Ayutthaya River Easy Ride

A 315 km loop

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Why this ride

Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. Out of Sai Mai and back again: 315 km, roughly 5 h 44 in the saddle. The stops in between: Lat Bua Luang, in Nakhon Pathom, Samut Sakhon and Phra Pradaeng. Much of it runs through woodland.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop near Sai Mai fuel

   Fuel at 0 km.

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

   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.

   This is the heartland of old Siam. Ayutthaya, the capital of the kingdom for four centuries until it was sacked by the Burmese in 1767, lies a short ride to the northeast, and its ruined temples and brick stupas, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are among the most impressive sights in Thailand. The canals around here were dug for irrigation and transport, and many villages still have houses facing the water, with boats tied to the steps.

   As for the swim, honesty first: the canals and rivers here are working waterways, muddy and full of boat traffic, and they are not a good idea for swimming. Some resorts and hotels have pools, and local water parks exist on the outskirts of Bangkok, but in the middle of the rice country, a cooling stop is more likely to mean a cold drink and some shade at a roadside stall than a plunge.

   The roads in this area are flat and mostly straight, crossing the plain between towns and villages, with occasional bridges over canals. Traffic varies from quiet country lanes to busy highways full of trucks and buses. Watch for dogs, scooters coming the wrong way, and sudden potholes. Thailand drives on the left. In the hot season, from March to May, temperatures can exceed thirty-five degrees Celsius, and in the rainy season, from roughly June to October, heavy afternoon storms flood roads quickly.

   Fuel stations are common along the main roads, often with small shops and coffee stalls, and the nearest larger town is Bang Len, about twenty kilometres away. Food is everywhere: noodle soups, grilled pork and sticky rice, fresh fruit and iced drinks from roadside stalls. Drink plenty of water and take breaks in the shade on the long, hot ride back toward Bangkok.

3. Food stop in Nakhon Pathom food

   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.

   Nakhon Pathom is a busy provincial city west of Bangkok, surrounded by rice fields, orchards and canals. King Vajiravudh built the Sanam Chandra Palace here in the early twentieth century, a curious mix of Thai and European styles, set in a large park. The city is also known for its food, particularly its sticky rice cooked in bamboo tubes, khao lam, and its pomelos, grown in the orchards around the city.

   The riding here is about getting through traffic. The roads are flat, busy and full of trucks, buses and motorcycles, and the heat can be intense. The main highways to Bangkok and to Kanchanaburi are fast but chaotic, and the minor roads through the countryside are quieter but can be narrow and rough. In the rainy season, sudden downpours can flood the roads.

   Nakhon Pathom has plenty of fuel stations, markets and restaurants, and the market around the chedi is a great place to eat. Try the khao lam, a sweet treat of sticky rice, coconut milk and beans. Ayutthaya, the old capital, lies to the north, a pleasant ride along the river.

4. Samut Sakhon swim

   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.

   Around the city, the flat coastal land is crisscrossed by canals and dotted with salt pans and shrimp farms. Along the road to the west you can see workers raking salt into white heaps in the evaporation ponds, a tradition that goes back generations. Samut Sakhon also has a large community of migrant workers from Myanmar, many working in the seafood processing industry, and their presence gives parts of the city a distinctive character, with Burmese shops and food.

   One of the most unusual ways to arrive is by train. The Maeklong Railway runs from Bangkok to Mahachai, where passengers take a ferry across the river and then another train continues to the famous market at Maeklong, where vendors pull back their awnings as the train passes through the stalls.

   About the swim: the coast here is mud flats and mangroves rather than beaches, and the water is brown, shallow and used by fishing boats. Not a place for swimming. If you want a beach, the resorts of Hua Hin or Pattaya are a long ride away. Here, the best way to cool off is a cold drink at a seafood restaurant overlooking the river or the sea.

   Riding in Samut Sakhon is busy and flat. The Rama II Road, the main highway southwest from Bangkok, is crowded with trucks and buses, and the city streets are full of scooters, pickups and street vendors. Traffic can be chaotic, with sudden lane changes and vehicles entering without warning. Fuel and food are everywhere. Try the seafood, especially grilled prawns, steamed crabs and fried fish, at one of the many restaurants by the water, then head back toward Ayutthaya and the river roads.

