Surfcrest
June 23rd, 2006, 10:27
Lopburi
Late last year I purchased a pair of expensive Italian shoes from the local funky shoe place. Shortly after buying them, they split for about a centimeter along a centre seem. I had planned to take them back, but procrastinated. I decided to wear them for a one-way trip and maybe buy a new pair in Thailand.
In my last installment, I had just wound my way southward from Phitsanulok, Sukhothai and Chiang Mai.
It was a fair distance to Lopburi from Phitsanulok. I was back to using my Lonely Planet as a reference point and for each city there was a тАЬGetting there and awayтАЭ section where they would tell you where the terminals are and how far it is to and from the usual destinations. The Phitsanulok Section listed a 9 hour trip to Lopburi. The Lopburi Section suggested a 7 hour trip for the same length of track, but going the opposite direction. Thankfully each was wrong even with the lengthy waits on passing trains.
I had booked a seat in the air-conditioned coach and was surprised to find train porters in Phitsanulok to assign us to our respective coaches from the platform and with our tickets. I was also surprised to see independent vendors selling drinks and eats to us in the air-conditioned coaches, but our same porters tasked with serving in the packed non air-conditioned 3rd Class Section. If you have ever traveled great lengths by train in 3rd Class you will know that simply having assigned seating is a luxury amongst itself. The air-conditioning did a pretty good job in the morning under 30 degrees haze, but lost out later in the afternoon under the full sun. We pulled over about six times to wait for passing trains. Much of the track is shared. One wait was about an hour.
When I got to Lopburi, not many were getting off and we barely stopped. I was determined not to get stuck with a Samlor (Saamlaw) (bicycle taxi) for the trip to the hotel. I had picked a place to stay near Prang Sam Yot and the train station. The Muang Thong Hotel offered a spectacular view on to Prang Sam Yot in the afternoon when the monkeys take over the site. It did warn of dumpy rooms, but I considered what it was like camping and how much worse / better this could be. Lopburi only had Samlors or motorcycle taxis, which didnтАЩt work because of the big pack and painting. The Samlor got his usual payback from the hotel and the charge to me was 150 baht. Let me say, it looked much better in the daylight especially before the monkeys came.
The Samlor taxi suckered me into a tour of the city for 300 baht (including trip from trainstation). We toured several of the ruins in and around the city. We ended the tour back at the train station where I planned my getaway. My only option to Ayutthaya was the 3rd class train trip of about an hour. There was no need to pre-book as there wasnтАЩt assigned seating. This all worked out in my favor laterтАжтАжthat I had not bought my ticket yet. I saw a few more sites before my memory card filled up. I made a cheap 50 baht CD and cruised some of the internet places for the gaming crowd. It was easy to see with all the motorcycles parked out front which ones were popular. Finding one that said they had an Internet connection was another matter.
By the time I had made it back to the Muang Thong Hotel, the clouds had moved in as had the monkeys in mass. I took my camera to the roof to catch the view, the only reason I had chosen this dump. The hotel was like a horror movie, with dark empty hallways and paddle locks on hotel room doors. The top floor had no tenants and there was chicken wire strewn all over the place. There was chicken wire on every door and window and each was fastened shut. When I went out on the roof I found the young manager who had shown me to my room earlier. He warned me of the monkeys before he went off chasing several of them away. The hotel must have had a hundred monkeys climbing all over it. There were monkeys on the power lines, crawling on building ledges, walking up the street. Prang Sam Yot became covered in them. I young couple had their purse stolen by a monkey causing a Thai shop front worker to run out to trick the monkey into giving it back. The monkeys became more aggressive in numbers. The smell as they moved in was strong. They would be crawling all over my window at night there making it unforeseeable to sleep.
I went back to the train station and inquired about a train out that night. They said that there had been an accident north up the tracks and that the first train to stop wasnтАЩt going to be in until 9:00 pm. I went hunting for a restaurant and found a place that looked nice from the outside, but was a little scary once inside. The waitress was a very masculine transvestite; probably about 6 ft tall except that tonight he/she was wearing pumps. The place stank of disinfectant and had I not been so tired and hungry would have moved on to find one that felt a little better. The food turned out to be quite good. Unfortunately it was while I was eating that the storm broke out. The wind picked up and the thunder and lightening was all around us, hitting the city hard. By the time I went back to the hotel, the streets were under water.
All I could think of was of these shoes. I thought they would have died so much earlier in the trip on their own. And now they were in great danger of being ruined in this storm with me walking through water up to my knees. With the monkeys shitting down on the street and its passers byres all day long, these shoes were soaked in what?
