Once the Thai capital, Ayutthaya lies north of Bangkok and is easily accessible by rail. However, that depends on your definition of easy. The Thai rail system is not the most reliable mode of transport and waiting a half-hour or so for your train is not uncommon.

On my wait, I met two German couples travelling north. One of the guys spoke fluent Thai and I was reminded of the enormous language barrier I faced here in Thailand. Not that it had been a problem thus far, but I imagined that as I travelled to the more rural villages, it would be. The rural iconic Thai villages; the ones you see on television. They flew by my train window. Planks of rotting wood and rusted galvanize stuck together in what resembled a house. Tree logs lifted the structure out from the brown river below. Not just one house but a whole neighbourhood was built along the banks of the Nam Mae Chao Phraya river.

Ayutthaya main temples are located on an island due to the joining of three rivers: the Mae Nam Lopburi, Chao Phraya and Pa Sak. The main temples are stunning; some seem to rise to the same height as a ten-story building. Nicola was right though, after about an hour or so, the red brick temples seem to melt into the same structure just cut and pasted in different locations. The trek to these locations was made possible by a bike rental. Weaving in and out of Thai traffic on an un-motorized bicycle during rush hour is tantamount to an extreme sport; one that I much enjoyed actually.

In retrospect, I believe that the temples did need some context to be fully appreciated. Perhaps a trip to one of the museums on the island would have done the trick. It seems that the theme so far in Thailand has been that the main attractions are not always that attracting to me. For me the highlight of the day was the train back to Bangkok. As mundane as that might be, I must reiterate that the Thai people are great and they also make great subjects for photography. I had a ton of fun with my camera and Thai kids ducking in and out of train windows as we were delayed yet again thanks to the efforts of ‘Red Short’ protesters. (No worries mom, I’m safe).

Take a look at the pictures and leave your thoughts.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 10:38 pm and is filed under South East Asia, Thailand, Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.