AyutthuyaOct 13, 2009
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Our guide in Ayutthuya
Ancient Buddha
Ancient Ayutthuya
The same driver that took us to Damnoen Sadauk met us after our market tour and drove us to Ayutthuya, about an 11/2-hour drive. After staying in that dump in Damnoen Sadauk, we checked into a nice 3 star hotel. We had a nice soft bed, and a clean bathroom for only 1500B, about $15 more.
Ayutthuya was the historical capital of Thailand but was captured by the Burmese in the early 1700’s. The Thai’s abandoned the city and moved the capital to Bangkok. At least this is my understanding of what our guide told us. To visit the ruins of the old temples, we hired a man with a little vehicle, a cross between a tuk-tuk and a little pickup but I can’t remember what it is called.
Our guide had his young son Dan-dan with him who became our guide. He scampered up and down the ruins and had a great time. The ruins were interesting and peaceful, but the daily thunderstorm and heavy rain sent us back to the hotel for our late checkout. We spent the late afternoon in the business center catching up on email and our journals before heading to the train station for our night train to Lampang.
The train was over an hour late so we had plenty of time to people watch. It was very interesting with Thai families, monks, Muslim families, military in uniform, and western backpackers all waiting for their train. We talked to a young backpacker from Holland spending 9 months in Asia, and a man from Milwaukee teaching English and chasing Thai women for at least a year. We are obviously American, and many English speaking people come up to talk with us. The Thai’s are very friendly and usually have a smile.
The train was fine. We were the last people to board and everyone else was already in their berth. We were in a second-class sleeper, first class not being available on this train. The porter had already prepared the bunks, two facing seats along each side of the train made into a lower bunk and an upper bunk swung down from the ceiling. There was an aisle full of luggage in the middle. Nothing to do but go to bed once we got on board, we should arrive in Lampang about 7am.
Hi everybody, Angie here. I’m so glad that Stan is good about keeping track of the details of our trip and that he is a good journalist for us. I tend to get absorbed in the chaos and have a difficult time formulating specific words to describe what all of my senses are experiencing. The cities of Thailand are a bittersweet experience. Beautiful places scattered around amid absolute poverty, chaos, over population and air pollution. Yet, at the same time, there is so much to love and appreciate about this country. Much less government control, happy people, etc. We are having a fabulous time and our journey continues…
Much love,
Angie and Stan
