Ayutthaya River Easy Ride · short arc

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fuel stop near Sai Mai

   Planning note

   Ayutthaya River Easy Ride is where the day begins. Next is Bangkok / Thailand return.

2. 2. Near Lat Bua Luang, on the way back

   Rice fields stretch flat to the horizon here, in the Central Plain of Thailand northwest of Bangkok, broken only by canals, villages on stilts, temples with glittering roofs and lines of palms. This point lies near Lat Bua Luang, a district in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, in the fertile, low-lying country between the Chao Phraya and Tha Chin rivers, where water shapes almost everything about daily life.

   Read the complete Near Lat Bua Luang, on the way back write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bangkok / Thailand return comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop in Nakhon Pathom.

3. 3. Food stop in Nakhon Pathom

   The great golden-orange dome of Phra Pathom Chedi towers over Nakhon Pathom, and at over a hundred metres tall it is one of the largest stupas in the world. Tradition holds that Buddhism first reached the region here, more than a thousand years ago, when this was a centre of the Dvaravati culture, and the original, much smaller stupa was later encased in the present structure in the nineteenth century by King Mongkut, who had seen the ruins as a monk. Walking around its base, with its galleries, shrines and bells, is an experience not to miss.

   Read the complete Food stop in Nakhon Pathom write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   A break here. Next is Ayutthaya River Easy Ride photo pull-off.

4. 4. Samut Sakhon

   Samut Sakhon smells of the sea. The city sits at the mouth of the Tha Chin River where it flows into the Gulf of Thailand, about thirty kilometres southwest of Bangkok, and it has been a fishing port for centuries. Locals often still call it Mahachai, its old name. Boats crowd the river, and the fish market near the pier is one of the busiest in the country, piled with prawns, squid, crabs and fish of every kind.

   Read the complete Food stop near Samut Sakhon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ayutthaya River Easy Ride photo pull-off, about halfway. Next is Ayutthaya River Easy Ride checkpoint 8.

5. 5. Near Phra Pradaeng

   This is the south-western edge of Bangkok, out where the city stops pretending to be a city and turns into a muddle of canals, warehouses, shrimp ponds and condo blocks on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya. Thung Khru and Bang Khun Thian are the districts on the map; Phra Pradaeng, the town that gives the label its name, lies across the river to the east. As a place to begin and end rides north to Ayutthaya or north-east to Khao Yai it makes practical sense, because you avoid crossing the dense middle of the capital twice a day.

   Read the complete Near Phra Pradaeng write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at Ayutthaya River Easy Ride checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is High point near Bang Bo District.

6. 6. High point near Bang Bo District

   Bang Bo lies on the eastern edge of the Bangkok metropolitan area, in Samut Prakan province, where the urban sprawl starts to thin out into a flat landscape of canals, fish and shrimp ponds, rice fields and factories. It is not on most travel itineraries, but it hides a lovely old market, and it makes a good place to end a ride with a meal.

   Read the complete Bang Bo District write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   High point near Bang Bo District comes up about 301 km into the recorded legs. Next is Scenic stretch in Lat Krabang.

7. 7. Scenic stretch in Lat Krabang

   Planning note

   Scenic stretch in Lat Krabang closes the day.