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Bangkok & Ayutthaya, Thailand
By: FrancEs Yee
5th April to 7th April, 2004
My trip to Thailand this time was to visit Ayutthaya, which was situated about 76 km north of Bangkok, which was Thailand's oldest capital city from 1350 until 1767, which was the city destroyed by the Burmese invaders. I spent about RM500 on my return air ticket by Air Asia and just when everything's been confirmed with no refunds, Thai Airways was having a good promotion on their air fares at about RM470-ish. I spent about RM200 per night for my accommodation and RM160 for the Ayutthaya day-tour. Departure tax was a further RM50.
5th April: Kuala Lumpur - Bangkok
▪ Took an afternoon flight and arrived towards evening, just in time to book an Ayutthaya tour for the next morning
▪ Had a quick dinner at the food court. Food tasted pretty bland.
▪ A free shuttle was provided by the hotel to Patpong market but the traffic was just so incredible that I wasn’t in the mood to walk the stalls when I arrived close to an hour later.
▪ Took a taxi to Pratunam area. According to the internet, the Textile Market was supposed to be open 24 hours a day. Little did I know, they only open till 6pm. Feeling utterly disappointed, I took the next available taxi back to the hotel.
Monday night? Uneventful. Never trust what they write on the internet. Ughh!
6th April: Ayutthaya
All ready by 6 a.m. (that’s right, 6 in the morning!), I was all set to start my tour to Ayutthaya (pronounced A-YU-TEE-AA). Places of interest were:
Bang Pa-In Summer Palace
Bang Pa-In, the site of a riverside summer palace, was used as a summer residence by the Ayutthayan monarchs and was a favourite of King Chulalongkorn. Some major palace buildings include Aisawanthipphaya-At Pavilion (Thai-style pavilion), Warophat Phiman Hall (a wooden throne hall), Wehat Chamrun Hall (magnificent Chinese-style building) and Queen Sunanthat memorial which contains the queen's ashes and relics. The royal palace's vast area was largely gardens with scattered buildings and we spent about 2 hours of our time here.
Wat Phra Si San Phet
This was an 'Ancient Palace' which was the traditional residence of Ayutthayan Monarchs - now in ruins. Some restoration work was in progress, rebuilding some chedis using bricks.
Wat Chaiwattanaram
The miniature replica of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Only less magnificent, had eight towers and made of bricks, not stones. The main tower and the surrounding pagodas were all in good condition.
The tour ended at about 1pm, which we then adjourned to Bang Sai pier for a cruise back to Bangkok. A buffet lunch was included and the cruise on the Chao Phraya River took 3 and a half hours. So what did I do? I just stood on the deck and watched the murky waters raging under the ferry, with the saltish whiff of river-air hitting my nostrils. Amused myself with small chats with people I met on the tour (twice below) and by about 6pm, I was back at my hotel room.
Without much of a rest or a change of clothes (only a toilet break), I found myself in a taxi again heading off to Siam Square, an area which I was familiar with, where shopping streets were a sure-thing!
7th April: Bangkok – KL
Slept-in a little and bummed around while I waited for TESCO (which was just next to my hotel) to be opened for business to buy some food stuff - crispy pork floss. Yummy! Before I knew it, it was time to head to the airport already for my afternoon flight home.
I can surmise that apart from Ayutthaya, Bangkok was quite a disappointment. Define disappointment: Far too little shopping (for a shopaholic like me), too much traffic, too many taxi rides (in bad traffic), too little time, didn't eat enough real Thai food (with too little time)! Then again, re-read my first line of this write-up: I came specifically for Ayutthaya. At least I wasn't totally letdown.
*shrug* Let's hope that my trip to Taiwan, which is already confirmed for this coming June would be a better one! *fingers crossed*
Till then, tata!
Love,
Fran
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