I hardly put any effort into the routing today. Not worth the effort for just 40 km I thought. In particular as the most obvious route from the cycling perspective looked good enough: The 4-digit #3501 right along the western riverbank all the way down into Phra Nakorn Si Ayutthaya as it is officially called. Not to be though! No or hardly any shoulder, lots of traffic and dust. No worries, let´s try my luck on the other side of the river..... So I crosssed over on the #33 bridge and immediately turned right onto the #309. A busy dual carriageway but with a good shoulder. Still not good enough to me, so one last turnoff to the right onto the #5035 after another 5 kilometers. Finally! A nice rural road which did provide an appropriate last few kilometers to this trip as I have decided not to roll the last 70 km into Bangkok tomorrow. Not that I would be too concerned about the capital´s traffic as such. I rolled through there a few times now, mostly on my way from Cambodia to Malaysia. But now I am finished and I can´t see the necessity to deal with the urban pollution when there are most convenient trains from Ayutthaya direct into Bangkok´s Hualamphong station where my regular hotel is adjacent.
Ayutthaya! Siam´s capital for many centuries until the Burmese army rolled over it in the 18th century. Despite all the destruction caused by this invasion I read many thumbs-up reports on the Historic Park. The last of the big parks I have never been to by the way. When I came into town around noon I just dropped my panniers at the brand new Baan Choeng Tha Homestay and made my way to the principle temple compound, named Wat Maha That, like the Sukhothai one. Understandable when you know the translation of "maha that" which means "great Buddha´s relics".
Not a great first impression though. I wouldn´t say I was shocked when I got in there after paying the 50 Baht admission. But certainly unpleasantly surprised. Historic Disneyland. An insane amount of tourist groups pushing through with the Koreans and there noisy jump-photos sticking unpleasantly out once again. Probably I am too old-fashioned but next to being "just" a historic site these are temples overall, aren´t they? I contacted my friend Ute in Berlin who has been here recently with her sister Ruth while cycling up from Vietnam. They stayed two nights and quite enjoyed it. Very important information to me as I was just about to call it a day and withdraw to my homestay for the remaining time. I am glad I gave it a second chance towards sunset as it was a completely different story once all the tour buses had left. I actually loved it around town then and even cycled to some illuminated temples outside the "island" after dark. Which I usually strictly avoid.
As I said, the cycling part is done now but I will post one more page on the bicycle-on-train procedures, which I am curious to learn about myself. And hopefully some nice photos from Bangkok before I take a train back to Trang on Sunday.
The Thung Makham Yong Monument just northwest of Ayutthaya. Much bigger than it comes across on the photo
The Baan Choeng Tha Homestay. Completely renovated only 2 months ago and great value at 400 Baht for an ensuite room. Unfortunately the neighbourhood dogs don´t like each other which you will hear at night
Let me start my walk around Wat Maha That with Ayutthayas most popular motive: The Buddha head in the tree roots. You wouldn´t believe how many people queue up to have their photo taken with it. Like "The Woman in Red"
Chris WeeIf you're just photographing the head that's fine, but the need to have oneself in the frame in every pic, is beyond comprehension. There was a security guard when I visited, just because some people went too close to the head. Reply to this comment 5 years ago
Ang Thong - Ayutthaya. Once again google maps wouldn´t allow me to pull the route entirely over to the #5035. Just follow this rural road until you see the huge elephant monument on the left and then cross over through the park. Very likely the nicest approach into Ayutthaya
