Hot and Wet in Ayutthaya (and Bankok, and Hong Kong, and...)

It’s what I’m getting used to being: Hot and Wet. From Hong Kong, to Singapore, to here in Bangkok, from morning to evening, and even sometimes continuing on through the night. The constant struggle to stay hydrated, stay in the shade, find the air-conditioned shop or metro never strays far from my mind. The overhead fan in our room remains constantly twirling from the second we enter to moment we leave. Without it I can’t imagine what sleep I would be able to find.
Yesterday was the worse so far. We left for Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital, located two hours by train north of Bangkok. Walking down the underground tunnel to the train station I was already sweating profusely, and by the time we stopped for a snack after buying our tickets I had already wiped away most of the bug spray I’d meticulously applied at the hostel. Amazingly, Sarah’s dependence on her morning cup of coffee endured the heat, although it was more than an hour later before it cooled down enough for her to enjoy it.

One-third of the electricity used in Singapore goes towards air-conditioning. In Hong Kong even the banged up 70s era busses that take you to and from the New Territories are air-conditioned. While these places have taught me to (literally) appreciate the lengths to which these cities have gone to, I think it was during the train ride to Ayutthaya that I realized the uncomfortable lack of this convenience. Those two hours of purgatory allowed me enough time to temporarily sweat away, along with my deodorant, all my environmentally conscious opposition to those energy suckers.

The trip to Ayutthaya was definitely worth it, if only for our first glimpse of the Wat Chai Wattanaram, one of the major Buddhist temples that stand half ruined around the city. My previous anger at being ripped off by the tuk-tuk driver who got us there melted away as I took in the temple’s grandeur. What a civilization that could have conceived of such a thing! Over two centuries after it was looted and burned and left to fall to pieces it still stands as a testament to Lewis Mumford’s Megamachine.



The trip back to Bangkok was, due to the setting of the sun and a subtle nighttime breeze, considerably less sweaty. Nonetheless, by the time we got back to the Baan Hua Lampong Guest House I had no problem with once again feeling wet, this time by taking a cold (compulsory because there is no hot option) shower. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get really comfortable with being hot and wet, but the trip to Ayutthaya definitely taught me that I’m just going to have to deal with it.