| AYUTTHAYA KAYAK TRACK 4 - AYUTTHAYA CITY LOOP |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| This kayak track is designed to bring you around Ayutthaya's city island. Ayutthaya was typically a Siamese water-based settlement; one of the characteristics which gave the city its UNESCO World Heritage status. Unfortunately, Ayutthaya's waterways - the ancient transport and travel facilities - are fast disappearing. Many canals became stagnant, choked with urban trash or ran dry due to silting and lack of maintenance. Many more were claimed to make way for embankments such as concrete roads. Ayutthaya, "The Venice of the East" became a far cry. Notwithstanding, a tour around the island is still a wonderful event. In the Ayutthayan era, it was the Lopburi River which encircled the city. The Chao Phraya River was deviated to Ayutthaya in 1857, while the Pa Sak River or Teak Forest River finding its source in Loei Province, changed its course in the beginning of last century, when the river course was straighten. The Chao Phraya in Ayutthaya is a tidal river and influences the Pa Sak and Lopburi rivers. The current shifts daily, depending on the tide in the Gulf of Thailand, with an exception at the end of the rainy season, when the floodwaters overrun the tide. The tour (clockwise) takes you north along the Chao Phraya River, which was until the mid-19th century still the river bed of the Lopburi River; turns at Hua Laem into Khlong Mueang also called the City Canal and a former stretch of the Lopburi River; curving south at Hua Ro on a waterway which was once a part of the front city moat, dug for defensive purposes and leaping into the Pa Sak River; arriving at Hua Sarapha in front of Wat Phanan Choeng and the major confluence of the Chao Phraya and Pa Sak Rivers near Phet Fortress, steer up north to the arrival point opposite Wat Phutthaisawan. Markings: Historical signboard in situ is marked as (*) Entry fee required is marked as ($) Boat dock present is marked as (+) |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
