Kanchanaburi & Ayutthaya

Leaving Bangkok you start to move pretty quickly into rural Thailand, into limestone valleys and thick jungles. The limestone valleys reach and up and down with no set rules, if you were to look at them side on they look like extreme roller coaster rides, sometimes rising and dropping quickly, sometimes gently with an nonchalant calmness . Pristine roads carve their way through the valleys following the natural contours of the landscape, perfect for road cycling if it were not for the heat and humidity. The air is clear, the light reflecting of the limestone and jungle with a strong yellow tinge and clarity enabling you to see far out to the horizon. The further north you go the thicker the vegetation is that line the winding roads, elephant crossings are common, whilst quarried limestone is sold as furniture or sculptures on the roadsides.

Unlike Nepal, there isn't a sudden change between urban and rural communities, Rural area's exist in pockets but they are interspersed with industry. Rice fields exist here and there, square inland fisheries puncture the landscape for kilometre after kilometre supplying fish to towns and cities, but the modern complexities of Bangkok extend outwards, it is a country that seems in constant modernisation. Construction sites are springing up everywhere, new railway stations, new motorway connections, new roads, it is a country that is highly developed, or is in a constant transitional need to move forward. In between modern development and agricultural Thailand are signs of some unfortunate souls being left behind. Corrugated shacks sit in between spaces, their possessions spilling out on to track or road, their existence precarious as the constant need to develop just keeps continuing.

Just north of Bangkok sits one little town, Kanchanaburi and one cozy little city, Ayutthaya.

Kanchanaburi feels like what I imagine a mid west American town to be, it sits alongside a river, that river being the main draw for visitors, the River Kwai. The main tourist area consists of two large straight roads, the outer road away from the river is one large dual carriageway that goes on for kilometre after kilometre, lined with industrial complexes, showrooms displaying everything from air conditioning units to pots of paints. The inner road closest to the river is filled with bars and hotels for the tourist, there is a mixture of new pleasant modern upstart restaurants and bars, but these sit in between the more common 'English' and ' Aussie' bars, with names such as 'One More', 'Aussie Bar' or 'Get Drunk Quick' which are frequented by older ...well you guessed it English and Aussie men drinking amongst working girls hoping for a cheap lay. It's depressing. Kanchanaburi as a whole feels a bit washed out, but thankfully its attractions make the area worth visiting. It's main centre piece is that Bridge over the River Kwai, where Allied prisoners of war were tasked in building a railway that could connect Japanese supplies with their front line. This became known as Death Railway. You can see why, the heat and humidity is such that you sweat instantly on exposure to anything that isn't air conditioned. The terrain, hard limestone rock and jungle unforgiving as it rolls up and down. Cutting through it cost the lives of just over 100,000 people, a majority being South East Asian locales. 12,000 allied soldiers lost their lives. Just being in the environment tells you enough story to get an indicator of the brutality these workers had to go through before you even learn about how they were treated by the Japanese army.

A little further out from Kanchanaburi is Earwan waterfalls, which is spectacular. Despite its popularity, it is a serene and peaceful place to spend a day. Bats fall from trees and bounce through the air to perch on an branch lost amongst the growth, the rolling wash of falling water and chirping birds that are impossible to spot amongst the thick vegetation instantly bring you to a natural state of calmness and well being. I wish I could have stayed longer, I would have had an extra hour if my bus turned up on time! The waterfall gently cascades down a hill in stages, which you gives you a nice gentle walk up hill, each tier levelling out giving you the chance to bathe in shallow pools before it drops down another level. Which I guess is why these falls are so popular. The water is cold, a perfect refrain from the unrelenting heat and humidity, whilst fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet, at first feeling weird, in time rather pleasant. Their are 8 tiers in total, I made it to the 6th before I turned back as the outcrop became more rocky and crowed with trees, and time was short. Amongst the trees were dresses and vibrant cloths tied to trees for the forest spirits, the heat and humidity causing them to wilt and decay turning them into scenes that are eerie and peculiar.

