Ayutthaya bound

Choosing seeds

Peter took us to a local farm supplies, where we stocked up on 'Holy basil' (Thai basil) seeds and some other interesting packets — we may yet have 'H̄oraphā' growing on the roof of Narrowboat Thomazina!

John's massage session
(bowl of local fruit in foreground)

We had a latish train booked from Korat, so had a lazy Sunday morning. Peter took John to see where his brother Chris lives, elsewhere on the farm. In their teenage years, Chris was known as 'Willum', for reasons lost in the mists of time. He has lived in Thailand for about forty years, Peter about twenty-seven. Sadly we didn't get to see Chris as he had just gone to Chiang Mai for his annual cricket week. 

While John had the tour of the farm, I was treated to a massage by Apo, a half sister of Dao. She was very experienced and after telling me about her government certification, found all my historical shoulder and hip injuries. She spoke some English and said that with MS it was important not to have too heavy a massage ("it might make your eyes pop"!) She also spotted my contact lenses and told me to make them known to masseurs. My session was so thorough, there was only time for John to have a head and shoulder session, which he found really therapeutic. Apo charged us 300 baht for one and a half hours, equivalent to £7.50. 

Nakhon Ratchasima

The drive to Nakhon Ratchasima was fraught to begin with. We got stuck in traffic that had two wedding parties — 31st March was a special day for Buddha and an auspicious time to get married. The happy couples were in convoys of Song-thaws, with guests in other trucks. One party had a truck just for the large loudspeaker, and the blaring 'drum and bass' was unbearable, even for twenty minutes. In Korat we returned the pick-up to the rental shop and the owner 'Mr Jimmy' gave us all a lift to the train station.

We said goodbye to Peter who was catching a bus back towards the village where Dao was to meet him with their motorbike. We had a wait of more than two hours so John bought pad thai noodles and egg fried rice to keep us going. The stall holders were unused to seeing 'farangs' (foreigners), and phoned a giggling daughter to translate. The grand total for both was 60 Thai baht £1.50)!

More station photos here:
More oddses here:

The train was on time, and as we were travelling '3rd class fan' we were surprised to find that the ticket included airline-style stewardess, water, food, hot drink and blanket! Satay fried mackerel, yellow chicken curry, jasmine rice and a Thai custard bun — having eaten at the station, we were well and truly stuffed by the time we got to Ayutthaya!