What mode of transportation will it be today?

---

Jana made it in to Bangkok yesterday afternoon safe and sound. It was so nice to see her after all of this time. She had a short flight and a one hour time delay so she was ready to head out sightseeing as soon as she came in. We decided that we would try to climb the 318 steps of the Golden Mount ... problem was that we couldn't find it. We had a bit of time crunch because we were getting picked up at the hotel for our supper reservations. So we decided to rush back to the hotel on a tuk-tuk. Jana and I held on for dear life and just laughed our butts off.



Our supper was on a teak rice barge and it was simply amazing. The weather was perfect and we had a table right at the tail end of the boat, the best seat in the house if you ask me. We went up and down the Chao Phraya River and we saw some of the temples lit up. Just breathtaking. The food was amazing, we ate like champs.



They dropped us off at the hotel afterwards. On the way back, the driver who barely had a grasp of the english language had a cell phone and it rang. He looks at me and says ... it's for you .... uh???? Turns out I left my pashmina scarf on the back of my chair and the barge people were calling to let me know. They actually drove it over to the hotel ... yes my cheap scarf from Luxury at $10 from Vegas is safely back in my hands.

Today, we decided to take the train to Ayutthaya. We were in 3rd class standing with a fan but our fan was broken so we just stuck our heads out the window! Hey ... this is a 1.5 hour trip and it cost us 20 baht (that's about 67 cents!!). It was quite the thai experience, let's just say. We had the same deal coming back ... a nice woman offered us her big bags of rice to sit on ... now that's luxury.















Ayutthaya was once the capital of Thailand (1351-1767) and destroyed by Burmese invasion. It is essentially ruins of palaces and temples and considered a Unesco World Heritage site. We hired a husband and wife tuk-tuk driver for the day, the sweetest couple ever! They drove us around all day long and found a restaurant for us right by the water ... all for about 500 baht (less than $ 20). At one of the temples, we did one of the rituals where you lay gold leafing on the buddha. We had about 10 squares of leafing and you went around at each of the 10 buddhas. Very serene experience. We also did a lot of climbing up and down chedis ... very very steep and uneven stairs.





























The best part though ... another thing off the list! I rode an elephant around some of the ruins. It was quite the ride ... so much fun! Honestly felt like princess Sheba ... we had the little seat with a little umbrella over our heads.

















So we are officially pooped! The heat just takes it out of you ... And if anyone is wondering, I am up to about 560 photos!!

Oh and Jana ate McD's ... it's wrong, just wrong I tell you!

---