Exploring Ayutthaya Before Heading Onto Chiang Mai

A warm welcome to Thailand again. If you are slightly put off by sultry and sticky weather, then Bangkok is probably not for you, so Chiang Mai might be more to your liking. We will head there at the end of this episode.

If you are lucky enough to go to this ancient kingdom in the east, and if you are a history lover, I am a self-confessed buff, it should be made compulsory to take a trip back in time to when the country was named Siam, and its capital was Ayutthaya. After a little digression we will take you there.

Just before we get going, though, a little something for you. There is no doubt that when you have been struck with blindness you need a great network of helpers around you. My main companion, in life to be honest, is my wife, without whom I could not do almost anything. She is the most patient person I know, she understands me and has taken me through those stormy depths of despair as my vision was fading and has guided me to these sunny uplands of dealing with my disability.

When you set off on the journey, that of life, none of us really know what is going to happen and who we are going to meet along the way. Choosing a partner can be fraught with danger, sometimes my fellow humans need two, three or four choices before they get it right. Some, of course, never get it right and others never even give it a go. It’s not necessarily the case that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

I always promised myself that I would grow up to be an honest Joe, not frightened of confronting thorny issues as and when they arose. Knowing of my impending blindness, and the effect it might have on any lifetime relationship, it was only going to be a matter of time before I had to tackle it with any potential partner. Like many, I set off from the starting blocks in pursuit of the love of my life. No sooner had the starting gun sounded and I was called back to the mark by the second shot.

Eventually, I spied Jane across a room, not a very big one as my sight was already on the way out. To continue the sporting analogy I was, most definitely punching above my weight, and some of my friends at the time didn’t hold back from confirming this with me. They are now former friends!

Once I realised where we were going with this, from stepping out, to meeting the parents, to cooking our first meal and all that stuff, it was time. I know I have told you this before, but some of you have come on board since then.

In those days I was a great believer in Dutch courage, and I had plied her with a little wine to loosen her up a bit. We were ready and I made my move. I told her everything I knew about the dreaded Retinitis Pigmentosa thing. I said, with trepidation, that she really should take her time to think on the future, and I would totally understand it if she thought her future laid elsewhere.

I don’t know if she has ever had any regrets, but she informed me that a little thing like blindness was not going to stand in her way and that she loved me. I was blown away and have been ever since. That is why, with the greatest of respect to all of you who offer me assistance from time to time, you will never measure up to Jane.

What on earth is he waffling on about? What the blazes does this have to do with Thailand or Siam? It is simply to give a little background to the following little anecdote. Since I have been writing this blog and rocking up to parkrun as a visually impaired runner and have had my books published, she maintains I have acquired a very small fanbase and have developed into a very minor celebrity, quite often recognised with my distinguishing white cane. Not sure how you measure these things but if you assume those that are held in the highest regard are A-listers then I am on the Z-list second time around.

On returning to our room one evening when staying at Ariyasom Villa we stumbled into the owner, David, who was sitting shooting the… well, you know what with a pal. David recognised me from our previous stay. “Welcome back,” he said. “Nice to see you again.”

Along came his daughter who threw her arms around her father and pecked him on the cheek.

David introduced us, and his companion, “Darling this is Alan, pointing at the man sharing the table and this is Robert and… I forget your name. Sorry!”

“Jane,” said Jane.

I could read her mind! Something along the lines of, here we go again, even though it is me who does all the work, I am treated like a chattel with no status in life!

He was very kind, and even quite effusive, in extoling the merits of this blog to his audience. I am very grateful for all recognition, and a recommendation is never lost on me. I have no idea whether they went off and immediately signed up or not.

Anyway, onto Ayutthaya. We booked this day out through the concierge at the hotel, and what a great tour it was. We received a personal tour in a chauffeur driven car, I don’t remember the price, but I know it was more than value for money. We drove the short distance, no more than an hour or so, from the present Thai capital, to the previous centre of the kingdom.

The Siamese established Ayutthaya as its second capital city in circa 1350. It quickly became one of the leading cultural and trading centres in the region. It was recognised as one of the biggest cities in the world. It all came crashing down around their ears during the eighteenth-century war with Burma, which razed the place to the ground in 1767.

The area is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and is a fine example of what life in medieval Siam would have looked like. When strolling through the magnificent modern day archaeological park you get a feeling of grandeur, matched only by the digs in Pompeii and Rome. I have never been to any of the Inca or Aztec remains but believe these to be hitting the same levels.

When you think of the evolvement of London in the middle-ages, one cannot help but to marvel at the architectural skills demonstrated by the town planners of these magnificent cities the world over. It makes our civilisational maturity appear so backward in comparison. It is a real shame that some proponents of Anglo-Saxon supremacy might have us believe that the world started in England. Whilst we should be extremely proud of our history, we weren’t the quickest off the mark when it came to ancient splendour.

Of course, as with all Siamese and Thai architectural design, monasteries and palaces are at the fore of everything that is on show. Buddha is front and centre of almost everything that was built, I am not sure that any deity, anywhere in the world, has ever been held in such reverence at anytime in our conjoined past.

One type of monument that floated my boat beyond anything on show were the corn cob shaped Prang Towers. It is thought that these structures were used to house important relics associated with the Buddha. They are most impressive, in my view at least, and really did remind me of the brochs in Scotland. Whilst we are fairly sure we know what Prangs were intended for I think the Scottish equivalents are still a mystery, but it does make you wonder, doesn’t it.

Interestingly enough, when the city was set alight by the Burmese army many of the designers and architects employed by the local council were moved, lock, stock and smoking barrel, to the location of the country’s new first city, Bangkok. It is no fluke that the modern capital has many similar features as the original, it was a deliberate concept to make the general population still envisaged life as it always had been.

Before moving up north, a quick mention of the enjoyable torture that was on offer at Ariyasom. Have you ever had a Thai massage? Well, if you haven’t, I thoroughly recommend it. It is not for the fainthearted. You won’t, however, regret it.

It might resemble purgatory, or a medieval stretching rack, as you are going through it, but the results are stupendous. When you stand up afterward, if you can, you will find your joints as wobbly as a newborn foal’s, the feeling is as close to ecstasy as you can imagine in your wildest dreams. I felt like a million dollars!

As with all good things, they always come to an end. It was time to move on. Whilst the international airport in Bangkok is at the zenith of such spaces, the domestic version leaves a little bit to be desired.

Nonetheless, we negotiated the busy departures building and were soon airborne and heading for Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai’s own airport was intensely busy as people like us, in our tens of thousands, formed a flooding tide of humanity whilst, at what seemed like the same time, the ebbing tide was trying to make its way out. Representation from every corner of the planet had converged at this double-ended bottleneck. The traffic immediately around the maelstrom that was the airport soon thinned out and the waters calmed.

If Ariyasom was a tranquil oasis within an urban ferment, Tamarind Village was an oasis within an oasis, if such a thing is possible.

In the next one, we shall embark on a walking tour of old Chiang Mai, visit an elephant sanctuary and head to the natural world of high mountains and waterfalls. A quick spoiler alert, if I may, temples will feature. It is Thailand after all.