Filling in the Gaps at Ayutthaya (photo report)

[Big Boy]

Part 1

I started planning this last year, but never got around to it because I was more focused on a major event happening in Hua Hin during February. We were actually busy with visitors from January until April. May was time to chill out for a month. Never mind, I’ve made it at last.

Just 2 objectives with this visit:

• A cruise around Ayutthaya Island.
• A visit to Wat Niwet Thammaprawat using the Monk powered cable car across the Chao Phraya.

Planning:
Trying to arrange a cruise that didn’t start or finish in Bangkok was like searching for the Holy Grail. I’d seen an advert (which gave me the idea), but that cruise was fully booked for the rest of the year (really?). They gave me other contacts, but nobody even had the courtesy to reply. TAT was as useful as a chocolate fireguard. I eventually had some success with the Ayutthaya Tourist Assistance Centre. I was advised of a walk-up boat service that operates from the Boat Trip Pier – perfect, the trip was a goer.
Post trip note…… Walk-up River Cruises were actually available in many places. I don’t know how I’d missed them on previous visits.

Next was choosing a hotel. Ayutthaya has a lot of very cheap accommodation (aimed at the backpack community) which looks lovely on the likes of Agoda. However, I’ve never had a good hotel in Ayutthaya yet. There was one hotel that was so bad, I was literally bailing out my flooded bedroom at 2 o’clock in the morning. There was a storm of biblical proportions overnight. The windows just kept blowing open, and torrential rain was pouring in. Believe it or not, that was only the 2nd worse hotel I’ve had in Ayutthaya. After many failed attempts, I simply chose the best town centre hotel this time – to hell with the cost. I booked the Krungsri River Hotel, and hoped for something average. After I’d booked I was checking their web site, and saw they ran river cruises around the island. However, when I enquired, they needed at least 40 bodies, but they said reception would arrange a trip for 1,000฿/head. I decided to use the Boat Trip Pier, but the hotel offer was a good fallback.

Preparation:
This was going to be my first trip away with my wife for quite a few years where I didn’t have to transform my car into an ambulance. Bulky items like oxygen bottles were staying at home. The only medical kit I was carrying was an oxygen condenser (just in case), and a wheelchair. This was so much easier – I was seriously hoping I didn’t regret it.

The Journey:
I decided to try to avoid the Samut Sakhon roadworks and the main part of Bangkok en-route – it might take longer (on paper anyway), but at least I should be on the move all of the way. It was a good move, no hold-ups whatsoever, although I did find myself in a bus lane at one time. I asked my dear wife what the writing in the road meant – “Oh, it says buses only!” So why not tell me until I ask? I’m not sure if I will have been photographed, but my satnav did direct me there, and it was a legitimate slip road turning on to an elevated section of road.

Apart from the bus lane, the journey was without incident. I arrived at the hotel, and a nice gentleman directed me into a parking space.

Arrival at Krungsri River Hotel:

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I unloaded the car, leaving the wheelchair behind – yes, my wife is so well, she doesn’t really need her wheelchair at the moment for relatively short distances. I struggled with 3 bags, a cold box and a 6 litre bottle of water. I’m inside the hotel building but the reception is on the 2nd floor. No problem, I struggled with everything to the lift, and pressed the button. Lift would not drop below the 2nd floor. I eventually found a notice advising for security reasons, the lift will not go to the first floor.

I then moved my 3 bags, a cold box and a 6 litre bottle of water to the base of the 22 stairs to the 2nd floor. My wife actually managed to climb them, which is a good sign of her improved health. I took the first 2 bags, and dropped them at reception where my wife started to check in while I went to fetch the rest of the gear, and carry it up the 22 stairs.

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I was lucky, if this was a year ago I’d have been carrying my wife and her wheelchair up the stairs as well. As I got the last bit to the top of the stairs, 3 bell boys appeared from nowhere offering to move my bags (with wheels) etc. along the flat lobby floor – I saw red. I doubt they understood a word that came out of my mouth, but the tone of my voice was enough to see them run away scared.

I was also very curt with the receptionists who were checking us in, such was my anger. When we were given our room number, the bell boys appeared again. I told them what they could do with their help – lazy gits.

Unaided, we got to the room, and it was very nice,

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with beautiful views of the river, and from the 9th floor, we could see right across the island of Ayutthaya. It was easy to see why it floods so badly each year.

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Liking boats, I was like a little kid in a sweetshop watching the boats going up and down the river. Then along came a ginormous barge. It looked far too big for the little river, but it just glided gracefully down the river without a care. This barge turned out to be a one off. Every other barge came in sets of 4, which was an even more remarkable sight. I was amazed at the amount of weed floating down the river at quite a speed.

