Wanting a break from the commotion after three days in Bangkok, we decided to take a day trip to Ayutthaya: Thailand’s ancient village. Around 80 km north of Bangkok, Ayutthaya is a 1 and a half hour train away, costing a mere 25p. The city is made up of numerous temples and ruins dotted around the region of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. - We arrived at the station and upon getting off the train were bombarded by people selling £35 tuk-tuk tours, promising day trips around four of the “best sites”. This is when we realised all of the sites were too far apart to get to without the help of transport; however, being on a backpackers budget, the prices they were proposing were far too steep. Instead of buying one of these “package tours” we decided to DIY our trip.
The first site we wanted to see was Wat Mahathat, a six minute drive from the station, so we bartered with a tuk-tuk driver to take us there for just £1.36. This was the largest of the ancient sites we visited and by far the busiest; it cost £1.10 (each) to enter. To walk around all of the sites at Ayutthaya you must have your knees and shoulders covered, but if you forget, outside Wat Mahathat and many other sites are multiple vendors selling linen trousers and sarongs. Visitors of Wat Mahathat can also borrow a parasol on entry for no extra cost as, being an extensive open ruin, the buildings themselves provide no shade from sunburn or heat stroke.
Wat Intharam
After Wat Mahathat and a spot of Google mapping, we headed to Wat Maenangpluem (a 15 minute walk away). Half way through the walk we stumbled across Wat Intharam, the most beautifully intricate temple, tucked away on a side road. This proved to us the benefit of doing our own research and deciding for ourselves which sites we wanted to see, as by opting into a pre organised trip we would have not only spent a pretty penny, but relinquished unique moments like this of discovering places others would not.
We continued on to Wat Maenangpluem and took in its tower lined with stone dragons, koi ponds, ornate shrines and gravestones. Our walk back to the busier centre of Ayutthaya in the height of the midday sun was a toil, and I would suggest to anyone to make the most of any airconed shop as respite from the sun. When we got back to the main road we continued on our DIY desire and flagged down a tuk-tuk, bartering with him to take us to Wat Phu Khao Thong, a temple far from Ayutthaya’s central area that we had spotted on Google maps.
The journey took about 15 minutes and we arrived alongside 4 monks in the back of their own tuk-tuk. Apart from the monks and us there was no one to be seen. The experience of walking up to and around a 160 foot temple with no one but practising Buddhist monks was surreal. Out of a fear that no tuk-tuk would be around to pick us up because it was so quiet, we had asked our driver to wait for us outside the temple which he happily did. We asked him to take us to our concluding destination: The Portal of Time, an open doorway built into the side of huge tree roots. The site was also surrounded by shrines and a pond topped with lily pads. Our driver also waited for us here and finally dropped us off at the train station, 20 minutes away, charging us £8 for his full service. We got on the train back to Bangkok feeling fully satisfied that we had done Ayutthaya our way and therefore the right way.
The Portal of Time
I would advise anyone wanting to go: do a bit of research on the locations you want to go to instead of saying yes to the first driver that approaches you outside the station. Our first destination Wat Mahathat was included on every driver's tour and was bustling. In comparison, all the other destinations we either stumbled on or chose to go to ourselves were empty of tourists, giving us satisfaction in our unique ordeal, experiencing the temples being used authentically with only local Buddhists entering to pray. This was also aided by the fact we are travelling in wet/low season. It might rain heavily for an hour a day but the upside of Thailand being so quiet far outweighs this. On top of the silence, self-curating a trip of sites we actually wanted to see meant that between us we spent just £9.36 on travel rather than the £35 being charged at the station. On a side note: an alternative way to DIY your trip would be to hire pedal bikes outside of Wat Mahathat, we saw plenty of people do it and the system works just like Boris bikes.
Ayutthaya is definitely worth a visit but by making sure you visit on your own terms you will have a much more fulfilling trip by taking a road less travelled.
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