All of Thailand in one place
Trip Start
Jun 24, 2005
1
60
86
Trip End
Mar 24, 2008
Samut Prakan, Thailand
Thursday, February 9, 2006
To get there, take bus 511 from the major road 'Thanon Ratchadamnoen' parallel to Kao San Road. It should take at least a couple hours to get to Samut Prakan depending on traffic. Let the bus conductor know where you want to go and you will be told when to get off (if the conductor remembers). After you get off, look for modified pickup trucks with two rows of benches on the back. These are called 'Song Taew' meaning 'two benches'. You need Song Taew number 36.
Song Taews work differently from the buses. Just jump on and take a seat and when you want to get off, ring the bell. The Song Taew will stop on the side of the road. Walk over to the front and pay the driver 7 Baht. If you want to make sure, before getting on the Song Taew, tell the driver you want to go to 'Muang Boron' because he will not know what 'Ancient City' is. The entrance is rather plain and can be easily missed.
The Ancient City is in the middle of nowhere. I would guess 90% of people come here on tour buses or by private rental cars.
At the ticket office, I was again faced with a dual pricing system for tourists and locals. The sign blatantly announces that if you are not Thai, you need to pay triple the regular price. Having failed at the Thai boxing stadium, this time I tried a different approach. I told the ticket lady that I am actually *half* Thai, that I am a tourist but my mother is Thai. She looked at me as if no one has ever said that to her before, and relayed my message to the other ladies in the office in Thai. They smiled and another lady, the manager I presumed, politely asked 'You have Thai citizen card?'. No I replied. She shook her head with a smile. Darn, that didn't work and the politeness took all the fire out of me. Fortunately, she asked me if I had a student card. Luckily I still had mine I got from Egypt the year before and that got me a small reduction in price.
The entrance fee includes the use of a squeaky bicycle to ride around the park. The area is quite large and the replicas surprisingly well built. The area of the park is also shaped after Thailand and the replica structures placed according to the real life location. Check out some of the pictures I took, this place is rather neat and worth a day trip.
