Monkey Planet
Back on the Khao San road and upon discovering a trail of trinkets, a copy of the classic album "Looking For Freedom" and a hastily sellotaped credit card stashed beneath our bed I knew it was either bigger blinkers or time to head north!
North it was and in no time at all we found ourselves in Ayuthaya, an ancient capital city of Thailand. The architects here, who had obviously studied at the Tower of Piza University for the construction of Gravity Defying Structures, have managed to create an amazing array of wobbly and wavy chedis, temples and Buddhas! I didn't find a Buddha in Quiksilver shorts with a surf-board tucked in under his arm, but I'm sure he's there somewhere! You could easily spend a few days exploring the city by foot, bicycle or (most likely) in a Tuk-Tuk with your bicycle mangled somewhere half way beneath the suspension.
After a relaxing day or two we decided to hop on a bus and continue northwards. A wee while later as our bus slowly came to a rest an eerie howl rang out in the bus "You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God ... damn you all to hell!" - we'd arrived in Lopburi : Planet of the Apes to you and me!
Although I could see neither Charlton Heston nor a toppled Statue of Liberty on the horizon there was no doubt that the monkeys were in charge here. With at least 300 of the little swinging pick-pockets about and no feelings of Mowgli-ism we opted for maximum security accommodation complete with bars on the windows!
We awoke in the morning to find thirty odd monkeys staring at us from outside our window. A thorough check of our belongings revealed that they hadn't managed to make away with our wallets or any other goodies! Although the 'Boss' monkey had an evil grin ... hmmm ...
After visiting the various wats and chedis (including a rather funky three spired one) we reckoned that aside from monkey-poo and monkey kung-foo dodging there wasn't too much happening in Lopburi; so before long we'd gathered our things and were rattling away on another rickety train hollering "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" at every monkey we noticed eyeing us up!
Sukhotai was the next place on our list, another of Thailand's ancient capital cities. Sukhotai is very much like a miniature version of Ayuthaya with all of the ruins closely packed together. We rented some bicycles for the day and played chicken with the local Tuk-Tuk drivers as we moseyed to and fro between chedis, wats and Buddha statues.
But our feet were getting itchy and we knew the only scratching that would help was to be found in the misty jungles around Chiang Mai ...
North it was and in no time at all we found ourselves in Ayuthaya, an ancient capital city of Thailand. The architects here, who had obviously studied at the Tower of Piza University for the construction of Gravity Defying Structures, have managed to create an amazing array of wobbly and wavy chedis, temples and Buddhas! I didn't find a Buddha in Quiksilver shorts with a surf-board tucked in under his arm, but I'm sure he's there somewhere! You could easily spend a few days exploring the city by foot, bicycle or (most likely) in a Tuk-Tuk with your bicycle mangled somewhere half way beneath the suspension.
After a relaxing day or two we decided to hop on a bus and continue northwards. A wee while later as our bus slowly came to a rest an eerie howl rang out in the bus "You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God ... damn you all to hell!" - we'd arrived in Lopburi : Planet of the Apes to you and me!
Although I could see neither Charlton Heston nor a toppled Statue of Liberty on the horizon there was no doubt that the monkeys were in charge here. With at least 300 of the little swinging pick-pockets about and no feelings of Mowgli-ism we opted for maximum security accommodation complete with bars on the windows!
We awoke in the morning to find thirty odd monkeys staring at us from outside our window. A thorough check of our belongings revealed that they hadn't managed to make away with our wallets or any other goodies! Although the 'Boss' monkey had an evil grin ... hmmm ...
After visiting the various wats and chedis (including a rather funky three spired one) we reckoned that aside from monkey-poo and monkey kung-foo dodging there wasn't too much happening in Lopburi; so before long we'd gathered our things and were rattling away on another rickety train hollering "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" at every monkey we noticed eyeing us up!
Sukhotai was the next place on our list, another of Thailand's ancient capital cities. Sukhotai is very much like a miniature version of Ayuthaya with all of the ruins closely packed together. We rented some bicycles for the day and played chicken with the local Tuk-Tuk drivers as we moseyed to and fro between chedis, wats and Buddha statues.
But our feet were getting itchy and we knew the only scratching that would help was to be found in the misty jungles around Chiang Mai ...
posted by graham at
10:46 a.m.
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