Boats and Buddhas

A short nap in our room refreshed us, and we went down to the lobby to wait for the free tuk-tuk advertised when we had booked a boat trip earlier that day. We shared the journey with a young Thai couple from Chiang Mai and their three-year old son. The lad was intensely proud of being able to count to twenty in English, Thai, Chinese and Spanish. He regaled us for the next two hours with his skills, which also included counting to a hundred in English, then back to one! His mum was teaching him French numbers, and we gave him some Italian — he picked them up quickly. When we asked his name, he replied "Mister One to One Hundred"! His name was actually a Gaelic version of Cyril, his dad having Irish and Scottish ancestry.
 We were driven to a boat pier where eight of us boarded a traditional long-tail boat. Long-tail boats come in all shapes and sizes, all using an automotive engine mounted on a long rotating pole. The propellor is mounted directly on the driveshaft without additional gears or transmisson, and 'neutral' gear is achieved by means of the engine sliding up and down the pole taking the propellor out of contact with the water.

Coming in to moor

The boat gets its name from the way that the driveshaft is extended by several metres of metal rod in order to position the propellor. Our boat took us right round Ayutthaya island, stopping three times for us to visit temples. Ayutthaya sits at the confluence of the Chao Phraya, Lopburi and Pa Sak rivers. Each time we moored, the pilot took the bows in, and we carefully edged our way across the wooden prow, sometimes onto a wooden quay, and at the final wat, climbing across a rocky shoreline. 

Giant 19m high Buddha

First stop was at Wat Phanan Choeng, an active Chinese-Thai temple housing a 19 metre-high Buddha dating from 1324, and an early eighteenth century shrine to a Chinese princess who walked into the river and drowned herself here, due to a king's infidelity.

We were amazed to see giant convoys on the river, three and four huge barges roped together, with a tug fore and aft. The convoy in the video was made up of barges full of cement. The smaller river boats deftly weaved around, negotiating the massive wake. *

Mythical guardians

105 Buddha images

Second stop on the journey was at Wat Phutthai Sawan, built by the first king of Ayutthaya and restored many times. 

The central prang is surrounded by an impressive cloister supported by ancient wooden rafters, housing 105 Buddha images on all sides.

Five kings with main prang behind

There is a legend that looting treasure hunters were scared away by a giant snake, and snakes guard the stairs to the temple. There is a giant reclining Buddha in amongst ruins behind, but we didn't find it in the twenty minutes we were allocated. 

We did see five dramatic statues of important kings of Ayutthaya, silhouetted against the buildings. This was the only place we went to in Thailand where we were wary of the dogs, who were definitely guarding the resident monks. 

We re-boarded the boat, travelling a short distance past the bright yellow Catholic church of St Joseph's, built in Romanesque style.

Our last stop was a visit to Wat Chai Wattanaram, built in 1630 in Khmer style, possibly to commemorate a victory over Cambodia. Four prangs and eight tapered chedis encircled a central prang, and a couple of large Buddhas look out across the river.

Traces of stucco relief are visible, which depicted scenes from Buddha's life. This spot is very popular late afternoon and early evening as it can be very photogenic when the sun sinks below the main prang. Sadly it was overcast when we visited, but we were pleased to gain entry without paying as it was part of the pass we'd bought earlier that day.

The whole boat journey was a fantastic experience, lasting about two hours and costing only 200 baht (£2.50) each, including the tuk-tuk to and from Tamarind.

The boat skipper proudly
showed me a Buddha
pendant before having his
photo taken

Mister 'One to One Hundred'
with his dad

Numerous photos of the boat trip and the temples we visited here:

In the evening, we ate in a restaurant that Tamarind had recommended.
'Malakor' ('Papaya') was a short walk from the guesthouse, the food and atmosphere were excellent, and two tiny kittens entertained us all as they gamboled around the bar.

(more food and drink here)

* By the time we left Thailand three weeks later, we were so used to seeing the monster strings of floating barges, we hardly noticed them!