It must have been three years since I visited the Thai capital last, but I intended to spend as little time as possible in the “grand city of angels”, for my real destination was the fertile Chao Phraya River basin – to visit relatives, first in the ancient, modern city of Lopburi, and then to the origin of the “Mighty River of Kings”, Nakhon Sawan.
We landed at Don Muang airport on the capital’s north flank at 8am. The airport isn’t as charming as it was as an international hub a decade ago. The overcast sky outside complemented the dull, concrete jungle on either side of the “express way”. According to our taxi driver many parts of the capital had just been hit with a new stream of floods... everything was just as I remembered – chaotic order. Some 40 minutes and B250 later, we had arrived to our destination on Witayu Rd.
Deed done, we jumped on an air-conditioned yellow bus. Talk about memory lane! I spent my 20s traversing this city – by bus, boat, car, taxi, motorbike, subway, skytrain and foot – and it felt kind of good to be back in the mix, even if it was only for a few hours. For the three of us the bus fare was less than B50, slightly cheaper than a taxi and worth the ride for my 9-year-old. We debarked at Pratunam market, opting on some noodles for lunch. Daylight burning, we jumped in a taxi back to Don Muang to pick up our car. On such short notice, I was content to book a new car at B3,600 for three days.
The rental was neat and clean, a brand new Nissan Teana with a lot of auto sensors and features, most noteably the keyless auto ignition, which would automatically shut off in traffic and restart as soon as any gas or steering wheel action was detected.
We drove north through Rangsit and Pathum Thani, passing by Bangkok and Thamasat Universities. Concrete was gradually replaced by yellow and green rice fields; industrial park communities could still be spotted all along the route through Ayuthaya, but they all faded as we entered Ang Thong, where we took the off-ramp, east and north bound toward Lopburi.
Here the countryside is ever peaceful, a lush, flat expanse stretching endlessly to the mountains on the eastern horizon. Depending on the season, farmers grow rice, sunflower, and now increasingly (unfortunately) corn and soya. Parts did seem a little drier than I remember though, which would make sense considering the drought conditions affecting most of the country for the past few years.
Finally, three hours out of Bangkok, we made it to Lopburi, a bustling modern Thai city dotted with ancient Dvaravati and Khmer temple ruins, and a whole lot of unruly monkeys, who occupy much of the Old Town sector – Yaan Muang Gao.
The ancient town of Lopburi was called Lavo, or Lavapura, and every time I come here, I feel the presence of fallen Khmer speaking warriors and elegantly adjourned Davaravti princesses from a millennia ago...
My aunt booked us a room at the Lopburi Inn, which is a great place for photo opps with monkeys – the huge, cute concrete kind that don’t steel your wallet or bite! The real monkeys in Lopburi are hungry, stingy and pretty mean compared to their cousins in Phuket or Phetchaburi, so my wife and son were content to observe them from the car.
We spent much of the next day exploring the ruins of the late King Narai the Great’s palace – Somdet Phra Narai National Museum.
If history is your thing, I highly recommend this palace and museum, even though the foreigner admission price is B150, five times that for locals. Having scaled the 17th and 18th century ruins of the open air palace, we continued to the air-conditioned museum. My cousin, wife and son zoomed through the exhibits, leaving me behind as I read as much as I could, absorbing the wealth of history and knowledge.
What caught my eye this time around were the exhibits of ancient jewellery made from giant seashells, which I thought peculiar considering how far away the ocean actually is, at least 200km. And then I learned that in recent history – as little as 800 to 6,000 years ago, Lopburi had its own oceanfront! One exhibit explained how not too long ago the Gulf of Thailand stretched much further north than it does today, and the Bangkok and vicinity were completely under water.
And now experts warn that the Thai capital is rapidly sinking, a phenomena coinciding with rising sea levels. Perhaps I should invest in some prime, future oceanfront property in Lopburi.
Stay tuned for the rest of the journey to be published in a fortnight.