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Published: March 6th 2013
Arriving in Ayutthaya we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. The driver pointed to me and then opened the door to the van. Alright I thought, out I go. We were dropped off at a mall. I was starving. We went inside and I hate to admit it but we ate at McDonalds. The Thai food is sooooo good that I feel bad chowing down at McDonalds- but we were looking for a quick meal so we could be off seeing the sites. After my cheeseburger and fries which I scarfed down in record time we took a tuk tuk to our hotel.
Our hotel was sooooooo cute. It was a guesthouse. Upon arriving the two women greeting us got us to sit down at their table and got us water. They also pointed the fans at us to cool down. We checked into our room and it was really neat. It was built in a split level style. You walk in and have two bean bags in front of a TV. The bathroom is behind this room and up a ladder is a sleeping area and up some stairs is another sleeping area. This place
reminded me of a tree house. There was however one very strange feature of this place. The bathroom had a door, but there was also a very large window (about 4 feet by 4 feet) that had no glass but just a curtain. This got kinda awkward but luckily we had a deck to sit on while the other one used the washroom. Stepping outside of our hotel we were facing beautiful ruins from the 14
th century.
We grabbed a ride to Wat Phanan Choeng. This Wat was a lot smaller than we expected but we had a great time seeing the giant gold buddha and observing some of the religious practices. Tyler even got swatted by an old woman because crossing under a doorway in a Wat you are supposed to step over the threshold. They also had a small cemetery here. We walked through and this was very neat. Different from what we are used to. Being on a tight timeline we grabbed a ride to Wat Chai Wattanaram.
Wat Chai Wattanaram was beautiful. The ruins were breathtaking. The kingdom of Ayuthaya was invaded by an army in 1767 and just standing
on the grounds here reminds me of how lucky I am. After walking around for a while the heat was starting to get to us. It was 47 degrees with the humidex. I really do hate complaining about the heat when all I hope for all winter is warm weather. Forty seven degrees however is quite overwhelming especially while trying to site-see and having no access to the ocean or pool.
We headed back to the hotel for a much needed shower. After showering we wanted to go and see the floating market. Unfortunately it was closed. We headed to the night market and observed all the stalls cooking and selling. We went for a walk hoping to find more places to see but the city was quite quiet. Many people come to Ayutthaya just for a day and do not stay overnight. The elections were also on which added to the quietness. We found a place to eat and went for dinner.
The next morning we woke up early and checked out Wat Mahathat. This Wat was right across the street from our hotel and was probably my favorite. This area was a
UNESCO world heritage site. The ruins were beautiful. I honestly can’t find the words to describe how I felt when I was here. I felt so insignificant and also so moved by all of this.
We grabbed a minivan back to Bangkok. When we arrived in Bangkok we tried to grab a cab to our hotel-except no one wanted to take us due to a traffic jam. So we tried the train BTS system. This system was really neat and we continued to take it for the rest of the day. After getting off the train near our hotel the rain started. A torrential downpour. We both had our backpacks so we hid under a ledge to keep dry. After ten to fifteen minutes the rain was not letting up, so we made the decision to make a run for it. We were soaked by the time we reached the hotel. We checked in and had to hang all of our belongings to dry as we had our flight home the next morning. By this point the rain had let up some so we had some lunch and decided to check out the malls in Bangkok. We
were hoping to take a boat ride around the river but this did not seem like the best idea in a rain storm. After going to three malls we were exhausted. Back to the hotel for a shower.
We decided to check out the Patpong market. There were many vendors- most selling fakes. We preferred the shopping on Khao San Road. After being bothered by soooo many people to see an infamous “Ping Pong Show” we headed to Khao San to shop and have a beer. After arriving we found out that it was illegal to sell beer on Election Day. Although it would have been nice to have a cold beer we took this as a sign we should finish up our shopping and go to bed as we had a flight at 7 the next morning.
After arriving back in the area of our hotel we discovered that the area surrounding our hotel area had turned into a red light district. It was very strange observing what was going on during the walk back to our hotel. We packed up and went to bed. Excited to go back home and see our
cat and dog and friends and family but sad that we were leaving this beautiful country.
Until next time.
Jill
xoxoxo
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Auntie Jackie
non-member comment
Welcome Home
Thanks for the journey i truly enjoyed your blogs.