29/3/25
We’d only had one day on the bikes but it was another day of sightseeing for us. We woke up just after sunrise, 6:30am, and went to find the breakfast that we’d arranged for 7am. Despite lofty promises of tofu or the like, it was just fried rice with vegetables. We couldn’t help but be ‘mildly’ disappointed.
We headed straight to the most popular temple in Ayutthaya, Wat Mahathat. It’s famous for the Buddha head that has somehow ended up within the roots of a bodhi tree. The primary difference between the temples in Ayutthaya and what we’d seen already was their age. Most of what we’d seen so far was rather recent, now we were seeing temples from the 14th century.
Literally on the other side of the road was Wat Ratchaburana. Another ancient temple, this time with a restored prang that we could go inside. There was a sealed off lower crypt as well. While utilising the breeze that flowed through the towering brick structure, we spoke to a Thai lady with her mother. She actually lived in Sweden so she had some English. We take every opportunity to speak to Thai people that we can.
The ancient city of Ayutthaya was mostly contained to the island at its heart. It was absolutely littered with temples, and it wasn’t that small. So we rented bicycles to ride around the city. We weren’t keen on using our good bikes and for £1.20 for the day it seemed reasonable. The bikes were truly awful. We’d hoped to sail around effortlessly but the rattly old bikes weren’t having it.
We could however, cycle them through the bumpily paved park, letting them drop down the big kerbs. Wat Phra Ram was deserted. We paid the standard 50 baht entrance fee and walked around the huge prang. Around the outside were the roofless cloisters. We could only imagine their glory, based on what we’d see at the grand palace.
We rolled on to see the three perfect chedis at Wat Phra Si Sanphet. They were each built by a different king. Sadly what is seen today is a restoration project. Ayutthaya was essentially levelled in 1767 by the Burmese army. A lot of the gold was melted down. If it hadn’t already been looted.
The temperature was now reaching unbearable levels. It was going to reach 38C. We’d seen huge bags of colourful noodles when we’d arrived the day before. As we walked our bikes through a market some other tourists were trying them. They weren’t noodles. It was sugar. A local delicacy when rolled into a roti. It was intensely sweet.
We treated ourselves to two intensely sweet sodas, tied them to Frankie’s basket, and cycled to Srinagarindra Park. They were so packed with ice it was good to let them melt a bit first. The park, dissected by waterways, should have been amazing. It was dotted with old temples. There were so many temples, that we hadn’t a snowballs chance in hell of seeing them all. All the bridges were dilapidated and the path overgrown though. We dared to cross two bridges, and sat, shielded from the Sun, in a covered seating area.
There were two majestic temples over the river. The lack of bridges meant it would be quite a long way to go. We accepted defeat. Instead we went to Chao Sam Phraya National Museum. When we arrived there was strangely no bike racks. All the temples had them. The woman seemed unable to comprehend why we needed to know where to leave the bikes. They ended up locked round a wooden post with the scooters.
The museum was extremely modern and well laid out. It started with an exhibition of the gold retrieved from the looters of Ratchaburana temple. An exciting story whereby the local police were in cahoots with the looters and the superintendent rode in to the rescue. It was a truly incredible quantity of gold. About 100kg in the form of jewellery, utensils and beautiful ornaments.
A renowned ornamental sword called Phra Sang Khan Chai Sri, that was almost stolen, had delicate designs of Persian flowers inscribed on its handle. The rest of the ‘zones’ of the museum exhibited artefacts, where possible, from the other temple sites. Stupas were like the Russian dolls of temple relics. Multiple layers of increasing ornateness. The votive tablets that were retrieved from the temples were sold to pay for the museum. These were like little squares of gold or silver, usually embossed with the Buddha in various poses.
Back on the other side of town was another vegan restaurant. We headed there after cycling round the huge reclining Buddha at Wat Lokaya Sutha. The roads were busy and hot. And the restaurant was closed. A four day break. We just went back to the hotel. We didn’t want to have the same food again from Ranahat Je. We bought a watermelon, and some sweet potato from the 7-eleven instead.
We monged around for a few hours. Reading, eating fruit and talking to a German lady. She was travelling alone and seemed to be very keen to do a lot of talking. She was quite proud of her adventures, telling tales of the 30km she would walk each day. Her friends didn’t have the same idea of holidaying, but given that Germans make up 90% of the foreigners here, she could definitely make new friends!
Just as the Sun started going down we took the bikes back and then headed to the market for our dinner. We bought a veritable feast at the market. There was actually a lot to choose from. Randomly, just as we were getting some tofu, we heard the national anthem playing loudly. Everyone froze for around 20 seconds. Well everyone but the woman slicing our tofu! There wasn’t much more to our day. We headed back to the hotel to eat and sleep.
Surly They Won't Make It 