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Huge clumps of weeds, often 10 to 20 feet wide just flowing past my window. The many boats weren’t bothered by it at all. They just went right through it – amazing the propellers were never snagged.

to be continued …………………………….

[PeteC]

Wasn't that the place last year where a barge went rogue and pulled a tug to the bottom, along with the captain. His wife escaped. Somewhere there is a thread.

I'm also a bit amazed at the level of the river. They must be getting much more rain up-country than we are getting in the east.

[Big Boy]

It was, but I thought it was a bit longer than last year.

[PeteC]

It was, but I thought it was a bit longer than last year.

Age related memory loss probably.

[Big Boy]

I think this is the one https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ew-missing

Strange actually, we never saw more than one tug pulling, but when browsing, I found this, which indicates, to me, a very fast flowing river.

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Mind you, I think 4 tugs abreast on the river past my hotel would have been pushing it.

[PeteC]

I stand corrected. I appears his wife didn't escape, and they both went down.

[Big Boy]

Part 2

First Evening:
Tired from the journey, we decided just a bite to eat, a couple of drinks and crash out in the hotel. I looked around the area on Google Maps, and chose Bear Grills Restaurant. As the crow flies, less than half a mile from the hotel. Then I started looking at how to get there – crazy one-way systems. It was then that I realised that by staying off the island, there was no pedestrian access across the bridge right outside the hotel on to the island. I didn’t want to drive anyway – I’m on holiday, and would sample some beer. I decided to see if Grab worked in Ayutthaya – it did and it worked well. We used Grab both ways. I asked my wife to ask the Grab driver how people get on to the island if they don’t drive. He basically said, “You can’t.” We found out later, there were several passenger ferries.
Post-holiday note…… There was pedestrian access to the bridge, but it would have been too big a climb up steps for my wife – improved health or not. I think I would have struggled those steps also.

We both had beef steak at the restaurant, and we both agreed, probably the best steak we’ve ever had in Thailand. I had a couple of Okinawan Craft Dark Beers with my meal, and they complimented the steak very nicely. After food, it was Grab back to the hotel again.

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First Morning:
I’d woken during the night at about 1:30am and looked out of the room window. There was a procession of boats going up river. Interestingly, the navigation lights were not the usual red and green, but all white lighting. I now realise this would have been barges pulled by tug boats.

I was amazed at the number of huge barges gliding past the window in the morning. Some full, some empty, but all just passing with ease. It does intrigue me what is being carried in these huge vessels.

Down for breakfast. Very smart breakfast room (an Italian restaurant after breakfast – Lieto Italian Restaurant). Standard Thai buffet breakfast, but the difference (700฿ for breakfast) is this food was hot, where as most Thai hotels (that I use) serve chilled food.

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I’ve cracked getting the lift to floor 1. You can’t call it to floor one, so after breakfast, I walked up the 22 stairs (I’ll never forget – I remember each stair intimately whilst loaded down with luggage) to floor 2, called the lift, and took it down to floor 1 to collect my wife. We then travelled up to floor 9 together.

River Cruise:
This was the main driver for this visit, and I wasn’t disappointed. In my opinion, everybody visiting Ayutthaya should include a river cruise in their itinerary. I didn’t even know Ayutthaya was an island until a couple of months ago. I doubt I am alone in that ignorance.

The hotel had offered to arrange the cruise for 1,000฿ each, and having done the cruise, I would have considered that to be good value. However, following the advice of the Ayutthaya Tourist Assistance Centre, we caught a Grab to the Boat Trip Pier, where we were able to charter our own personal boat for just 800฿, and that fee included a kick back for the Grab driver.

First problem we had to overcome though was finding the Boat Trip Pier on Grab – no such beast. I had to go on Google Maps, find the Boat Trip Pier, and then find somewhere very close on Grab. Tingcha was what I chose, which turned out to be a market selling weapons and amulets. Quite interesting as we walked through, but some of the weapons were scary as well.

Taxi driver sorted everything for us and we were led to our boat. I was hoping for a trip on an old rice barge, but that would have been far too big for 2 people. We ended up on a long-tailed speed boat, which was quite sensible for the 2 of us. I actually hate getting on and off of these little boats – almost ended up in the water a few times, but it had to be done. In hindsight, I don’t think my preferred rice barge would have been so good.

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I was in the front seat, so plenty of leg room. Almost immediately, we had an obstacle in front of us. I said yesterday about all of the weed floating in the river. The river was blocked – we’d have to get through a stretch of 15 to 20 feet of backed up weed. I wasn’t bothered because I’d seen boats cutting through the weed from the hotel. Driver just went full speed and we were through it with no problem.

