Our tour officially finished when the night train arrived in Bangkok, an hour late. My original plan was to spend the morning visiting the Grand Palace and the Reclining Buddha, this would involve leaving my luggage at the train station taking two underground trains and a river bus, then returning the same way to collect my rucksack, the broken wheely bag and the additional meter square pink monstrosity holding the treasured gifts, before taking more underground trains and the airport link. All with very little sleep.
Nutty suggested returning to his home in Ayutthaya, an hour outside Bangkok. We took a taxi to the garage where Nutty's Adventures land-rover had spent the week getting serviced (it had that distinctive land-rover smell that reminds me of my Dad) and then drove up the motorway across much flatter land where the rice was golden and ready for harvest. Having been promised temples we passed Wat Kate - finally the recognition I deserve.
Arriving at Nutty's quintessentially English decorated home I was able to shower and put on fresh clothes. Before we could both fall asleep on comfy chairs Nutty took me to the oldest temple in Ayutthaya which houses a giant golden Buddha, to add to the excitement we arrived mid-festival. There's also a shrine here to a princess who legend has it tragically died before her wedding to the local prince when he failed to provide her with a fitting welcome. She is valued by the people of the town today and it was to her that Nutty's Mother went to ask for help conceiving before falling pregnant with him. The princess is very much Nutty's God Mother and he pays his thanks to her.
I also learn that everyone has a Monk pose depending on the day of the week they were born. Being Wednesday lunchtime my Monk pose is standing tall holding out a bowl for I am giving the opportunity for ordinary people to donate food to the religious community.
I was then treated to lunch at Nutty's riverside bar and eating place which takes inspiration from a pub he once visited in Kent, England. We ate with his lovely wife who I had previously met briefly in London.
After lunch we visited a beautifully painted royal chapel and working monastery. With no other visitors we spent 5 minutes calming our inner Monkeys in peaceful meditation. It was a relaxing experience and we 'woke' to find the monks preparing the hall around us for their afternoon chants to the full moon.
Time for a second quick shower and a repack of bags and I was ready for the off in a transfer to the airport. And thus the return trip began and was successfully completed with me and all my luggage returning to Heathrow via Kuala Lumpur.
All bags and gifts made it home from work over the following days and will eventually be delivered to their rightful owners here in the UK.
And there finishes my (first) trip to Thailand.
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