AYUTTHAYA

The riddle of Ayutthaya is finally solved. 

This time, I made sure that torrential rains or being left out by the train will not get me, nor do the 1.5 hour delay of our private tour which we whiled with a breakfast of grilled pork and sticky rice. 

Our Ayuthayya came with a price tag of $284 but then, this is for the family and I've burned more for less.   

Ayutthaya was established in 1350 as the seat of the Kingdom of Siam after Sukothai (1238-1378) and before Thonburi (1767-1782) and Bangkok (1782-present day), and was Thailand's longest serving capital until it was sacked and destroyed during the Second Burmese Wars of 1767 after which the capital was moved to Thonburi.

The ruins of Ayutthaya was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

We arrived at our first destination, Wat Chai Yang Mongkhon [the Great Monastery of Auspicious Victory that was established in 1350 immediately after the founding of the Ayutthaya] by 11 am, and immediately rushed through a throng of people scaling the Phra Chedi Chaimongkhon hoping to be able to toss a coin into a small bowl some 100 feet below the summit for good fortune which I hopefully did so I can finally win the lotto jackpot and quit my job. 
  

It was midday when we're done with Wat Chai Yang Mongkhon and taken to a fake floating market for a 10-minute ride in a real boat around an artifical lake, free-tasted authentic local delicacies [crispy fish skin, rice cakes, dried pork and squid, candies] sold in imitation traditional wooden houses, before succumbing to three types of bona fide Thai noodles for lunch at the aptly named Boat Noodles restaurant.   

Our second temple is Wat Mahathat [the Monastery of the Great Relic that was established in 1374], known for its headless buddhas and famous for a buddha head wrapped in a tree as introduced to us by our guide who also pointed to a nearby tower where gold bars were allegedly discovered by looters, and then left us at the mercy of the burning sun to explore the ruins on our own. 

We were parched and squinted a lot but we've got our photos and a sampling of grilled Thai sausage too!

The sun was kinder when we reached Wat Phra Si Sanphet [the Temple of the Holy Splendid Omniscient that was established in 1458], the holiest and most important temple of the Ayutthaya Kingdom whose main features were a 16-meter buddha image covered with 343 tons of gold and three stupas where the ashes of three kings were interred.

Then the Burmese invaded in 1767, looted the gold from the buddha and destroyed eveything except the three stupas where tourists today [like us] posed for photos, probably unmindful of Ayutthaya's glorious past and the royal relics that were enshrined inside.   

It was past 4 pm and the fiery sun has mellowed when we reached our final destination, Wat Chaiwatthanaram [the Temple of Long Reign and Glorious Era], built in 1630 in the style of a Khmer mountain temple to commemorate the 199th year of Siam's conquest of the Khmer Empire, and sacked during the Burmese invasion of 1767.

Today, the ruins is a popular location for locals to take photos wearing their traditional dresses.    

That was our Ayutthaya: scorched, parched, tired but happy feet, and the priceless memory of  quality family time spent amidst "ruins of haunting loveliness".

We slept off most of the 80-kilometer return to Bangkok where we were supposed to have a tomyam mama noodle and salmon salad dinner at Jeh O Chula which unfortunately was closed for the holidays.

Just the same, our Indian dinner [buttered chicken, chicken kadhai, garlic naan] and the family's first encounter with mango and sticky rice at Asiatique turned out to be a good fall back option.   

BANGKOK BY FOOT AND TRAIN

We reached Bangkok 11 hours later after leaving Siem Reap at exactly 7:45 am as scheduled, our enthusiasm to eat and shoot the City of Angels intact despite two miserable hours standing in a snaking line to clear Thai immigration at the Poi Pet (Cambodia)-Aranyaprathet (Thailand) border crossing [Cambodian immigration was facilitated by our efficient purser without us getting off the bus] and subsisting on bus food alone [pastry and fried rice].

So it was a pleasant surprise that disembarkation is actually at the Khaosan Road area right in front of a Michelin-listed local restaurant on a street corner [Patonggo Cafe] where I first encountered chicken cooked in heaven which became our first family meal in Bangkok [plus a plate of crispy pork, a bowl of spicy pork rib soup, and patonggo with vanilla ice cream for dessert]. 