The darker it got outside the scarier my room looked. I needed to clean up and the bathroom scared me the most. I could hear the monkeys crawling on the chicken wire of my open window and the wind blowing their stench into the room. The curtains were flying like kites and I could feel the splatter from the massive rain drops as they banging into my window frame. I jammed all of my belongings into my bag and fled. I dropped the key on the desk on my way out. The photos alone were worth the 150 baht.
The water had risen considerably since I waded to the hotel. My trip back to the train station wasnтАЩt going to be so easy. I rolled my pants up above my knees.
I was going to have to sacrifice my shoes on this occasion, proudly in the line of duty.
What vehicles were still on the road were making wakes of water in the streets. The first street was well above my knees in spots. I recall walking past the restaurant where I had eaten earlier and the old transvestite looking forlornly out at me as though he / she wouldnтАЩt mind escaping this too, even in such weather. Here I was soaked to the bone, carefully guarding my precious painting and with this huge wet bag strapped to my back.
The guy at Chakujak told me he had one more bag that was the same colour, a little bigger and came with a bag that you could protect the rest of your pack with. What would I need that for I thought at the timeтАжтАж
I got to the train station well before the 9 pm departure time and was surprised to see the same porter working at the ticket window, the same that was so helpful and friendly several hours earlier. He had a look of disappointment when I approached the window, apologized and said that the train wonтАЩt be in until 10 pm now. I bought a ticket anyway saying тАЬmai bhpen raiтАЭ. I called ahead to the guesthouse that I had chosen from Lonely Planet to book a room and warn them of my 11 pm arrival. The train was delayed twice more and we didnтАЩt get picked up until 10:45. The trip to Ayutthaya was beautiful though. There werenтАЩt many people on the train with many seats vacant. The clean breeze coming through the open windows was so fresh after the rain.
I pulled my shoes apart to allow them the chance to dry. I had them washed soon afterwards. I was pleasantly surprised they refuse to die. The split is hardly noticeable now. I spent a great deal of time searching for a good pair of shoes in Thailand. I am determined that one does not exist. I see Thai men dressed in beautifully fitted suits wearing the ugliest shoes. The casual shoes are no better.
Surfcrest
Late last year I purchased a pair of expensive Italian shoes from the local funky shoe place. Shortly after buying them, they split for about a centimeter along a centre seem. I had planned to take them back, but procrastinated. I decided to wear them for a one-way trip and maybe buy a new pair in Thailand.
In my last installment, I had just wound my way southward from Phitsanulok, Sukhothai and Chiang Mai.
It was a fair distance to Lopburi from Phitsanulok. I was back to using my Lonely Planet as a reference point and for each city there was a тАЬGetting there and awayтАЭ section where they would tell you where the terminals are and how far it is to and from the usual destinations. The Phitsanulok Section listed a 9 hour trip to Lopburi. The Lopburi Section suggested a 7 hour trip for the same length of track, but going the opposite direction. Thankfully each was wrong even with the lengthy waits on passing trains.
I had booked a seat in the air-conditioned coach and was surprised to find train porters in Phitsanulok to assign us to our respective coaches from the platform and with our tickets. I was also surprised to see independent vendors selling drinks and eats to us in the air-conditioned coaches, but our same porters tasked with serving in the packed non air-conditioned 3rd Class Section. If you have ever traveled great lengths by train in 3rd Class you will know that simply having assigned seating is a luxury amongst itself. The air-conditioning did a pretty good job in the morning under 30 degrees haze, but lost out later in the afternoon under the full sun. We pulled over about six times to wait for passing trains. Much of the track is shared. One wait was about an hour.
When I got to Lopburi, not many were getting off and we barely stopped. I was determined not to get stuck with a Samlor (Saamlaw) (bicycle taxi) for the trip to the hotel. I had picked a place to stay near Prang Sam Yot and the train station. The Muang Thong Hotel offered a spectacular view on to Prang Sam Yot in the afternoon when the monkeys take over the site. It did warn of dumpy rooms, but I considered what it was like camping and how much worse / better this could be. Lopburi only had Samlors or motorcycle taxis, which didnтАЩt work because of the big pack and painting. The Samlor got his usual payback from the hotel and the charge to me was 150 baht. Let me say, it looked much better in the daylight especially before the monkeys came.
