Thailand - Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya isn't exactly high on the excitement scale but we thoroughly enjoyed it. If you like history and ruins, it's worth a visit. It's one of Thailand's most historical sites and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Ayutthaya was the largest city in the world and capital of Thailand until the Burmese attacked it in 1767. It's an easy trip from Bangkok and many tourists make this a day trip. Tip: If staying in Ayutthaya for a couple of nights, visit the ruins early to avoid the heat and tour buses. (We learned this the hard way).

How did we get here? Our trip from Bangkok to Ayutthaya was a pretty easy one. It was about a two hour train ride from the Bangkok Train Station (Hua Lam Phong). We had made a dry run to the train station the day before and purchased tickets to Ayutthaya. We purchased 2nd class sleeper car seats for 390 Baht ($10.60). We had air conditioning AND padded seats. Such luxury! An elderly Japanese man was sitting across from us and asked us where we were from. We said, "America" and he replied, "Trump. Biden". That was about the extent of his English. We just smiled and nodded. He then offered us some of his fried bananas. So many nice people in the world.

Once we got off the train, we purchased a ticket to our next destination and took a tuk tuk to our hotel. We knew we were over paying since we were charged 150 Baht. I wasn't about to argue or negotiate over $4. 

Google Translate is amazing and a game changer.

Train station

Sleeper car. The seats fold down and the compartment over Sharon's head folds down for a second bed. Notice the ladder to climb up. There's even a table under the seat. The entire car had ONE outlet which was right across from us. It was very popular. 

Tuk tuk ride to our hotel. 

Where did we stay? We stayed at the Tamarind Guesthouse (booked with Agoda.com, $19/ night) which is a funky brick and wood building with lots of charm and outdoor living space. It's old and creaky but very clean and safe. The hotel is right across the street from the ruins. The owner is so nice and sweet (I really wish I had asked her name). We had coffee and breakfast right outside our room. They even had bicycles we could borrow. And she did our luandry for 50 baht! Yes, washed, dried and folded for less than $1.50 - I think a Tide Pod costs more than that!

Breakfast

Laundry is nice and clean! 

What is there to do? We went to the night market right down the street the first evening. So much food to choose from! 

Don't know what this was but it was good! Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. 

Monkey meat. (Not really)

The next morning we spent booking our trip south. I also called my mom first thing. We are exactly 12 hours ahead of the east coast. We walked down stairs to start our day of site seeing when the owner asked us to please sit down and make a krathong. Time for arts and crafts and banana leaf origami! It was November 8th which wasn't election day in Thailand. It was Loy Krathong. It's one of the most popular festivals in Thailand. It is celebrated on the night of the full moon in the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar. Basically translated it means to "float ritual vessel or lamp". This was fun!

We stopped and had brunch at a coffee ☕ shop right around the corner. We both ordered ham, egg, and cheese croissants and fresh fruit. Rob even got a fruit smoothie. 😋 Our waitress offered to take a picture for us.

By the time we got to the ruins, it was hot and tour buses had amassed. It wasn't like being in port with cruise ships but still a lot of people. Lesson learned.

Headless Buddha

Buddha head in a tree

Monitor lizard is like 10x the size of an iguana. 

Thai teenagers. All on their phones just like teenagers all over the world. Thought it was kind of cool. 

The hotel owner and krathong-maker-instructor got us and two French women a tuk tuk to the river festivities. I guess she paid for the tuk tuk because it was free to the four of us. A second tuk tuk contained another French couple a lone guy, Andre, from Germany. So we all kind of followed each other a little confused to the river. We lit our candles and sticks, floated our krathongs and made a wish to the goddess of water. After that was done, we walked away and looked around for food and a beer. The single guy was sort of hovering near us so I asked if he was alone. He didn't understand so I asked where he was from, "Germany". I whipped out my phone, set my Google Translate app to German and next thing ya know, we're in search for einen beir! I couldn't help but tell him I took two years of German in high school. He ended up speaking enough English that we had a fun time together. We enjoyed meeting Andre.

Sushi 🍣 

Full Moon

Fireworks went on for hours

The next morning we had coffee and breakfast and headed further north to Sukhothai. When we were ready to check-out, the owner called for a tuk tuk and negotiated the price. She and a cleaning woman waved good-bye. We would so stay here again!

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lau Tzu