Khaosan Road is part of our itinerary and to make the most of our unexpected presence, I toured the family, luggage in tow, through the bustle of Soi Rambuttri while searching for a foreign exchange counter, explained to them the madness of Khaosan Road while scouting the area for a SIM card for sale, and having changed dollars to baht and Bulan's Cambodian SIM card to Thai booked a Grab to our hostel in Silom which is just 240 meters from Silom Larp 3 [another of my local food haunts] where we had a proper dinner of pad thai, grilled pork neck and pork omelette [my personal favorites], which is 500 meters from Pat Phong and the two-pieced girls that Balong refused to look at [or so I thought].  

BRB Hostel is just 950 meters from the Silom MRT Station [550 meters after the Sala Daeng BTS Station], the jump-off point of our Sunday Bangkok city and food tour, and from there emerged at the Sanam Chai MRT Station for a walking of tour of the Bangkok Flower Market [Pak Khlong Talat], a glimpse of Wat Arun from the rubble of demolished riverside restaurants and the spires of Wat Pho from outside its walls [cost is 100 baht to get in and 500 baht for Wat Phra Kaew, per person], and a photo ops at Museum Siam.

We had breakfast in between, stir fried chicken with cashew nuts at the Baan ThaTien Cafe and crispy pork with sticky rice on the street, which is as local as we can get.    

From Sanam Chai, we went walked back to the subway for the Wat Mangkon MRT Station, our gateway to the smell and bustle of Chinatown, roasted and smoked ducks hanging for sale with all kinds of tea, stalls of fresh river crabs and boiled lobsters, a long line at Nai Ek Rolled Noodles, and a refreshment of fresh pomegranate juice and the famous Yaowarat toast before unleashing Bulan and Balong for a tour of Wat Trimit.  

Being a Sunday, we went underground again in the Hua Lampung MRT Stations for the Chatuchak Weekend Market which is 15 stations away, swarming with people as expected, and braced ourselves for madness with coconut ice cream and sticky rice before getting lost hunting for cheap souvening shirts in a maze of stalls, the famous paella restaurant with its jolly Spanish chef and huge cooking pan vanished by the conondrum until finally, I pulled the family out to the Mochit BTS Station, this time above ground, for a late lunch of what is said to be the best crispy pork in Bangkok at Thanee Restaurant, two stations aways and a 200-meter walk from the Ari BTS Station.     

I spilled my first cup of longan juice but it was a satisfying lunch overall, at least that's the feedback I got from my happy eaters while walking to the Sanam Pao BTS Station for IconSiam via the Saphan Taksin BTS Station of the Silom Line, where we were ferried across Chao Phraya River into the aircon cold artificial environment [with fake floating market and street food stalls] and opulence of what is probably Bangkok's most prestigious mall, so luxurious and expensive it soffucated Bulan who asked if we can go back to the real world.       

From the ferry station, we walked to the Bangrak Market area, the enclave of regular people like us, to sample what is said to be the best roasted duck in Bangkok at Ped Prachak, served cold and drowning in sauce, before taking the train at Saphan Taksin to the Chong Nonsi BTS Station plus a 280 meter walk to Silom Larp 3 where we had our final meal of the day --- grilled spicy Northern Thailand sausage, green mango salad with river crabs, fried fish cakes --- regular food for ordinary people in their usual place.

We have tired but happy feet, all walk and train, and tomorrow will be our big day in Ayutthaya.  

THE SIEM REAP TEMPLE RUN

Our bus to Siem Reap is bigger and sleeker, travel time from Phnom Penh is 7 hours and uneventful except for two pee stops, the Central Indochine D'angkor Hotel is a huge let down [fancy name, mediocre facilities, lousy cocktails] and on top of that, I found out to have been surreptitiously charged an additional $40 for an extra bed.

But Pub Street is alive and in full holiday mode so we ordered a christmas platter to go with our pizza at Belmiro's, had (not fried) rolled ice cream for dessert, and celebrated our first night in Siem Reap with Central Indochine D'angkor's abysmal cocktails.       

