#020 Thailand Update: Ayutthaya, Ayudyaha, or Ayutaya

It’s very wet this morning. It looks like it must have rained through most of last night, and it is still raining now. The roads have many areas where they are flooded over, and traffic is much slower today than normal. I don’t think we are going to make it to work on our normal one hour and fifteen minute cycle. The good news is that the rain has at least made the air nice and sticky.

Livonia and the Boys Visit the Factory

On Friday, I sent my driver home after lunch to pick up Livonia and the boys. I wanted them to see the factory, and to have dinner with me in Chachoengsao with them. It seemed like a good plan, and would have me seeing my family a little earlier than 7PM. I also wanted them to experience the wonderful trip I have to make each day.

They arrive at 5PM and Nathan and Christian are dead to the world. We decide to leave them in the van with Boonchan and only take Livonia and Esaiah. Esaiah has some initial complications at the door because he can’t get the shoe covers on. The factory in Thailand is very clean, so you have to cover your shoes with a plastic cover. It prevents you from introducing any dirt. Esaiah wears a size 10 shoe now. His feet are already larger than mine. Plus, he wears rather large sneakers, so he was doomed from the start. He eventually got it figured out, and we headed inside.

My friends at work were very happy to see my family. The reactions they received made Livonia very happy. I took her around the entire building, and as we were heading back, we noticed some small kids at the end of the hall. My initial thought was that someone else had brought their kids with them, but then one of them starting running toward me screaming “Dad!” That was Nathan. Apparently, the boys had woken up and were ready to join the tour. As Nathan ran toward me, I couldn’t help but notice that he was missing his shoe covers.

I took everyone upstairs to the canteen, and all the operators were really admiring the boys. Nathan always seems to get the most attention here. Everyone always seems to want to touch him. Of course, he has no problem getting all the attention.

I took Livonia to the food court and showed her a whole bowl filled with congealed chicken blood. She looked at it in about the same manner that I did. Mmm.. tasty. Give me more!

We left the plant and headed into the city of Chachaongsao to eat. I wanted to take her the place that makes really good Phad Thai, but it was already closed. Instead, we opted for a dinner on the river. We found a floating restaurant and sat along the water. I asked for some bread to feed the fish. The boys had a blast watching all the fish fight over the bread. Boonchan joined us for dinner, and helped us to order. We ended up with a ton of food. Somehow, rather large prawns ended up on the order. This is fine, because I like prawns. I just need to figure out how we ended up ordering 14 of them for 3 adults and 3 kids. As you can imagine, we had a few leftovers. When I got the bill, I discovered that the prawns comprised more than half the price. I’ll have to remember to have them repeat the order back to me for the next time. I walked out with a $60 tab, which is extremely expensive in Thailand, especially at a Thai restaurant in Chachaoengsao. However, the food was very good. We couldn’t eat all of it, so the leftovers were fed to the fish in the river. The circle of life, right?

Ayutthaya, Ayudhaya, Ayutaya

One thing I have learned is that spelling anything in Thai is pretty much left up to your own imagination. I have seen so many things spelled so many different ways. I’m sure it must be difficult to take Thai sounds and convert them into our limited alphabet. Many times, I just write it phonetically. If that’s the case, let me tell you all about our trip to the ancient city of Ah Yoo Tie Yah. I had planned on going to Wat Yai Chaya Mongkok, Wat Panan Choeng, and ending the day with an elephant ride through the city. We ended up doing this, with the exception of Wat Panan Choeng. We ended up going to the Ancient Royal Palace ruins instead.

Wat Yai, Feeding Turtles, and Getting Interviewed

Our first stop in Ayutthaya was Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol. It was a very beautiful temple. I took many pictures of this place, and actually posted several of them to the website. There are about 20 pictures posted, so fair warning. You should be happy though; I took 119 and you only have to look at 20.

One thing we realized about Saturday is that it was very, VERY hot. We walked around for a bit, but then had to take a break and relax. Boonchan had the right idea. I invited him in with us, and he joined us for the first little bit, but then opted to sit in the shade and wait for us to finish. He’s no dummy. I’m sure he sat there with all the other Thais and poked fun at all the silly tourists who were sweating their buts off just to get a few nice photos.

After seeing the temples, we headed across the bridge to the other side. The last time I was at Wat Yai, I remember feeding some pretty big turtles. I wanted to give the kids this experience. As we walked across the bridge, we noticed several people feeding some fish. We stopped to watch, and then our mouths dropped. There were catfish in this water that were the size of small sharks! They were absolutely huge! Someone would throw out a half a loaf of bread, and a catfish would come up and snag it in one big bite. These fish had to be at least 4-5 ft long, and very, very wide. It seems as though temple life is good to them. We learned from our driver that none of the fish are eaten. They will live their entire lives in this water.

I eventually found the place where we could feed the turtles, and Boonchan got us about 5-6 loaves of bread to feed them. The water also had the big catfish, and we were able to walk out onto the dock and get close to them. I found a section where we could lean over the edge and hand feed the turtles. That was really fun. I would put my loaf of bread above the water, and turtle would poke his head out of the water and snatch a bite. The kids saw me doing this and decided to follow suit. Christian didn’t quite have the right idea. He would pull a small piece of bread off the loaf and then hold it over the water in his little fingers. A turtle would pop his head out to grab it, and Christian would let it go and drop it in his mouth. A few times, it seemed as though the turtle was more interested in his fingers than the bread, so we had to explain the process again to him. I admire his lack of fear of things like this, but at the same time I love the fact that my kids still have all their fingers. I would be much happier with “a little fear and five fingers” rather than “no fear and no fingers.” Tangent: You know those shirts that say “No Fear?” I think they need to make a new line of shirts that continue on that concept, but detail the consequences of “No Fear.” I mean, people gotta know the consequences, right?

