretty obvious that this was not our stop because literally no one else in our crowded van was getting out. I argued with him a bit until a Thai lady in the back seat told him very sternly, and in Thai, to stop hassling us and drop us off in town.
He grumbled and so did the Tuk Tuk drivers and closed the van door. Begrudgingly, he drove us to the main stop and the nice Thai lady and her friend walked us to the nearest bike shop. We rented some wheels for about $5 and headed off to explore the ruins
Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya, founded in 1350, was at one point in time the largest city on Earth and a major trade port in Southeast Asia as it was in the Chao Phraya River valley. The city was rumored to have a population of 1,000,000 inhabitants in the 1700s. However, shortly after the height of its growth, it was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. The only ruins that survived were the stone structures such as temples and monasteries.
The remaining temples and monasteries are located anywhere from directly adjacent to one another to several blocks away. The ancient city can be explored in a day with a handy tourist map and a pair of bicycles. Nicole and I rode from one site to another, taking photographs and walking amongst the ruins. It’s remarkable how accessible everything in Thailand has been so far. You can literally walk through the ruins and climb the steps up to these ancient monuments. Nothing was off limits and each attraction was $1-3.
Riding back to Bangkok
Nicole and I, not wanting to brave the van all over again, decided to find a bus instead. Luckily we passed one on the way to return our bikes. Getting a bus in Thailand (outside of the Bangkok bus station) is surprisingly easy. We walked up to a small kiosk, bought our ticket and hopped on the bus. I actually ended up making money on this bus transaction. Our tickets were about $2 and I received a 2 euro coin in change, so I made close to a nickel. It was way better than the ride there.
I can’t quit you fish and chips
Back in Bangkok, Nicole and I got some delicious fish and chips at a New Zealand restaurant. This may sound strange, so bare with me, but I think the staff thought either I was famous or Nicole was famous. When we arrived at the restaurant, several of the wait staff came over to greet us. When we sat down, one of the waiters came over and gave us a complimentary appetizer and called me “Boss” a few times. Now this might just sound like great service, and maybe I’m blowing this out of proportion, but no one else at neighboring tables was getting free appetizers or nearly as much attention from the staff. At the time, I thought it was a bit odd, but maybe the restaurant just had great customer service.
Nicole and I ordered some fish and chips and fish bites. They were both incredibly delicious. I think the fish and chips might have been the best fish and chips I’ve ever had outside of the UK.
After dinner, we’re getting ready to pay and the waiter comes back with a complimentary shot for each of us. He talks to us for a few minutes and then asks Nicole where she’s from. She tells him America and he says “oh, I thought you were Australian”. Maybe he thought Nicole was some famous Australian or maybe the restaurant just had great service and I’m reading too far into it. The world will never know.
Today was such an exciting day. We took some sort of off-the-books van service to Ayutthaya. We got to explore ruins by bike, and we enjoyed delicious fish and chips and free food. There were ups and downs, but it was fun in the end.
I’ve had a great time in Thailand so far. I’ve explored weekend markets, railroad markets, and visited palaces.
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