26.01 Day 11 Erawan to Ayutthaya
Day 11 - Fri 26th Jan - Erawan to Ayutthaya
Our first real travelling day with three local buses ahead of us. But in weather shocker when we pull back the curtains to gaze at the river, it's raining causing our rain jackets to make their first appearance from the bottom of the bag leaving the jumpers the last untouched. Thankfully it clears as we load up on breakfast.
Sienna and Seb are both offered a ride on the motorbike up the drive when we leave, but only Seb accepts - wearing the widest smile you’ll ever see. Our first bus arrives roughly when expected and at 8:45am only two locals are travelling away from the waterfall so we plonk ourselves in space at the front.
Seb and the driver exchange many glances, smiles and waves. The driver, like others, uses a constant series of small toots on the horn, the stay-left-I’m-overtaking hoot, the don’t-pull-out-I’m-coming hoot. When he actually blasts the horn when someone does pull out in front of us he’s quick to apologise to Seb, including a small sympathetic toot to say sorry. It’s another brightly coloured bus with red and blue retro coloured seats and faded stickers with no real meaning such as USA Audio.
In broken conversation we discover the driver also has 2 children, a 9 year old and a baby. And that sometimes the baby will sleep on the warm leather clad casing over the engine between Seb and himself. Which is where he also slept when he was a baby, this bus having been both his father’s and his father’s father’s before him. 54 years this bus has been going, currently doing 400km a day between Kanchanaburi and Erawan Waterfalls. As we pull into the bus station he points out our next bus and we wish each other well. Well, we at least try and say thank you in Thai.
50 minutes until our next bus to Suphan Buri (all this planning courtesy of google and a few travels highlighting the route to take. Even occasional glances on google maps are reassuring to see how far along the journey you are), so we pick up supplies and soon enough are on our way - this bus, still garish in colour but more sizable like a familiar coach.
Past countless rice paddy fields we go with houses on stilts on the fields’ edge, past banana plantations and a number of water lily gardens with bright flowers blooming chasing the sun.
After 2 hours we arrive in Suphan Buri and a portly lady who has immediately picked out the 7 tourists on the bus, assumes, correctly to be fair, that we’re all enroute to Ayutthaya and shuffles us directly to a waiting mini already half full. Luggage thrown on, quick toilet break whilst the kids wait by the bus - Sienna then hopping as I return pointing at our minivan reversing out of its spot. I’m 95% certain it's just getting ready to leave and isn’t actually going with our luggage but without us, but is the 5% worth the risk? I move the quickest I have all trip and ensure they know we’re here. All good.
The door is slid open and we clamber on to discover only 3 seats left, so Kate, Seb and Sienna share a double seat and I sit solo. Almost solo except for the young army person who gets on after us and is forced to stand right in front of me in the footwell - there were a number of Infantry and Artillery bases we passed so assume he’s headed home on leave.
The minivan is almost paid compared to all our other buses. Passengers come and go during the drive, mostly go, so that only the 7 original tourists arrive at the end of the route in Ayutthaya. No time for learning just yet about the history of this place and all its temples, our next goal is finding the hostel.
Which is only about 400 metres away as the crow flies yet a 4,000 metre walk according to the map, thanks to having to cross the canal which creates a natural fortification for this small island. By luck more than judgement we follow two Dutch tourists who head down a narrow alley to the river and discover a small longboat ferry doing loops from one side of the river to the other. It runs essentially non-stop so within 3 minutes and 30 baht later we are deposited just 50 metres from the front door of our new home - Baan Are Gong.
This old wooden building with a verandah area overlooking the river is home for 3 nights. The kids love our basic but large room straightaway for the 2 queen beds and 1 single bed, so they don’t have to share. It has glowing reviews, but it is still a 1 star hostel, so the Hilton this is not. But it’s clean, we have a fridge and an ensuite - though really it's more a corner of the room bricked off with walls only half as high as the tall ceiling. The charm of the wood is also tempered by creaks when guests walk above upstairs, though it's hardly a party hostel. In a further big brownie points for Sienna, it has a resident cat which she and then Seb will pop out the room to try and find throughout our stay.
For dinner, we cross back on the ferry and try and fail to find a recommended night market (are we too early?). We almost have to resort to KFC, we do have to resort to a toasted sandwich for the kids from 7/11 (yes they open and toast them for you) before finding 1 or 2 stalls in a market space where in the end 5 meals are devoured by the team. The cheerful young lady who makes them is enamoured, surprised even by our Thai thank you.
Kate takes the kids back to Baan Are Gong whilst in preparation for doing this all again in 24 hours time, I scout a few blocks of the town to try and find where people are eating on a Friday night. Kate and the kids must have caught the last ferry because 20 minutes later I’m at the wharf, the lights are off and there is no ferry to be seen.
There is however one other Japanese guy who is also trying to get to the train station - which is 100 metres up the road from our hostel - to get back to Bangkok, this town being a popular day trip for tourists and locals alike from the capital. His English is excellent and after discussing Thailand travels so far and my own adventure to Japan for the Rugby World Cup in 2019, we give up on the ferry and in the end share a Grab taxi around to the station, from where I walk back to the hostel and hopefully, by now at least, he’s caught his train home.