The Samlor taxi suckered me into a tour of the city for 300 baht (including trip from trainstation). We toured several of the ruins in and around the city. We ended the tour back at the train station where I planned my getaway. My only option to Ayutthaya was the 3rd class train trip of about an hour. There was no need to pre-book as there wasnтАЩt assigned seating. This all worked out in my favor laterтАжтАжthat I had not bought my ticket yet. I saw a few more sites before my memory card filled up. I made a cheap 50 baht CD and cruised some of the internet places for the gaming crowd. It was easy to see with all the motorcycles parked out front which ones were popular. Finding one that said they had an Internet connection was another matter.
By the time I had made it back to the Muang Thong Hotel, the clouds had moved in as had the monkeys in mass. I took my camera to the roof to catch the view, the only reason I had chosen this dump. The hotel was like a horror movie, with dark empty hallways and paddle locks on hotel room doors. The top floor had no tenants and there was chicken wire strewn all over the place. There was chicken wire on every door and window and each was fastened shut. When I went out on the roof I found the young manager who had shown me to my room earlier. He warned me of the monkeys before he went off chasing several of them away. The hotel must have had a hundred monkeys climbing all over it. There were monkeys on the power lines, crawling on building ledges, walking up the street. Prang Sam Yot became covered in them. I young couple had their purse stolen by a monkey causing a Thai shop front worker to run out to trick the monkey into giving it back. The monkeys became more aggressive in numbers. The smell as they moved in was strong. They would be crawling all over my window at night there making it unforeseeable to sleep.
I went back to the train station and inquired about a train out that night. They said that there had been an accident north up the tracks and that the first train to stop wasnтАЩt going to be in until 9:00 pm. I went hunting for a restaurant and found a place that looked nice from the outside, but was a little scary once inside. The waitress was a very masculine transvestite; probably about 6 ft tall except that tonight he/she was wearing pumps. The place stank of disinfectant and had I not been so tired and hungry would have moved on to find one that felt a little better. The food turned out to be quite good. Unfortunately it was while I was eating that the storm broke out. The wind picked up and the thunder and lightening was all around us, hitting the city hard. By the time I went back to the hotel, the streets were under water.
All I could think of was of these shoes. I thought they would have died so much earlier in the trip on their own. And now they were in great danger of being ruined in this storm with me walking through water up to my knees. With the monkeys shitting down on the street and its passers byres all day long, these shoes were soaked in what?
The darker it got outside the scarier my room looked. I needed to clean up and the bathroom scared me the most. I could hear the monkeys crawling on the chicken wire of my open window and the wind blowing their stench into the room. The curtains were flying like kites and I could feel the splatter from the massive rain drops as they banging into my window frame. I jammed all of my belongings into my bag and fled. I dropped the key on the desk on my way out. The photos alone were worth the 150 baht.
The water had risen considerably since I waded to the hotel. My trip back to the train station wasnтАЩt going to be so easy. I rolled my pants up above my knees.
I was going to have to sacrifice my shoes on this occasion, proudly in the line of duty.
What vehicles were still on the road were making wakes of water in the streets. The first street was well above my knees in spots. I recall walking past the restaurant where I had eaten earlier and the old transvestite looking forlornly out at me as though he / she wouldnтАЩt mind escaping this too, even in such weather. Here I was soaked to the bone, carefully guarding my precious painting and with this huge wet bag strapped to my back.
The guy at Chakujak told me he had one more bag that was the same colour, a little bigger and came with a bag that you could protect the rest of your pack with. What would I need that for I thought at the timeтАжтАж
I got to the train station well before the 9 pm departure time and was surprised to see the same porter working at the ticket window, the same that was so helpful and friendly several hours earlier. He had a look of disappointment when I approached the window, apologized and said that the train wonтАЩt be in until 10 pm now. I bought a ticket anyway saying тАЬmai bhpen raiтАЭ. I called ahead to the guesthouse that I had chosen from Lonely Planet to book a room and warn them of my 11 pm arrival. The train was delayed twice more and we didnтАЩt get picked up until 10:45. The trip to Ayutthaya was beautiful though. There werenтАЩt many people on the train with many seats vacant. The clean breeze coming through the open windows was so fresh after the rain.
I pulled my shoes apart to allow them the chance to dry. I had them washed soon afterwards. I was pleasantly surprised they refuse to die. The split is hardly noticeable now. I spent a great deal of time searching for a good pair of shoes in Thailand. I am determined that one does not exist. I see Thai men dressed in beautifully fitted suits wearing the ugliest shoes. The casual shoes are no better.
Surfcrest