27.01 Day 12 Ayutthaya

Day 12 - Sat 27th Jan - Ayutthaya

With two full days ahead in Ayutthaya and plenty of temples to see, we balance culture vs children by proposing to see three temples this afternoon (“booo”) on a boat trip (“yay”) and some more temples tomorrow morning (“booo”) on a tuk tuk (“yay”). 

So it’s a quiet morning at Baan Are Gong, traipsing around on the street out front looking at the market stalls or looking for fish and tadpoles in the small pond in the hostel or at boats from the well worn wooden verandah. Clothes washing is also done nearby and dries in minutes on the clothes horse out the front  surrounded by towels and sheets of the hostel. 

We do venture out for lunch, a ten minute walk across the train tracks to a small cafe offering the 3 C’s of Chicken burgers, Cat and Cold drinks. We revel in our apparent uniqueness when the owner asks for a photo to put on his Instagram, only to then hear him asking the other visiting clientele too. But the kids love the cat and the brightly coloured flavoured soda drinks, us adults enjoy the quirky set up, not a million miles from a Surry Hills cafe in Sydney and we all enjoy the crunchy chicken burgers. 

Back at Baan Are Gong we are collected at 4pm by a long boat from the ferry wharf for a two and a half hour loop around the island including 3 temple stops. As we cruise clockwise around the island there are clear differences between each side, the cafes, bars and hotels on the island side faced by often rickety wooden structures on stilts on the other side. 

First up is Wat Panan Choeng home to the largest ancient Buddha image from the mid 14th century. It certainly is big and gold. And is in contrast to the much smaller plaine stone Buddhas surrounding it. Don’t know if this sounds odd, but it's nice to see these places of worship being used for just that. Yes there are small streams of tourists weaving in and out, but there are rows of orange robed monks chanting and many more locals placing blessings, saying prayers. It is holy but still contains a degree of hustle and bustle and life rather than simply being open for the tourists. All that said, the kids are more interested in the fishes clammering for bread being thrown in by the boats. 

On rejoining the kids at the boat they are very excited to tell me that they “just saw Emmett and Hazel, right here.” Turns out we didn’t have to worry if we’d see them again in Chiang Mai as they happen to be in Ayutthaya for one night, doing a sunset tour just like our own. 

After 10 more minutes on the boat we are given another 20 minutes ashore, now at Wat Puthainsawan. Sure enough our Canadian friends appear here too, so the kids run around allowing the adults a little more time to appreciate the main Prang - the larger, tall almost cylindrical shaped building and a reclining Buddha draped in gold cloth encased by crumbled walls. 

On and off the boat again for our final stop at Wat Chaiwattanaram, one of the highlights of Ayutthaya. It has echoes of Machu Picchu in terms of marvelling at the ancient handiwork to build such a compound, whilst wondering what it would have looked and felt like hundreds of years ago on completion. Whilst Machu Picchu doesn’t have a bus or car park and a river next door for easy access it does get swarmed like ants here too. 

Though by standing still for just a moment the ebbs and flows of peoples’ movements does mean its possible to take photos with no one in, or indeed enjoy the quiet still moment. It’s not all roped off forcing you to view from a distance, so whilst there is no climbing it’s still possible to walk around and feel immersed. 

From there we complete the loop of the canal around the island and walk to a dinner spot I’d scouted last night. Here we’re joined by Emmett & Hazel and Danny & Kim and, like at lunch, are asked for photos afterwards. For dessert I’d eyed up a Mango Sticky Rice cafe and thankfully, it’s as good as I hope it is - a whole mango sliced up, placed next to a portion of sticky rice with thick coconut milk ladled on top. It’s our first and it won’t be my last. 

By now the cross river ferry has shut up shop for the night so it is a quick Grab taxi back to the hostel and getting everyone to bed.