Thailand - Nakhon Pathom to Ayuttaya

Lilz had not felt well in Samut Songkhram or in Nakhon Pathom, fighting a heavy cold-like virus. I had been feeling smugly invincible. I was not indomitable however and fell to the virus too. Not used to being ill, I shrugged it off and we set forth on a 66 mile day, our longest yet, to reach Ayutthaya, trying to ignore the snot and lethargy.

Leaving Nakhon Pathom was slow as we wove through interesting streets. We bade farewell to the giant Phra Pathom Chedi, restored to its finest and covered with fine golden Chinese tiles. We cut through an immense warehouse housing Pathom Mongkul Market full of colourful produce, scooters skilfully zipping past us. Seeing the gold glinting roofs of Wat Pailom we stopped for a closer look and enjoyed viewing the hub of community activity and ornately decorated temple buildings. A cartoon avatar of the abbot kindly directed us to the ‘very clean bathroom’ and very clean it was too!

A stop at an inviting coffee shop a third of the way allowed me to sink into a chair surrounded by plants. Not for long though. The lovely owner came to chat with us. An architect working in Bangkok he had only recently taken over the coffee shop. He had inherited his family home and took us over to take a look at the beautiful traditional wooden Thai house built in the 1800s where he had grown up. Afterwards his wife shared scrambled eggs on toast with us and they bade us farewell with a bunch of bananas. People are so wonderfully kind to us!

A little farther along we stopped at Wat Bang Prah at the architects recommendation. New building work included a stunningly crafted ceiling of a Buddha pavilion formed of intricate ceramic work. We wondered at the skills being kept alive in Thailand through all the ornate by-hand temple craftwork.

The sun shone down bright, washing the colours out, the temperature 36 degrees. We cycled past orchid farms, the rows of exotic magenta flowers hard to see under the protective black netting.

At Sai Noi we stopped at a lovely canal-side cafe, Lilz stepping up to do the translations (I was too snotty). The owner attempted to teach Lilz some Thai, good humorously laughing at his errors. In the canal hundreds of huge grey fish could be seen. Why so many?

The afternoon passed by along dusty gravel roads following irrigation canals for enormous fields of rice. Stork heads could be seen disembodied, peering like periscopes above the sea of bright green.

Nearing Ayutthaya the miles started to slow. The sky turned dusky yellow and the road became raised above the fields providing us with far reaching views across flat miles of farmland and wetland in all directions. This is the best part of the day when the light is golden and minds are open.

On the outskirts of Ayutthaya we picked our way through a road construction zone of barren rocky diversions caked in dust. Dusk found us at last crossing the bridge onto the historical island of the UNESCO World Heritage site. Ayutthaya is the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam (1350–1767), surrounded by three rivers. It is now a vast archaeological park containing a living museum of ruined temples and palaces.

Wiped out, barely able to focus on the last few miles to our accommodation, I was still looking forward to cycling past the beautiful ancient ruins I’d visited with my friend Jason 26 years ago. Disorientated, instead there was a sea of fairy lights. Numerous stalls were being erected all along the roadside. Traffic was slowed to a crawl. Some kind of event was being set up. Too tired to take it in we navigated getting lost finding our hotel and gratefully closed the door on the world when we did. Exhausted to the point of tears we could now relax knowing we had a day’s rest tomorrow.Read more