The boat from Ayutthaya

Sunday, 3 Jun 2007 | Journal

The whole reason for going to Ayutthaya was not the actual destination itself. I’ve never been someone who goes all gaga over ruines and churches (temples in this country) or enjoys visiting tourist destinations that are historically important. There has to be something that emotionally impresses me, to this day I remember being caught in between buses on my first visit to Bangkok. I guess you could refer to it as ‘experience tourism’. I don’t like to walk on the canals of Amsterdam because of the historical importance of the buildings, waterways, etc. but simply because it is a beautiful thing to see. Similarly, I love just walking around in a new city …. ANYWAY, bla bla bla. Ayutthaya!

So on to the bus we went. It turned out it was set to leave from, har har, the historical center of Ayutthaya which shows all kinds of sites clustered into a small area. While we waited for the bus, we decided to walk around a little bit. We saw some sites, one of which I had taken a photo-at-night of just the day before. Didn’t really get into it a whole lot. And had a look at the elephant rides that so many people took. Did I want to do that? No, thanks. I’d love to sit on the back of an elephant at some point, but I’d prefer to do that somewhere a little bit more native than the sidewalk of Disneyla… err, Ayutthaya. So the bus arrived and off we sped, towards Nonchaburi from where the boat was set to leave.

Beautiful boat called the Grand Pearl. But inside we were sat at a table with two strangers and enjoyed some tourist quality food (which means expensive and bad), the other section of the boat was left empty and no more tables were used than required to accomodate the number of tourists. Oh yeah, and drinks were not included and priced at European prices. Yay for quality service. After lunch, we quickly made our way to deck to enjoy the view. Thats what it was all about anyway, getting a proper view of Bangkok from a different perspective. Sure I had done boat tours before, but I was looking forward to gliding from Ayutthaya (ahum) to Bangkok and getting a different perspective on things.

The first part of the trip was ‘rural Bangkok’, I guess. Nothing really interesting, other than the huge diversity in houses built along the river. It was a calm and quiet experience and just nice to look at the way all those places had been built. Especially interesting was how all those houses were connected, walkways only a few inches wide sometimes and huge common platforms where big groups would sit together and eat at other times. We also saw a lot of kids swimming in the water in houses by the river I guess makes water such a big part of your life that swimming in such a river is really natural. Some Japanese girls on the boat were excitedly waving at some kids who were swimming in the water, they had no clue the kids were actually swearing at them in Thai!

This being the rainy season and the end of the afternoon, the rain started sweeping in just as we were entering the not-so-rural-anymore part of Bangkok. A large group stayed outside and found shelter on the back of the boat. There was a thunderstorm which actually got quite close, but especially when the storm went away and we were left with the the rain did the scene become covered in a vail of gray. And then there were those huge transporter boats just silently laying in the water, which made it all just a little too eerie if you ask me. Good setting for a horror movie!

As the boat glided along, we got into a more populated area of Bangkok with less green and lots more buildings. While passing all this and in a wind that was a bit more chilled because of the rain, it becomes apparant what an important role the Chao Praya river actually has in Bangkok. I don’t really see the river all that often because there is no reason for me to go there. But, I guess like any river city, it really is somewhat of a lifeline for the city. Not only to transport bulk goods over (using those transporter boats) but even logs from upcountry make their way down the river to be processed into furniture. There were a lot of these sawmills lining the river, an example in one of the photos. Also, one tends to forget the ‘klongs’ of Bangkok. Small waterways not unlike sidestreets off a main road lined again with countless houses. This in a way is the original Bangkok and one of the many many aspects of the city I never really saw up close.

And then we were back in Bangkok. The height of the buildings quickly shot up and soon the boat was one of the countless boats carrying tourists and locals up and down the river. Most of them with huge PA systems blastic all kinds of languages and talking about Wat Po, Wat Arun, the Royal Palace, etc. One final photo of me, with the Rama IX bridge which is named after the current King who is the 9th in the dynasty.