We arrived in Ayuthaya last night (12/26) via taxi; The Expat Teacher dropped us off at a cab on the way back from hiking. The Silamander and I sat down for a cold beer at a restaurant/bar on the backpacker guest house row while The Private Eye found us a room. After waking up at 4AM, we were all beat, and went to bed around 9.

Over breakfast the next day (12/27), we came up with a plan. We’d wander around Ayuthaya during the day. Ayuthaya was the capital of the Kingdom of Ayuthaya until the Burmese army sacked it in 1767. Unlike many Thai cities, which are filled with beautiful temples, Ayuthaya is filled with beautiful ruins of temples. Walking down the street, a partially crumbled prang points up from behind a few trees that have grown around it. We came to Ayuthaya in part because The Silamander said he has such fond childhood memories of it, climbing among the ruins, imagining the battles of times past, his ears filled with imagined roars of elephants and whistles of arrows.

That evening, we’d catch a night train to Chiang Mai, which takes about 10 hours. We’d spend a few days in Chiang Mai, then continue north to Chiang Rai to meet up with The Expat Teacher for the New Year.

And so we encountered our first travel calamity: our plan is impossible and getting to Chiang Rai is going to be interesting. The New Year is a big holiday in Thailand, so starting today everyone has started fleeing Bangkok to go home or on vacation, which for many means north. There are no train tickets to Chiang Mai until the 30th, same for planes. We spoke with a woman at our guest house who said she’d put out feelers for whether a bunch of people might like to share a minivan. If there’s no way to Chiang Mai, then we might head to Lopburi, the monkey city, tomorrow, in a slow move north. Worst case, we will take a train to Chiang Mai on the 30th, spend the New Year there, then meet up with The Expat Teacher on the 2nd or so. From there, perhaps Laos.

I realize this post is rather dull and practical, so might not entertain many. But when I’ve read travel blogs, it’s these practical things that make the whole effort seem more real. I recall more than one conversation with The Traveling Economist about the most mundane things, such as how to pick a pack or what clothes to bring. I can tell you all about how Thailand, well, our experience in Ayuthaya, is like Burning Man, but I’ll leave that for the long trip we take north.

— The Professor

I’m going to butt in, because I can spell out the Burning Man-backpacker link in a few notes about how we spent our time in Ayuthaya.

– leisurely breakfast followed by too much time spent getting ready to go out.
– hottest part of the day spent in camp guest house lounge, reclining on leopard print cushions and talking to each other and interesting fellow travelers while drinking cold drinks.
– afternoon excursion on crappy bikes to a local attraction gets derailed by a wrong turn that was serendipitously more attractive than the attraction proved to be. Ride then is longer than expected under blazing sun and some of us get cross. But attraction was shaded and pleasant enough so we stayed for a while once we arrived. Then encountered something truly shocking and wonderful (in this case, the fish spa, where fish ate the dead skin off my feet. Best theme camp idea that would never ever work at Burning Man ever).
– retired to bar within a few feet of camp guest house, where we spend the sunset in delightful conversation, then parting ways with our friend the Silamander.
– evening excursion by full moonlight on slightly better bikes to look at massive illuminated art built for sacred purpose. Marvel that we are somehow the only people at The Temple Wat Chaiwattanarum. While biking around viewing other massive sculpture, are passed by disco tuk-tuk playing house music. Talk about deep emotional topics while biking.
– end evening eating ridiculously bad-for-you-but-what-the-hell food and having a drink while complaining about the bad music on the playa in the backpacker ghetto.

– The Private Eye

Ps. The Silamander is a great friend to whom we are very grateful for a wonderful introduction to SE Asia. We hope he enjoys his visit with his extended family!