Last Updated on March 20, 2023 by PowersToTravel
I don’t know about you, but I’ve really enjoyed reading and remembering just the first four days of our trip. I hope I can keep up the writing, because it does make me very happy.
My plan for Thailand was to reduce costs by performing the tour-guide role myself in Bangkok, and then hiring a guide for a trip north to Chiang Mai.
I had first investigated taking the train ourselves, but as I learned more about what lies between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, towns such as Ayutthaya, Phitsanulok (say that five times fast – it’s about as easy as Wat Benchamabophit!), the Sukhothai UNESCO World Heritage Site and Lampang with their extraordinary temples, I just couldn’t not go by road. Hopping from city to city is sometimes necessary, but to miss the small towns and countryside between seems tragic. It is where the real daily life is encountered.
I had researched how to get from Bangkok north via car, and found Chiang Mai Tour Center online. They offered what no other agency was offering us – a one-way tour to Chiang Mai, and then as many days as we desired of local Chiang Mai sights.
Amazingly, they published their prices on the Internet.
Even more amazingly, the affordable tour would be PRIVATE! I believe I booked just about the longest trip they offered. It became even better when Greg’s daughter and her family planned to join us in Chiang Mai over the Thanksgiving holiday.
So it was with excitement we packed our bags, enjoyed our last breakfast on the patio over the Chao Phraya River, and awaited our driver and guide.
The departure from Sala Rattanakosin was similar to our arrival. The call came to us that our guide had arrived, so we hurried downstairs to find our guide in the lobby, a little breathless and apologetic, “We couldn’t get the van into the alley and didn’t know which alley, so we need to carry the baggage out the main road.”
Our guide, a bellman from the hotel, Greg and I managed to wheel and carry our luggage out to Maharat Road. It does bear saying that we did not travel light to Southeast Asia. Check out my blog entry regarding my carry-on bag to see what I dedicated one entire suitcase to. Then there is the entire fifty pound suitcase allotted to Diet Dr. Pepper (somewhat lighter than when it arrived, but a still heavy-weight nonetheless since only four days had elapsed!) The plan was to be significantly lighter when we departed Thailand, but at this point, I felt as if we needed a convoy of elephants a la “Anna and the King.”
We jumped into the van. What a great vehicle, and only for us! It was a full nine-person van, and it allowed me to sit in a center seat behind the driver and guide, for excellent viewing – viewing, taking pictures and not getting car-sick!
“Hello, my name is Bom,” announced our guide. “Be careful how you greet me at an airport.” He had a sense of humor.
Lucky (in green) and Bom (in orange)
Our driver’s name was “Lucky.” I do believe his English was better than he let on, but he didn’t speak much, but smiled and laughed a lot. Once, after we were talking about the rice crop, he stopped the van at the side of the road, jumped out and ran into a rice field. Greg made some remark about rest stops, but then Lucky popped back with a handful of rice, to show us the rice crop.
We headed north out of Bangkok; it was neat to see that some of the roads were already familiar to me. We were on our way to Bang-Pa In Palace, the “Summer Palace,” a beautiful parkland by the side of the river, built in the beginning by King Mongkut (the King and I!).
At the Summer Palace, we strolled the wide pedestrian avenues to view the graceful buildings, to hear the tragic story of Queen Sunanda Kumariratana, the wife of King Chulalongkorn, and his daughter Princess Karnabhirn Bejraratana. (King Chulalongkorn is the prince in “The King and I”!)
Bang-Pa In – Summer Palace
The date was 1880 and the times were such that Thai royal was akin to deity. The raft on which the queen and princess were traveling to Bang-Pa In Palace capsized and the woman were thrown into the water; unable to swim and hampered by fancy dress they drowned, while all the household servants watched, since no one was allowed to touch the queen or princess on pain of death. It is said that this event also helped propel the King into some of his modernization efforts in regards to law.
The Summer Palace was a very graceful, almost European, parkland. Grecian-like statues, Neo-classical-style buildings mixed with strangely enough, Chinese Temples.
Bang-Pa In – Summer Palace
Bang-Pa In – Summer Palace
Next we drove on to Ayutthaya and the Phanan Cheong Temple with its large sitting golden Buddha. So graceful, to me it seemed to have the personality of the great Buddha of Wat Pho.
Wat Phanan Cheong
There we learned about the “mudras”, or the hand positions of the Buddha. The golden Buddha statue of Phana Cheong depicts bhumisparsha, or “touching the earth” and symbolizes Buddha’s enlightenment, and his summoning of the earth goddess to bear witness to the attainment of enlightenment.
This website, although it’s for a store, has a great description of the meaning of the hand poses: https://www.lotussculpture.com/mudras.html
Outside Phanan Cheong Temple the Buddha statues of the week were arranged, and we also received our first glimpse into the luck / karma of Buddhism. Seven statues were arranged in a row, each with a different pose representing the days of the week on which you might be born. I was born on a Saturday (many years ago!) and my Buddha day of the week statue is sitting in meditation, protected by the Naga’s cobra hood. If I wished to make a donation or light some incense, I should do it in front of my day statue, for good luck. Here’s a page describing the seven day statues: http://www.buddha-images.com/seven-days.asp
A Buddha pose for each day of the week
At the temple complex, situated at the side of the upper Chao Phraya River, we learned what the barges we had seen traveling in Bangkok had been carrying. They contained sand, destined for cement factories north of Ayutthaya.