We came for Angkor Wat, to earn the bragging rights of having visited the world's largest religious monument in our lifetime, night and day slicing through us while we chase after the ghosts of Hindu and Buddhist deities, the cool shadow of ancient stones our sole refuge from the burning sun, amused at Balong shooting and posting through galleries where citizens of the the great Khmer Empire once trod.   

Cars and tuktuks passed our slow remorque [$20 for a day] as we continue with our temple run through the 162-hectare City of Temples but we eventually caught up with the rest of human and vehicular traffic at the log jam through ornate South Gate which is actually the entrance to Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Khmer Empire, a walled and moated enclave of temples and monuments, the center of which are the "multitude of serene and smiling faces" of the mesmerizing Prasat Bayon.       

In Bayon, we collided with humanity and desperately tried to take photo bomber-free pictures before walking to our redezvous with our driver/guide, pausing to pose for a digital remembrance in the entrance to the Baphuon Temple where we literally stumbled into the Terrace of the Elephants and the Temple of the Leper King, a long wall of carved mural that I missed in my first tour of Angkor Wat, and concluded our tryst with Angkor Thom by scaling the steep 14-meter final pyramid of the Ta Keo Temple through the representations of Bulan and Balong.   

That was only the first 3 of 6 temples in our itinerary [plus two and a terrace unintentionally] and we were already drained by heat and hunger, but still we persisted and decided to have one more temple run before lunch, to the Ta Phrom Temple, slowly being pulled out of the jungle which has eaten into its walls and made famous by Angelina Jolie in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider".   

During lunch which is twice the price in Pub Street, we consulted on what to do next in the afternoon and after lunch, the unanimous concensus is we've had enough temples and would just breeze through the rest in our slow remorque, but we need proof of visit which required at least a photo at the Srah Srang Reservoir, at the gate of the less popular Banteay Kdei Temple and in front of least visited Prasat Kravan.    

Back in Pub Street, Bulan and Balong celebrated the conclusion of our temple run with pizza and a beer toast at Le Tigre De Papier and a crocodile burger and more beer at the Banana Leaf, and I'm so happy that I also ordered a jar of Margarita for the wife at Viva's which she obliged with a toast but ordered the three of us to drink.

Tomorrow, we cross the border into Thailand.    

A CHRISTMAS LAYOVER IN PHNOM PENH

It was the day of Christmas when we packed our bags and walked 400 meters for what we presumed is the Giant Ibis bus terminal, through a street reeking of vomit from last night's celebration and a narrow alley that earlier was the scene of an all-woman brawl [screw me for not bring my phone!] to a cramped travel agent's office [the "terminal" that is actually the pedestrian lane of a busy street] where we were picked up by an international bus whose facilities does not qualify to international standards but good enough nevertheless, cleared both Vietnam and Cambodia immigration with no hassle, and spent the rest of Jesus' birthday in a 7-hour uneventful ride to Phnom Penh [it was projected as 5 hours] .    

I decided to have an overnight layover in Phnom Penh because the estimated 13-hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap is too long and a waste of time, and having an all-fried Christmas dinner [fish, pork, frog, noodles, rice, and of course loklak] in the city of "Lady Penh's Hill" was certainly a good choice from a bus ride, specially since we had an unHappy Pizza too at Pink Elephant [without the grass], got a close view of the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rovers from 3rd floor of the fully booked Five Drunken Men [no available tables so we moved to a bar called Come Here for our Christmas toast], and had an amazing authentic Cambodian breakfast the next day [pork done as soup, noodles and barbecue plus beef curry and jerky that we paired with sweet Cambodian coffee and tamarind juice] at 126 Noodle House where we were the only foreigners dining.    

It was the day after Christmas and since our bus trip to Siem Reap is at 12:45 pm, we made the most of our remaining half day in Phnom Penh with a stroll along Tonle Sap River to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda where we paid a hefty $40 dollar entrace fee for the four us, walked around and took photos like regular tourists, had our de rigueur family photo and managed to steal a forbidden shot of the life-sized 90-kilogram and diamond studded gold Buddha before hitting the road again for the 312 kilometer trek to Siem Reap which took 7 long hours but in a much improved Giant Ibis bus.    

NOCHE BUENA BY SCOOTER

We touched down at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport early morning of the day before Christmas and have several hours to kill before standard check in time at the Duc Vuong Hotel which I was pleasanty surprised to know is located along the Bui Vien Walking Street [Ho Chi Minh's equivalent of Khaosan Road but with more sleaze].

