A Long-Tailed Boat Around Ayutthaya

Manda writes:

The town of Ayutthaya is at the conflux of three rivers: Mae Nam Lopburi, Mae Nam Pa Sak and Mae Nam Chao Phraya. The three rivers join into one and create a moat-type waterway around the town. In the past, boats have made the most of the river, transporting cargo and ferrying passengers around. Today we were going to try out the latter in a long-tail boat.

Boat trips on the river have become increasingly popular over the years. This is by far the prettiest way to see some of the less accessible ruins, sitting on the periphery of the town. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was still high up and the blue sky meant for better photos.

Together we, and the Dutch couple (whom we'd met yesterday evening on the Sunset Tour), Maurice and Wendy, clambered into our long-tail boat. Thankfully, it had a canopy, which afforded some protection from the intense sun. The ride was relaxing and the cool breeze was welcomed. We ambled past the riverside accommodation of wooden shacks and these seemed to go on forever. Occasionally, we'd spot a more obscure wat, not detailed on the tourist map, in amongst the shacks. A few of the locals were taking a dip in the water to cool off. One guy was standing in the deep end with only his head and a cigarette protruding on the surface. He looked quite funny as he was frowning and reminded me of a frustrated Bert (as in Bert and Ernie), erm, with a cigarette in his mouth!

Our first stop was Wat Chaiwatthanaram. A beautiful stone ruin, with a collection of prangs (Khmer-type tower) surrounding a wat. There were lots of school children on the grounds and it looked like all of Bangkok's primary schools were having a joint outing. At one point, Maurice and I were standing by the entrance to the ruins, taking pictures of our beautiful surroundings. A few minutes later, hordes of school children started to make their way out and as they walked in our direction, we remained rooted to the spot like rabbits caught in the headlights.

Then a handful of young boys stopped and crowded around us. "What do they want?" Maurice asked me. Well, I wasn't entirely sure but spotting that one of them was half-heartedly shoving an exercise book and pen in our general direction, I suggested that they might want us to write something in it. So Maurice took the pen and scribbled, "Hello, my name is Maurice. I come from Holland. What is your name?". As he did so, a few more kids gathered around, almost blocking the entrance. The teacher at the back enunciated something and the crowd soon disbanded. As the teacher walked on by, he smiled at us. So did the young lad as he took his exercise book back, bowing his head and doing a wâi (prayer-like gesture) at the same time. Him and his best friend walked off looking intently into the exercise book to see what Maurice had written. As we were about to head back to the boat, the two boys chased after us. Slightly out of breath, one of them said, "My name is," followed by his name in Thai. His friend did the same thing and then they both ran back to their coach. It was very sweet and something I will always look back fondly on.

Ian by the Wat Chaiwatthanaram complex.

The next stop was Wat Phutthai Sawan. Another nice temple with a quadrant filled with Buddha statues (there must have easilly been one hundred). There was also a large Buddha lying on his side in another part of the site. It was surprisingly quiet. I only saw a handful of caretakers sweeping the grounds, a couple of tourists, one monk and a washing line full with colour-fast orange robes hanging out to dry.

A large reclining Buddha (as viewed from an ickle window!).

Wat Phanang Choeng was our final stop and after walking around the exterior of this complex, wandering what it was all about (the wat didn't look too impressive from outside), we realised that the beauty lay within. For inside was a 19m high sitting Buddha. A man was stood on the statue, dressing him with orange robes. This put everything into perspective as you can see from this photo:

See the man there? Bottom left hand corner ... yep, it's a big Buddha, this one.

Later on in the evening, we met Wendy and Maurice for dinner. We chatted into the early hours of the morning and only stopped when the restaurant lights had been switched off and we were almost sitting in the dark. Different tactic to using a hoover, I guess! Not that I make a habit of out-staying my welcome at restaurants! It was an enjoyable day all around.