Ayutthaya is a quaint large town just north of Bangkok, which has a lazy and cozy vibe to it that I like. The scenery some 20km outside the town going in was full of square, what I think are fish farms and you get a sense of a sustained rural life here. Wooden huts and trailers lie on steep banks, the locales shading themselves under trees or umbrellas. The heat is unrelenting here. Often when going to new places you see locals acclimatised to the heat, but here even the locals sweat a millions litres a day, get sun burnt, reach for a fan or step inside a 7/11 for a brief respite in an air conditioned wonderland. Entering Ayutthaya you cross a river, which circles the entire town, a mixture of shanty huts, giant paradisiaca plants and hotels fight for space spilling over each other. Traffic is low here, the trees bask in the sun, power lines droop as though they're wilting in the heat, cars trundle past, one or two people sit eating at an outdoor food stall. It's very relaxed. Accept for stray dogs, who seem more alert and attentive here than anywhere else I've been, eager to follow you, their throaty barks lined with malevolence . Perhaps the locales don't respect them enough.

Taking your first few metres into town and you start to see tens and tens of different ruined temples or monuments that once made this city a centre for commerce and diplomacy for many centuries before it was ransacked by the Burmese in the mid 18th century. Ayutthaya gained World Unesco Heritage status as a site of Archelogical importance, especially in the design and implementation of city planning.

Ayutthaya is no accident. The site was specifically chosen to house a city because it could defend itself, it is surrounded by three rivers, which connected it to the sea to enable trade whilst also acting as a moat. It also utilised a grid system that is still in use today enabling the ease of movement of goods. The site also existed above the flood plain so it avoided seasonal flooding as well as standing equal distance between India and China and thus it had all the ingredients to flourish, and that it did. Local and international trade made this a flourishing cosmopolitan city, it was a important financial and trade hub housing ambassadors to countries far and wide as France and Japan. Wealth and porsperity ensured. With that came technology - it was the first city to use a hydraulic water management system, but also the tools and craft to produce stunning monuments. The ransacked ruins are marvellous. Like all Thai temples I've seen so far, they're huge. Buddha statues are as tall as houses, reclining buddhas lay as long 6 or 7 terraced together, monasteries are designed with an elegance and panache. You can imagine how impressive this all looked in its prime - it stood for 400 years before the Burmese ransacked the city and burnt it to the ground, it's population fleeing, never to return. Only stone remains are left, pillars leaning to one side, statues scarred or decapitated in the carnage, some to be found randomly in trees or scattered amongst the ruins. All things eventually fall and come to and end at some point, and Ayutthaya too fell to time and chaos.

Travelling Thailand I also feel that Buddhism in many ways is its own relic here, perhaps not to the same degree as Christianity in England, but for many people outside the faith it only exists in the Churches that you drive or walk past, I get a similar sense here in Thailand. Compared to the Nepal, where it felt like every intrinsic moment was connected in some way to Buddhism, it feels that it has taken a back seat in many ways in Thailand. In Nepal you get a real sense that the whole ethos of Buddhism frames peoples life, it is not something that people aspire to, but it is found within them. It is a way of life. It is found everywhere, offerings are made at every shrine or temple, the chants of 'Om Mani Padme Hum' are heard around every corner, through shop door ways, from windows high above you, the way people greet you, it always felt like its origins were found through Buddhism. Here, whilst temples exist (and actually more frequently than Nepal) they exist on a grand scale, the small shrines that were to be found in every nook and cranny in Nepal, only fleetingly here. Some of the populace will Wai (a way of greeting; pressing the hands together and bowing) to Buddha in his presence but it is not universal, perhaps his devotion sits quietly, behind closed doors, or just silently in peoples thoughts. You can't help but feel that Buddhism exists in the past tense here rather than in the present.

Chiang Mai is next! Actually already here! just haven't had time to finish up this post!

See you next time, Joel