There's not really much to see within Ho Chi Minh City proper and a quick visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, the French-era Saigon Post Office beside it, and an unexpected pit stop at the book shops and library cafes of Durong Nguyen Van Binh consumed half of the time we need to kill.  

The other half we spent revisiting the only war the Americans ever lost so far at the War Remnants Museum then inducting the family to the basics of Vietnamese cuisine [spring rolls, beef noodles, fried pork and duck] at the Ben Than Street Food Market before scouting for souvenirs at the nearby Ben Than Market.

Selena's group of student guides and scooter drivers [Jasmine, Joy, Tuong] arrived at 6 pm to pick us for a street food tour that would become our Christmas Noche Buena, and to a scary first hand experience of Ho Chi Minh's insane traffic.

In the next 4 hours, we counterflowed and navigated narrow alleys for the bun bo hue or beef noodles soup from Central Vietnam [served with a plate of herbs, thinly sliced banana blossom, lime wedges and a mean soup that evoke hours of slow cooking the beef]...

...the charcoal-grilled banh trang nuong or Vietnamized pizza [rice paper in lieu of dough, hints of eggs and probably mayonnaise in the toppings, amazingly delectable]; the banh xeo or savory Vietnamese pancake where pork, shrimp and bean sprouts are folded into a rice flour-based batter which once cooked were finger-torn into bite sizes then wrapped with herbs ala spring rolls in lettuce or wasabi leaves [the magic is in the fish sauce-sugar dip without which the dish won't survive]; banh mi or Vietnam-style baguette sandwich, a legacy from Vietnam's French colonial past which is now a breakfast staple in the country, halved with each side slathered with pate and butter then sanwiched with pork [plain meat and sausaged], cucumber, pickled carrots and winter radish, and cilantro [it's all about the bread, feshly baked, crusty yet delicate inside, can stand alone as is or as a sandwich]...

...banh cuon or steamed rice roll, a Northern Vietnam classic [seasoned ground pork and diced cassava rolled into delicate steamed rice sheets and served with a slice of pork sausage, fried dough, diced cucumber, bean sprouts and doused with a sweet fish sauce-based dip] that packed to overflowing whatever space I still have inside me; and finally a dessert of banh flan or Vietnamese custard which thankfully came in small servings and flavors of blackberry, kiwi, machiatto and cheese [the equivalent of the Philippine leche flan but less sweet, served with syrup like we do, and with crushed ice which we don't]. 

Adding value to the food trip is a quick stop at the memorial for the Burning Monk who more than 56 years ago set himself on fire to protest the South Vietnamese government's anti-Buddist policy that led to the downfall [and assasination] of President Ngo Din Diem; zipping through the colors, fragrance and chaos of the Ho Thi Ky Flower Market; and getting a glimpse of Ho Chi Minh's inner city life. 

Our Street Food on Scooter Tour is an exceptional one-of-a-kind Noche Buena experience which we could have never had on our own, and at a surprisingly cheap price considering the volume of food we ate and the incredible experience we had.

This year, we had an amazing Noche Buena and greeted half of Christmas Day in Ho Chi Minh!

2019's LAST BIKING SEASON

It was supposed to be the Vuelta Espana of the year, the last of the season's Grand Tours where I will sprint like Peter Sagan and climb like Nario Quintana through rice fields, a grazing carabao and heaps of newly harvested melons, and and punctured a tire as I scale my imaginary Passo di Mortirolo.

But I have not attended the last two office Christmas parties and donated a lechon for this year so Tuesday's Stage 2 was neutralized. 

That was also the case for Wednesday's Stage 3 since after arriving home very late, and for Saturday's Stage 6 because I got home drunk from the Munoz Bodies Friday meeting and have to attend the next day's Amaranthine caucus.

As a consolation, I would like to believe that my biking year still ended well with equivalent of the Classics (i.e. Milan-San Remo for Monday's Stage 1, Paris-Robaix for Thursday's Stage 4, Liege-Bastogne-Liege for Friday's Stage 5, and the Tour of Flanders for Sunay's Stage 7).