Day 10 - According to Ayutthaya Annals

Leisurely start to the morning, I returned the scooter & arranged for us to hire a couple of bicycles.

Gone 9am we popped next door to the Malakor Kitchen & Cafe for Latte Frappes & a slice of rich fruit cake. With still aching buttocks, but reenergised, we collected our sit up & beg bicycles & hit the road.

We aimlessly pedalled, but realised we were seeing things that we had missed on the scooter. Our 1st stop was Wat Thammikarat (20 Baht) that was built by Phraya Thammikarat before the establishment of Ayutthaya City. It was not like the other Wats, more like a jumble sale in and around various ruins and a temple. There were lots of monks & old ladies sitting behind stalls on their mobile phones.

We continued along the main road passing Million Toy Museum, which I’m led to believe is as it says, then turned off finding Wat Wora Chet The Ram.

At Wat Wora Chet The Ram, we were informed ‘According to Ayutthaya annals, the temple was built by King Eankthosarot circa yn A.D. 1593 the year King Naresuan the Great died whule leading an army to attact King Tong-U in Burma. in honour cf his eider brother, King Eankthosarot built a mighty crematorium here and some 10,000 monk were invited to the Royal cremation’.

It was one of my more favourite places with a couple of Buddhas, one in a falling down building & there was a stupa with offerings, mainly half drank bottles of pop.

It was boiling hot, so we cycled for about another half hour, through Krungsri Night Market to Chao Sam Phraya National Museum for some shelter from the sun & much needed air con. The entrance fee was quite steep 150 Baht each, but it housed a lot of their National Treasures, golden artefacts from the crypts in the Wats around Ayutthaya. There was limited photography allowed & some exhibitions we were only allowed to enter under escort. It probably meant & was appreciated more by Thais /Buddhists.

By the time we had cooled down, it was approaching lunchtime. We took our chances & cycled across town to the river on the eastern side of the island & located a shabby restaurant with a great view of the river. It was the perfect place to sit in the shade & watch life on the river, including tugboats pulling massive barges. We had a couple of Changs, Jackie had fish cakes, whilst I had chicken noodles. It was lovely & we stayed for a relaxing couple of hours.

We left & decided to return home for a siesta. We were pedalling furiously when a motorcyclist was beeping furiously behind. We stopped to discover it was the waiter with Jackie’s sunglasses that she had left behind.

Back at our Homestay we had an extended siesta until 5pm, then we popped out to get provisions for our forthcoming rail journey, whilst we still had the bikes. We bought 2 bottles of Hong Thong causing the shop assistant to gasp “wow”.

Returning home, we got ready & went out. I wore my rat infested t-shirt. We were walking down the road when we were accosted by a young couple who asked us if we could recommend any restaurants nearby. We certainly could, so we pointed them in the direction of Burinda.

We then continued to a fabulous food market, with freshly cooked dishes of all descriptions. We eventually stopped at a Pad Thai stall for a lovely plate of food for just 40 Baht (£1) each.

Later we headed home & said hello to the young couple who were still in Burinda. We sat down for a cold beer & a short time later the young couple came over and asked if they could join us & ask us some questions about Ayutthaya. They had only arrived that afternoon having just flown into Bangkok.

Typically neither of us had our phones with us or a map, but we did our best to advise them as to the highlights. It turned out they were Stefan & Karina from Zurich, Switzerland & had only recently finished university. Karina had spent a lot of time in Oxford studying. Weirdly they were planning to spend Christmas in Koh Lanta, as are we, & they fly home from Bangkok the same day as us, 14th January.

They took our contact details & insisted we contacted them if we ever visited Switzerland, even offering up their parent’s place as somewhere to stay. We said our goodbyes & returned home for a nightcap & early night.

Song of the Day - The Annals by Frank BarileRead more