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| The Surreal Ancient Capital |
Having caught up on missed opportunities for photographs in Ayutthatya, I made for my Guest House on the outskirts of the city, a mere stones throw from the train station. Unfortunately I timed my commute at the exact time of a torrential downpour, and in traditional Thai style, the Tuk-Tuk prices took a turn for the ridiculously astronomical. I decided to wait it out rather than risk my ludicrously unwaterproof electronics against the deluge.
I was invited under the eves of what I can only assume was some kind of tiny school by parents who had arrived on mopeds to collect their children. Reassuringly even the locals seemed under-prepared for this bout of inclement weather and were making idle talk whilst they waited, less reassuringly they were passing around some form of uniquely strong, unidentifiable alcohol in a recycled glass bottle. I was offered some, but declined as politely as I could with hand gestures. Having seen the reaction of some of the people who had tried it, I can only assume that my liver would have started furiously waving a white flag as soon as it had come in contact with this particular poison.
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| Friendly folk the Tuk Tuk drivers. Until you come to pay them. |
Having waited out the storm, found a suitably sober Tuk Tuk driver, said Tuk Tuk then breaking down in the middle of a highway, waiting for him to fix it and after much trial and error of directing him around his own city (my impression of a steam train was oddly more successful than a map with a picture of train on it in this particular situation), I finally got back to my Guest House with seconds to spare.
I gathered my belongings rather unceremoniously and sprinted out of what I hesitate to call a 'Front Door' leaving a trail of money fluttering in my wake for the family I was staying with and flung myself across the road to the station to catch my Sleeper Train to Chiang Mai. I looked frantically at the empty track, I looked hopelessly at my watch. I was 5 minutes late. Who knew that Thai transport is more reliable than the UK's? Except it wasn't. My train actually ended up rolling in 7 hours late. Having come off the rails just outside Bangkok. So that was good.
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| Rebel! |
Despite their reluctance to stay on the rails, I must rave about the Thai Sleeper Coaches. They're amazing. I have in all honesty never been more relaxed on a train than that night. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop 3 coaches down, the beds were comfortable, clean and a total contrast to the hustling, bustling country that it sped through. I slept soundly waking up only to admire a silent ocean of misty rice paddies swathed in a spectrum of dawn colours, speckled by the early morning stirrings of tropical wildlife. I promptly closed the damn curtains and went back to sleep. I woke up in Chiang Mai in a sickeningly good mood but slightly worried that I was going to miss the comfort of the train...
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| Good Bye Ayutthaya |
