20 - 21 November 2014
We are finally leaving Bangkok and heading north. First stop will be Ayuthaya, a 1 hour minivan ride from Bangkok. Ayuthaya was the capital of Siam for over 400 years (1350 - 1767). In 1767 the Burmese army destroyed the city. What was left continued to crumble and now all that remains is ruins. Ruins that we can visit and climb upon and photograph.
The cool part of this town is that is it easy to get around on bicycles, so we rented bicycles from the hotel we are staying at for 100 Baht ($3.30) for 2 days.
The cool part of this town is that is it easy to get around on bicycles, so we rented bicycles from the hotel we are staying at for 100 Baht ($3.30) for 2 days.
Bicycle riding around Ayutthaya.
First stop...Wat Rajaburana:
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Next, Wat Phra Mahayhat, famous for a sandstone Buddha head entangled within a tree's roots:
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Last for the day is Wat Thammikarat, know for the cool singha (guardian lion) sculptures. It also features a large reclining Buddha and a bunch of roosters. I don't know what is up with all those roosters? I think the guy in the chair is the one that finally beat the Burmese back. Maybe he was born in the year of the rooster so people buy and place roosters near him for thanks?
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Now back to our hotel room, which is much nicer (and less expensive) than our room in Bangkok:
 The garden outside our room. |  Looking out of the bathroom towards the bedroom and out into the garden area. |
Drinking a nice cold Chang outside our room.
We then decided to take a walk and look for some dinner. We came across this gas station used specifically by the scooters that fill the streets:
Interesting scooter gas station.
And then we happened upon a BBQ restaurant that looked interesting so we decided to try it out. It wound up being a cook it yourself place. We had to watch how others were doing it so we knew what to do:
Tim cooking his chicken. That's a big piece of pork fat melting on top!
The next morning we woke up with many more ruins to visit. This is our last day in Ayuthaya so we wanted to make the most of it. First stop is the most famous ruin called Wat Phra Si Sanphet. Its three chedi (stupas) are the most iconic image in Ayuthaya:
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On the way to our next stop, we passed by some tourists taking elephant rides around the ancient city:
We decided to stick with our bicycles, so we continued our way to our next stop, Wat Lokayasutha, home to a giant reclining Buddha:
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Next we rode to Wat Chai Wattanaram, home to a 115 foot tall prang:
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Next was a pretty long ride to the other side of town to visit Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, home of yet another giant reclining Buddha and some more roosters:
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There was just as many roosters going the other direction behind me!
Finally...the last ruin of the day, Wat Phanan Choeng, with its 62 foot tall Buddha surrounded by 84,000 Buddha images:
 I think Tim is getting tired...luckily this is that last Wat of the day! |  TIm admiring some of the 84,000 Buddha images. Each of those archways holds a little Buddha image. |
As we were walking the grounds of Wat Phanan Choeng I noticed a ferry going back over the river that took us quite a long time to ride over a bridge to get to where we were. For a mere 5 Baht ($0.15) each we were able to cross the river saving us at least 40-50 minutes...SCORE!
A local woman sharing the ferry across the river.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a night market and picked up some dinner to take back to the hotel. We really earned this meal with all the miles we rode today. I picked up some BBQ squid on a stick (become one of my staple items, a small loaf of bread, and some steamed rice and Tim found some pork on a stick.
The night market just before sunset.
After the market we stopped at the 7-11 and picked up some LEO beer and water and arrived at the hotel around 7 PM sweaty and exhausted. Tomorrow we leave Ayuthaya, make a brief stop in Lopburi by minibus, and finish in Phitsanulok for a relaxing 2 night stay.
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