A Weekend in Ayutthaya

I went up to Ayutthaya for the weekend to meet up with Clark and the usual random assortment of people who gather for such events. In this case it was Matthew and Apple (nauseatingly cute newlyweds), Matthew's brother Jeremy (whom I liked unreservedly, as he's both friendly and intelligent), Eric (an acquaintance from the forum days), and Matthew's friends Ziggy (Scottish; champion drinker) and his wife Ting. Clark had arranged for us to stay at a guesthouse right next to his friend Harold's restaurant. Harold is a Dutch captain who spends half his time in Thailand and half his time captaining giant cargo ships from Holland.

So, the first evening we were there we went on a boat trip with Harold on a boat that is more than a century old, made from a single tree because it was originally a rice boat and rice can't get wet or it's ruined, and was refurbished by Harold to do tours. Here's the boat:



We stopped by the elephant kraal and watched some elephant bathing:





And then had dinner on the boat.



Incidentally, a fun fact I learned was that elephants have to be registered when they're born, like cars. There are only about four thousand elephants left in all of Thailand. About one percent of those live in this kraal.

The evening was spent back at the restaurant where large quantities of alcohol were consumed, though mostly not by me, and this man's music was greatly praised. He's Thai, but he sings American songs in a perfect accent just as if Paul Simon or Don Henley themselves were singing. At the same time, he interprets the music a little bit so it's his own rendition of Sound of Silence or whatever rather than an exact copy off the CD. He's really amazing.



The next day people ate away their hangovers with a big buffet breakfast served at a nearby hotel which was pretty fantastic, though not much for photographs, and then we rested and later went out to watch some Thai dancing at a "floating market" which wasn't particularly floating, though there was certainly a market and the bamboo structures were quite atmospheric. I've given my opinion of traditional performances in the past and this one didn't change it although the way the battles were depicted, via splashing, was entertaining enough.









More boats...





The rest of the time isn't photographically documented, but it was just as much fun. We went back and much more alcohol was consumed and I felt happy at being in a group with myself (Canadian), some Americans, Thais and a Scottish guy, in a bar in Thailand owned by a Dutch guy where the tables around us were occupied by a big French tour group and a Spanish song was playing in the background. I'm glad I was born when I was, in an era where such a thing is possible.