“I think we went the wrong way.”
“What?” I shouted. The rain was sloshing down my ears and eyes now, melding the street lights and car lights into one bleary mess.
It was my second day in the ancient city of Ayutthaya, Thailand. Paula, a German girl I met at my hostel, and I had decided to visit a local light festival when, of course, monsoon season began.
Paula pulled her bike out of the traffic and turned, wincing in the downpour.
“I think we’re lost,” she cried.
Some local guards were clustered in an overhanging behind us. “Let me go ask them,” I said.
I approached the crowds of men who were successfully avoiding the same rain that was now soaked beneath my skin. They chuckled when they saw me. “Hello, how do we get to the light festival?” I asked.
They furrowed their brows and turned towards each other, murmuring.
One guard pulled out his phone and beckoned for me to approach. He pointed towards it and I realized that he had pulled up google translate. I glanced at him and he nodded, pointing towards it again. I leaned in. “Light Festival,” I said.
Instantly, the phone announced the Thai translation and the guards shouted, “Ahhhhh!”
They laughed and patted my back, excitedly pointing down a road, beyond. I started laughing, too. The Thai are infectious.
I had come to Ayutthaya by train, two days earlier. Bangkok’s steamy heat had inspired flight ANYWHERE outside the city, so I hopped on a train towards the ancient city, Ayutthaya.
If I could describe Thailand with one phrase, it would be “finding calm in the chaos.” Like the Monks in my previous post, Thai people have tranquil souls that drift amidst the circus that is Thailand. I will never grow tired of watching them.
An old women sitting across from me didn’t even seem to notice the shouting children around her or the sweltering sun’s heat. She just sat quietly, eating her boxed lunch and laughing with the conductor.
The train swept us past crumbling shacks, construction sights and chemical plants, until the shacks became sparser and the trees, denser.
After a ninety minute ride, we arrived in Ayutthaya.
Tuk Tuk tours commonly cost 200 baht an hour (around $6) but I was able to bargain a driver down to 150 and began exploring the city!
Ayutthaya was formerly a thriving merchant town and the northeast’s main trade port. However, in 1767, the Burmese ransacked the city and overthrew the government. Many temples were destroyed and the Buddha heads, stolen. Some heads were too heavy to carry and were dropped, allowing trees to grow around them and hold them forever in an embrace.
A sweeper man who let me take his picture. He was the most beautiful thing I saw that day.
Spinning with The Lying Buddha.
My second day in Ayutthaya, I rented a bike for 50 baht. I would highly recommend this! It was absolutely liberating to bike with Paula wherever I pleased and we saw the town at our leisure.
Ayutthaya has been a magical experience. The city has a strange energy, perhaps it is the history here- the tragedy.
I’m heading out this evening to move father north. Where will I be tomorrow? Who knows.
Catch you down the road,
Clara
