Ayutthaya

When i was in Bangkok previously, i saw a postcard with the head of a Buddha statue amongst the roots of a bodhi tree – and when i saw it i said ‘I want to go there’.  It so happened that it is a couple of hours outside of Bangkok, so when i was heading south from Vientiane, i decided to stop over for a few days.

I managed to find myself a really cheap place to stay with free wifi – it is so easy to make me happy...  ;-)

I had been on the overnight train and didn’t sleep a wink, so when i arrived at my guest house i slept for the rest of the morning... In the afternoon i just walked around the markets and then went to find the night market for dinner.  It was not nearly as good as Luang Prabang, but i still managed to have a vegetable omelette, a piece of watermelon and a chocolate donut for less than a pound...

The next morning i met Liam who asked to join me for the day in seeing temples. It soon emerged that Liam was homesick and needing some company, so we spent the day walking around checking out the temples and walking all over the landlocked island before he caught his bus north that evening.

Now a little bit about Ayutthaya – it is an island at the meeting point of 3 different rivers. It was once the capital of Thailand, but was invaded and as a result it fell to ruins.  As it was once such an important place, it has many historic buildings and Buddhist temples and Buddha relics.  So although this is an important place in Thai Buddhism, i was unable to feel anything other than a tourist here.  The Buddha statues are huge, bordering on overwhelming as are the temples.

fortune sticks... you shake the container until one stick falls out, and then you look up the number on a piece of paper to determine what your future holds...

I stumbled upon an elephant enclosure, where they take tourists on elephant rides, and there are some smaller elephants that are used for photo oportunities as well as to perform tricks... Although i was happy to have the close up with the ellies, at the same time i could feel the humiliation they have to endure...

After a couple of days walking around in the heat i had had enough and headed to Bangkok to meet up with my friend Els, as well as to do last minute shoping...