Another bike tour through Ayutthaya and arriving in Kanchanaburi

Since I apparently still haven't quite overcome the jet lag and for the past few days, a strange tiredness has been hitting me around 7:00 PM local time, and I am wide awake from nine in the evening until three in the night (quite strange since we are six hours ahead), I first slept in until just before ten and then strolled to breakfast. Gerhard, my local host in Ayutthaya, greeted me warmly. After chatting about, among other things, his pigeon racing hobby, in which he has already achieved national honors in Thailand, and some beer-fueled gossip, he gave me some tips for today’s tour. He recommended three stops, and of course, I trusted his local expertise. I pedaled off towards the east, meaning outside the historical park's ring from yesterday, which is bordered by the river/canal. The route was a bit longer, and cycling with my rather old steel steed at 33 degrees in the shade was sweaty (there was no shade along the way). My first 'Wat' (Ko Kaeo) of the day surprised me. No tourists (except for me) in sight, only some locals, monks, and construction workers diligently hammering at various places in the temple complex - some more, some less. Without any crowds and somewhat alone, I was able to wander around. However, sometimes I wasn’t sure if I had already intruded into the private chambers of the monks - including the restrooms. But I was never told to leave. On the contrary, people strolled past me - without the usual glances - as if I belonged to the daily inventory here. After I explored almost every nook and cranny in the area of temples, statues, inlays, etc., I moved on to Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon. A gigantic ancient temple complex; and the Burmese apparently had not swept through here, as the many Buddha statues still had their heads. In the adjacent park area, with various water ponds teeming with fish, there were also incredible numbers of roosters/chickens of different sizes. What lies behind this is quite unclear to me, and even Google has several different historical variants in store. In summary, I managed to determine that they probably stand for prosperity... From here, I continued to Wat Phanan Choeng. Here, Gerhard had told me about the largest sitting golden Buddha. To what extent that is correct or only applies to the surroundings, I have no idea, but it was huge. The complex also included several other sights that struck me as very Chinese; without me being able to verify this further... The blazing sun was low in the sky, so I headed back to my neighborhood, where I encountered a burger restaurant while searching for food. Ashamed to admit, but today was just not going to be Thai food. A - probably not from the Erzgebirge - nutcracker awoke homely Christmas feelings and watched me while I enjoyed my burger; a somewhat peculiar sight in the otherwise western-influenced dining establishment. ... Feeling stuffed, I hopped back on my bike and conquered the last kilometers to my dwelling and shower, although I sometimes didn’t know if I was still on roads that were permissible for cyclists (Google only recognizes pedestrians and mopeds here). I was the only bike for miles on a four-lane road, but it didn’t matter, somehow I arrived safely ... Freshly showered and after a short power nap (it was now again 7:00 PM 😅), I got myself a nicely chilled LEO from Gerhard's stash from the lobby, paid my last parking fine from Dresden (thanks to Paul for checking my hometown mail) and later at night, set to the beloved task of packing my backpack for the next morning since I would be heading towards Kanchanaburi early...

This morning, I dragged myself out of bed around 7:00 AM for the usual morning routine, shuffled to breakfast, and settled my last debts with Gerhard, as I was supposed to be picked up by 8:30 AM 'at the latest.' 'At the latest' means, in my German understanding, it could also happen sooner, and of course, I wanted to be ready. By 8:30 AM, of course, no one was there, nor at 9:00, 9:15, or 9:30 AM either. In the meantime, I slowly started to get a bit nervous and wrote two emails asking where my ride was. However, the chatbot wasn’t particularly informative and provided me with the helpful information that it could always be a bit later. Thanks a lot. ... However, he turned out to be right, and at 9:35 AM, the mini-van finally arrived, completely relaxed. I was the last one to be picked up. The mini-bus was already full, apparently with French people. I was only looked at with confusion when I said 'Hello,' so after I had tossed my backpack onto the mountain of luggage in the trunk, I took a seat on the last free spot next to a grumpily looking Frenchman. And now, on the scheduled 2.5-hour ride, I used the time to catch up on the latest news from home, type these lines, and follow the happenings on the highways ...

PS: I have now arrived at my accommodation in Kanchanaburi. In between, there were a few discussions because I was initially not supposed to be let out at my booked Bed and Breakfast, but at a central bus station a few kilometers away. After a bit of back and forth and frantic phone calls from the bus attendant, I was finally (almost) properly dropped off. A French couple with the same problem had already ordered a Grab taxi out of frustration. The clearly overwhelmed bus attendant didn’t seem to know my intended drop-off location very well, so she was surprised - and at the same time delighted - when I opened the door and got out about 100 meters after my destination had already passed. Nevertheless, I am now in my room well ahead of my actual check-in by about 1.5 hours and will soon explore my new neighborhood a bit...