Sukhothai
I awoke before my alarm, and tried out the wireless Internet access. Sadly, it does not read the 5th floor, so I had to sneak down to the lobby under cover of darkness to check email. Racing through my morning shower I barely made it downstairs in time to depart for the day. Our first stop was for a noodle soup breakfast. A flavorful chicken leg nestled in next to some wide rice noodles in a dark broth. Each table had containers of dried chillies, chillies soaking in vinegar, and granulated sugar, which were helpful in making the soup more exciting.
Bangkok is only the most recent capital of Thailand, whose various predecessor kingdoms date back more than a millennium. Ayutthaya (also spelled Ayuthaya and Ayudaya, and pronounced eye-YOO-tea-yuh) was the capital of Thailand from 1350 to 1767, when it was sacked by the Burmese. A few years later, the capital was re-formed in Bangkok and Ayutthaya’s temples — looted of their gold by the Burmese — fell into disrepair. Today, they consist largely of brick ruins with beheaded Buddhas (some were destroyed by the Burmese, while others were crudely broken off for the antiquities trade before the city became a protected site). Still, you can get an impression of the grandeur of the city during that time.
Before heading North to Ayutthaya, we snuck out of Bangkok under cover of darkness to the heavily touristed Damnoen Saduak “floating market.” We stopped along the highway for some serious shrimp paste and fishy snacks before rolling into the already busy market just at its 7 AM opening time. We rented three low boats, steered and powered by an oarsman at the rear. As we slipped up the canal, we quickly purchased some fried bananas and remarkably delicious coconut pancakes. Other vendors offered young coconuts for drinking, numerous fruits and vegetables, cooked foods, and every manner of trinkets, especially at shops along the banks of the canal. I picked up the mandatory market t-shirt at one of these stops. Occasionally a smelly diesel powered boat would charge by, detracting from the otherwise pleasant ambiance.
Having departed the U.S. on Christmas Day, I touched down at Thailand’s new airport, Suvarnabhumi, late in the evening of the 26th. Featuring dramatic soaring ceilings, and lots of glass and metal, its baggage, immigration and money exchange counters are unfortunately no more efficient than the old Don Muang airport. Soon I was taxi-borne, flying down congested streets at insane speeds, weaving through traffic until we reached the hotel sometime after 1:00 AM.