Sand Barges on the Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya
Oh how glad I was to have a guide now, to not only see the strange and new sights, but understand what we were seeing!
Next we visited Wat Mahathat, a temple complex very different from all of the previous we had visited. It was built in the fourteenth century, and although it must be somewhat restored, it was certainly lacking the modern-day gold and paint. Our interest was always piqued by references to other neighboring countries, as we would also be visiting them, and were interested in the different sides of any story. We learned that the north of Thailand was in periodic transition between the two countries for many centuries. Ayutthaya was formerly the capital of Thailand, and was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. Our guide, Bom, told us that the architecture we were seeing at Wat Mahatat would come back to haunt us when we arrived in Myanmar (Burma) and he was right, in spades!
Wat Mahathat
Wat Mahathat
Wat Mahathat
We took a picture of the famous Buddha face in the tree roots. Apparently there had been a larger building or statue there, and the tree had destroyed it, and in the process the statue’s face had become lodged into the roots. Fascinating.
We heard for the first time about the Lanna kings of northern Thailand. Hmmm, I wonder what they are all about? It seemed as if we learned so much, but I was unable to retain it!
Can you believe it? It’s only getting on to lunchtime. So much seen and so much learned and only a half day has been spent with our guide.
Oh, but first we need to make a rest stop. That in and of itself would be a small adventure. First let me say that in Southeast Asia the standard toilet is a hole, a ceramic covered hole in a clean bathroom frequently, but simply a hole nonetheless. And my knees don’t bend well (following that infamous event throwing myself down a bowling alley several years ago.) So I was in major stress worrying about life’s simple events in Asia.
We arrived at a typical Thai rest stop, that being a beautifully clean plaza complete with candy store, convenience store and a short-order restaurant.
Thai rest stop – handicapped toilet in the distance
I walked into the ladies’ room, and into a stall, looked down and my heart dropped. Oh, dear. I mentally geared myself for the painful struggle when I heard Greg’s voice echoing into the rest room, “Wendy! They have real toilets in the handicapped bathrooms!” I gratefully, and quickly, exited the Ladies’ Room and found that Greg was indeed right! The handicapped bathroom was as beautiful as any Western-style rest room. For the rest of our trip in Thailand, I always searched out the little wheelchair logo and was as happy as a clam.
Now it’s on to lunch. Chiang Mai Tour Center tries to offer its guests a peak into the real Thailand, so the restaurants chosen during the drive north were local, and not touristy or fancy. “Local” means, first of all, no air-conditioning. The restaurants were similar to a picnic pavilion: a roof over a cement slab with plastic picnic tables below. They did have electric fans to drive away the heat, and the lunch “room” was not uncomfortable.
Lunch stop
The cooking area contained only a few pots and pans and the menu corresponded.
Lunch stop
However, in Thailand, that was never a problem for me because pad thai is a staple everywhere, and I love pad thai. So, there we were in Ayutthaya and I ate the pad thai. I’m sorry to continue to say, it still wasn’t as good as at home in Rhode Island. Very strange.
After lunch it was a somewhat longer drive to Phitsanulok, but there was plenty to see to pass the time. Each village we passed through seemed to have its own icon, with several lined in the median – a hawk, an eagle, a flame.
Small Thai town icon
The trucks symbolized Thailand to me – so colorfully painted and cheerfully decorated.
Thai truck
Earlier in the day Lucky had stopped a vendor at a stop light to buy a lei of flowers to hang from his mirror.
Lucky’s charm
We learned that Lucky’s name is no accident. He relied on luck in all things, and augmented it with all the talismans that Thailand and Buddhism offered. We’re also glad he was an excellent driver. Which is the cause, and which is the effect?
We arrived in Phitsanulok at dusk, and Bom excitedly asked us if we would like to go to the temple now, instead of in the morning. I was a little skeptical because I knew that exterior photography would be sacrificed. However, we generally take a tour-guide’s advice, so we agreed. Lucky parked the van and we walked to Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat. Such an extraordinary sight, the temple’s prang (pointy part!) lit up, along with the golden Buddha seen through the open doors.
Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat
The chants of the monks resonated on the evening air. We entered the temple and found it to be full of the devout. Our guide said that he had not gone to evening temple in a very, very long time, due to his guiding duties and was clearly very happy. We inobtrusively wandered around the rear of the temple, to get the best pictures, then sat for a while, just to absorb the atmosphere.
Greg even made a video:
Greg’s video looks like we are in a ship about to capsize, however the movement doesn’t hurt the audio! My still picture is a bit more in focus:
Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat
After a while we moved on, Lucky and Bom delivering us to an awesome resort hotel in town called the “Pattara Resort”. What a treat – we had no idea that the tour company would be putting us up in a first class hotel. Unfortunately it was dark when we arrived, and would only have an hour or so the next morning, but it was a treat nonetheless. I’ll post the pictures of this awesome place on tomorrow’s blog.
Related Links
Chiang Mai Tour Center – awesome people to work with; awesome tour to have experienced!
Pattara Resort and Spa – really special hotel
Days of the Week Buddha images
Check out this article of mine too:
Thailand Travel Blog – Itinerary, Impressions and Diabetic Travel Tips