The initial stretch of water was quite narrow, but I enjoyed seeing the various buildings along the waters edge. All shapes and sizes. Some very robust, some in a bad state of decay, some big, some small. It was all building the picture of life in Ayutthaya.

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We eventually pulled on to the main waterway, which I presume was Chao Phraya proper. It was a lot wider. We were now seeing the ancient ruins we had come to see. Very impressive. The driver was happy for us to stop and get out for a wander around, but I’ve already done the wander bit a few times previously. He cruised on by. We saw old and new, and even a couple of Muslim temples and a Catholic place of worship.

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River Cruise continues tomorrow…………………………..

[Bamboo Grove]

Looks like you've had a very nice trip. I've been to Ayutthaya a couple of times but that's long time ago. As I'm interested in Thai history (as well as South-East and East Asian history), it's a very nice place to visit. I've never been on a river cruise, though. Can't remember if they were even on offer almost 20 years ago.

[Big Boy]

In my conclusion (Part 7), there is a history question, which maybe you will be able to answer. Either that, or tell me my perception is totally wrong, which is very likely

[Nereus]

It does intrigue me what is being carried in these huge vessels.

Some of them carry rice, usually the covered ones, and some of them carry building sand from mines near the river. 30 years ago,
I was involved with a Thai bloke that had a mining lease near Ayutthaya. I paid for a basic dredge to extract the sand to be loaded on a barge.

The amount of sand arriving in Bangkok was a lot less than it should have been, so we drove up to the site unannounced. The entire Thai crew were asleep under a tree!

We shut it down and I sold the dredge.

The Condo that I had in Bangkok was built alongside the Phrakhanong Canal in Sukhumvit Soi 48. There was, and still is, a yard alongside the Canal where the sand is unloaded from the barges, which are pushed up there from the river, as it is not very far.
The sand is stockpiled there, along with crushed stone, and picked up by contractors in trucks and taken to building sites.

The barges are unloaded using a tracked type excavator / backhoe. A most ingenious modification has been made to the excavator, in that the cab and controls have been extended so that the operator can see into the barge while remaining on the small landing.

The noise from the machine, along with the black exhaust smoke, drifts right into the Condo complex in true Thai fashion!

[Big Boy]

Yes, we did eventually see a different kind of barge, with no coverings carrying very small stones.

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[Big Boy]

Part 3

River Cruise continues..................

I also loved seeing the many rice barges moored alongside the river. Many converted for dinner cruises, but others converted as house boats.

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Then the highlight of the cruise. There was a huge field of backed up river weed blocking the river for about 400 yards. I think an ice breaker would have been more appropriate than a long-tailed speed boat. Undeterred, the driver just went head first into this aquatic jungle. We must have got about 10 yards, and we came to a complete stop. Memories of a Top Gear Christmas Special came flooding back with one of the guys getting stopped by the ‘Water Lettuce’ crossing a lake in Vietnam. We’d snagged our propeller. The driver knew what he was doing though and repeatedly cleared the problem, and we were sort of getting through 10 yards forward, and 5 yards back.

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We’d got about half way through, when a boat that had been struggling through in the opposite direction actually gave up, and went back.

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It must have taken us 45 minutes to get through this field of weeds, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was amazing how many birds were living in this field of weeds. We eventually broke through, and there was a final 5 minutes of clearing the prop thoroughly. We were on our way again.

It was nice to go past our hotel.

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We saw the hotel’s river boats looking quite grubby.

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The adventure would not have been the same on a larger boat. The driver offered to drop us at the hotel – he said he could contact the hotel to open the gate to let us in. We declined his offer, although it would have saved us a Grab fare.

There was one more weed obstacle to get through before we got back to the dock. Only minor this time, although we did snag the prop 2 more times. It was a very small river arch we had to maneuver through as well as the weed field.

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A thoroughly enjoyable journey, which I’d recommend to anybody going to Ayutthaya. It was then a Grab back to the hotel.

Ayutthaya Floating Market:
This was our plan for an afternoon visit. However, when I checked out the small detail, foreigners have to pay a 200฿ admission to get in, whilst Thais are free. I do not pay to go shopping. Neither do I agree with dual pricing. This afternoon did not happen – we made use of the hotel’s facilities.

To be continued…………………………..

[KanDoo]

Steady in the ranks now! 200 Bt

[Big Boy]

It is not the money, it is the principal - I do not pay to go shopping. Shops should be free.

If I go to Harrods in London, Bluport in Hua Hin or Macy's in New York, there is no admission fee.

[Dannie Boy]

The House Boats must be quite palatial - they look about three times the size of a UK Canal Boat and some people happily live on them!!


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