Ayutthaya

I booked myself a spot on the mini bus from Kanchanaburi to Ayutthaya (which was supposed to be direct, never mind nice to see Bangkok again!) and got in at around dinner time. On the way over here, there were kites in the sky everywhere. It made me wonder. It's a national sport here. They were very pretty.














I checked into a hotel called Baan Suan (meaning beautiful village) Ayutthaya is pretty, it is odd the ruins are right in town. I felt like meeting some people who weren't complete backpackers so it was off to one of the smart restaurants in town. There I met two lovely Italian women my age well a little older and we had a great conversation about life etc. They were off to the north the next day and we made loose plans to meet again in Chang Mai.




The next morning I got up, rented a bicycle and rode around town and the outskirts, I must have clocked at least 50 k - it was a great work out. As you can see I saw a load of temples, each one more beautiful than the first. This was the time of religious feast so there were lots of Thai pilgrims and lots of monks too. I had lunch in this greasy spoon roadside cafe, a typical Thai one. A Pad Thai - the most delicious yet, and water all for 25Baht!!! Fabulous. It was run by 4 'rent a Mums' or Grans for that matter and they were very happy that I thought it was Aroy Mak Mak (delicious)

I also made friends with the kids swimming in the river. They spoke great English, and they would have liked for me to join in and swim with them. Instead I haung out with them and then paid 5Baht to get me and my bike over the river to the other side where I visited another great temple. There I witnessed a ceremony in Thai where strands of orange material were thrown over the crowd whilst they repeated what Buddha was telling them. Unfortunately there wasn't enough light so I didn't get the shot. Other than that lots of candles and lots of pilgrims rubbing gold leaf off its paper onto Buddha statues. In one case the candles fell off the table and it all caught fire. One of the pics below was taken 5 seconds beforehand!!



It was a great day and it finished by my meeting another Italian girl my age, Barbara who was traveling with her partner Vincenzo. Us girls met when we we trying to decide which massage to go for, the foot or the Thai massage. Massages done, we had a beer with Vincenzo, followed by the night market and then dinner at Tony's place the local hangout that offered free internet to their guests.




























5 secs before the fire

The kids wanted me to swim with them, I did need a shower by that point but nah, thought I'd wait!