November 28, 2005
on the cultural path
Sabaii dii kaap – How are you
As soon as I left busy Bangkok I found myself on a more cultural path. The first place I went to on my way up north was a town called Ayutthaya, about one and a half hours from Bangkok. This was once the capital of the Thai kingdom before Bangkok came into power. Accordingly there are loads of ancient ruins to discover, apart from a handful new religious buildings too, Most of Ayutthayas temples are located in a historical park in the city centre. And there are also a few more buildings outside the town centre. To get around quiet fast and easy I rented a bicycle for two days.
Next place on my list was Sukhothai, another former capital of the Thai kingdom, before Ayutthaya took over. Geographically I am traveling north but historically I walk back on timescale. Sukhothai as well has a wide range of historical monuments and temples to offer. Same as in Ayutthaya those buildings are both spread throughout a historical park and outside the town wall. This time I did not rent a bicycle to get around but walked the whole day.
To your knowledge my whole travel route is, so far, organized by the Thai government travel agency. That means when I went into their office in Bangkok to get general information they made up a 12 day travel plan for me. This package included a 3 day trekking tour in Kanchanaburi (see web log entry ‘one week asia – what happened so far’), a two day stay in Ayutthaya, a two day stay in Sukhothai, another 3 day trekking tour near Chiang Mai (further up north in Thailand) as well as a few nights in Chiang Mai itself. They organized everything for me, accommodation, transport, trekking tour, tour guide – altogether not bad, but way to organized for an independent traveler as me. But for the next 12 days I will have to stick to this plan unless I want to loose money, as I paid for the package in Bangkok in advance.
Right, I stick to the plan and Chiang Mai is the next city. With one million people Chiang Mai is much smaller and therefore more manageable than Bangkok. Same as on my first night in Bangkok I go out with that English guy I met here in a hostel and we end up totally drunk and I can’t remember if it was the 6.4 strong Chang beer, the hand-hot Thai whisky or rather the 2nd or 3rd Tequila shot, I just can’t remember. Besides a good night life, Chiang Mai, of course, has a few temples to explore, too. From place to place the architecture of each temple might change a bit, but one thing remains the same - please take of your shoes before entering.
After a couple of nights in bohemian Chiang Mai our group of 11 people or so plus two guides went out in the mountains for a 3 day trekking adventure. On our first day we got to see a waterfall, met the chicken flew (don’t worry, it was just a hen with her little chicks, they did not seem to carry around the real chicken flew) and did some elephant riding. After Kanchanaburi it was the second time for me riding an elephant, but this time I liked more, because I got to smoke a real Thai cigar rolled up in a banana leave (I know, Golden Triangle isn’t that far from here, BUT this cigar didn’t have any opium in it, I could tell you…). The night we spent in a hill tribe village. Our tour guide was great, being able to play guitar he brought our characters a bit closer. Day number two of the trekking adventure consisted of hiking, hiking, hiking, more or less. Every now and then we passed a village or a hut next to a rice field. On our last day out in the jungle we did some bamboo rafting and in the evening everybody was happy to be back in civilization again.
Posted by Sascha at November 28, 2005 05:00 AM