5. Near Phra Pradaeng finish

   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.

   Riding here is about patience and awareness rather than corners. Rama II Road, the main artery heading south-west, is wide, busy and lined with lorries, and the side sois are full of scooters doing whatever they like. Motorcycles are barred from the expressways and motorways in Thailand, so you will use the ordinary surface roads, where the leftmost lane is effectively the bike lane and buses swing into it without much notice. Leave before seven on a weekend and the whole city feels more relaxed; by mid-morning on a weekday it is a slow crawl in the heat.

   There is more nature close by than you would guess. Bang Khun Thian is the only Bangkok district that touches the sea, a short strip of mangrove coast on the Gulf of Thailand where the city has tried to hold back erosion with bamboo fences and replanting. Across the river, Bang Krachao, the big loop of the Chao Phraya next to Phra Pradaeng, is known locally as Bangkok's green lung: orchards, raised walkways and quiet lanes kept largely free of development. It is a pleasant place to potter about on two wheels at the end of a long day, though the roads inside the loop are narrow and you will share them with cyclists.

   Practically, this is ordinary suburban Bangkok, which means fuel stations, convenience stores and noodle stalls on almost every main road. The stores are a good place to buy cold water and electrolyte drinks before setting out. At the finish, after hours on the highway, a bowl of boat noodles at a canal-side shop and a slow ride home with the evening breeze off the river is about as civilised as Bangkok gets.

6. High point near Bang Bo District swim

   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.

   On the canal that marks the border with Chachoengsao province, the Khlong Suan Hundred Year Market is a row of old wooden shophouses facing the water, connected by walkways and bridges, where families have traded for generations. The market has been carefully preserved and revived, and on weekends it is full of Thai visitors eating local sweets, noodle soups, grilled fish and coffee brewed in old-fashioned cloth filters. It has an unhurried, nostalgic atmosphere, a glimpse of what life along the canals was like before the roads arrived.

   The canals here were the main transport routes for centuries, linking the rice-growing areas east of Bangkok with the city and the sea. Many are still used by small boats, and the waterside villages, with their wooden houses on stilts, are a reminder of a slower way of life. The area is also important for aquaculture, and the ponds produce fish and shrimp for the Bangkok markets.

   As a finish point, Bang Bo is convenient for the eastern side of Bangkok and the airport at Suvarnabhumi, which lies not far to the north-west. The main roads, including the Bang Na–Trat highway, are wide, busy and full of trucks, so stay alert. The smaller roads along the canals are narrow, sometimes poorly surfaced, and shared with scooters, dogs and pedestrians. Fuel, convenience stores and food are easy to find. The heat in the middle of the day can be intense, so a late afternoon finish, with a cold drink by the canal, is the best plan.

7. Scenic stretch in Lat Krabang swim
8. Back to Ayutthaya River finish

   North of Bangkok the land is so flat that canals are the only landmarks. The label points to Ayutthaya, the old capital, about fifty kilometres further north, and this is the sort of place a ride back from there ends up.

   The canals are the reason for the town's shape. In the 1890s a company led by a prince dug the Rangsit Canal and a grid of side channels across the plain to open it up for rice farming, and the area took its name from Prince Rangsit. The long straight waterways still cut across the landscape, lined with houses and temples, and the fields between them turn bright green after the rains. Many of the old rice fields are now gone under factories and universities, and Thammasat's Rangsit campus occupies a large piece of land at Khlong Luang.

   Ayutthaya itself was the capital of Siam for four centuries until the Burmese army sacked it in 1767, and its ruined temples and brick towers, scattered along the Chao Phraya River, are a World Heritage site. Riders returning from there follow the highway or smaller roads beside the river, past boat landings, small shrines and sugar-palm trees. Surfaces are generally good, but traffic is heavy, with lorries, vans and motorbikes crowding the lanes, and the rainy season, from May to October, brings sudden storms. November to February is cooler and more pleasant.

   Fuel and food are easy everywhere. Stations line the main roads, and night markets set up in the evening with grilled meat, noodle soups and fresh fruit. Khlong Luang has shops and a big market, and Ban Lam Luk Ka offers more. Watch for motorbikes crossing lanes and for water on the road after rain.

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