Moving On...

We finish the feeding and head in the direction of the exit. As we are leaving, I am stopped by a girl who identifies herself as a student. I look around and notice many of her classmates are standing around with her. She asks me if she can interview me.

Sure, why not?

She asks me many questions about where I’m from, what I like about Thailand, why I’m in Thailand, etc. All of my answers are met with smiles and laughter from her classmates. After the interview, I start to walk off, and she stops me again and asks to take my picture. I agree, and as I stand there, she stands next to me. Her friends all make that “ooo” sound and start giggling again. Livonia is laughing now. I’m starting to get embarrassed. She thanks me afterward and I tell her “Yin Dee Krup” (Your Welcome). Speaking in Thai brought more smiles. We continue walking toward the exit, and the girl runs up to me again. She needs my signature on her interview form. I sign the form and then walk out. By this time, Livonia has decided to start picking on me and calling me the “star of Thailand.” We finally leave Wat Yai and head for a place to have lunch.

Lunch on the River

Since the kids had such a good time eating on the river, we decided to do that again, and found a river restaurant nearby. I was happy with this place, because the restaurant had a “Clean Food, Good Taste” icon on it. This icon is similar to the rating system in the US, although this is the only rating. If a restaurant receives this rating, it is a good indication that the food is safe for us to eat. At this restaurant, they actually gave us fish food in the form of small pellets. Also, you didn’t just throw the food over the edge of the railing. You got to walk right down onto the dock and feed the fish. One bad thing about the dock is that it had nothing to prevent little boys from falling into the river. Looking at the murky waters did not make me too happy about having to fish them out if they fell in, so I decided to take some time up front and establish some ground rules. Everyone sits down, crosses your legs, and sits back from edge. I know, I know, I’m killing all the fun, but it made Livonia happy and I didn’t have to think about smelling like the river all day.

The food here was really good. That’s two good meals in a row! I was pretty happy about that one. Good food, and not a single pig’s colon to be found. Ah, the good life.

That’s a Pretty Big Elephant

I told Boonchan to take us to Wat Panan Choeng, and he mentioned they are celebrating an Anniversary of sorts. Because of that, it would be exceptionally crowded, so he recommended that we not go. Instead we head out to ride the elephants. Sounds good to me. I really dislike crowds.

I learned something about the elephant tour. It is a large tourist attraction. As a result of that, prices reflect this. I believe the owners of this establishment must have been economics majors in college, because they thoroughly understand the concept of “supply and demand.” Each ticket was 500 Baht, and of course I’m going to pay it because we are already here and I promised the kids I would take them on an elephant ride. Okay, so $2,500 Baht later, we are on top of elephant. For the first few minutes, I’m thinking about the $60 bucks I just shelled out for a 30 minute ride, but I quickly get over it. As we start out, we are stopped by a guy holding a fancy digital camera. He pops off a shot of the boys elephant, and then a shot of Livonia and I. I’m sure we’ll have the option to buy that picture at the end of the tour in a variety of different media.
Riding an elephant is a nice idea in concept, but a rather uncomfortable concept in actual application. The seats are rather hard, and your legs are pressed against a bar at the end of the seat that does not feel very good. They try to increase the comfort by padding this bar, but it really doesn’t help much. It’s just gonna hurt.

Livonia was nervous about Nathan on the ride. For weight distribution, Esaiah had to sit in the middle, which left Christian and Nathan on the outside of the chair. Since these chairs had no seatbelts, It left Nathan pretty well exposed. It became pretty obvious to Livonia that Nathan was riding a pretty big elephant. If he fell off. She tells me “Roger, tell Nathan to be careful and sit up right.” Now keep in mind that the boys are quite a distance from us now. Even if I managed to scream at the top of my lungs. It would be doubtful I would be heard over their own conversation. However, I know you cannot explain this to a nervous mother.

I learned something else about riding an elephant. Bringing a camera with you makes no sense. You cannot take a good picture. You are moving too much. I tried and tried to take a picture, but I either ended up with the sky, the ground, or a very blurred representation of what I was actually trying to get a picture of.

We finish the ride (whew!) and I buy the picture (damn economics). I watch the endless cycle of people getting on the elephants and off the elephants. It looked like every two minutes an elephant was returning. Each one had roughly two people on board. That’s 1,000 Baht per elephant, every two minutes, or 30 elephants per hour. That’s 30,000 Baht per hour, or $750.

Not too bad.

We go into the gift shop and look around. They had lots of really cool things, but one thing caught my eye. I saw a box that looked like it was made out of some type of recycled material. It seemed to have some type of lacquered finish and had a picture of elephants on the top. The top of the box also contained some words, in English. What did it say?

Made of 100% Elephant Dung.

Man, that’s awesome! I take it over to Livonia and show her. She is not as impressed as I am, and I think is now wondering why I am holding this “elephant dung” in my hands. I tell her I want to get it, and she gives me the look a parent would give a child when they ask for a candy bar in a supermarket.

I put it back.

Esaiah picked up a couple of elephant nick nacks for his room, and used his own money to buy them. I was very impressed. I could have named off a hundred things I thought he would have spent his money on, but I did not expect that.

Well, I have been writing for over an hour, which means you have been reading for at least ten minutes. I think it’s a good time to stop. Tomorrow I’ll finish up the weekend and tell you about our trip into the ancient royal palace, going to Future Park in Rangsit, Livonia singing in church, Livonia and my trip to Talad Market, and doing homework with the kids. Betcha can’t wait, right?

I’ll hold my breath while I wait for a response.

Incidentally, I got to work at 8:15AM this morning. The rain added nearly an hour to the commute.

Until next time...