A Healthy Dose of Wat?

Koh Samed’s effect was powerful enough to temporarily warp our brains, causing us to forget that our flight out of Bangkok and into Kathmandu was on Feb 25, not Feb 26, bottom-line, we missed our flight out of Thailand….no worries. The next flight wasn’t leaving for several more days, so, we decided to catch a train north of Thailand to visit the ancient Siam capital of Ayutthaya. The Thai trains were great…beat up old cars with windows that opened up dangerously wide and doorways without doors so you could hang your entire body outside the train while at full speed….great fun!!

We arrived in the afternoon and got lodged at a beautiful traditional Thai teak wood house landscaped with orchids, frangipani, lotus and mangoes trees. We dropped our stuff in the room, rented a motorbike and blasted off to explore the “island” of Ayutthaya. The island felt like some sort of Asian version of Rome, with massive ruins scattered amongst a modern functioning city. Unfortunately, most of the temples (wats) lie in a serious state of ruin and most images of Buddha are seriously destroyed, save for a few. Even still, the ruins are incredibly picturesque, and, wandering through them, you can’t help but wander what the city must have been like before it was sacked. The stupas, chedis and other structures that do remain give a wonderfully ancient feel to this very hospitable little town surrounded by rivers. At night, we cruised through the markets, sipping freshly squeezed juice, searching for “must-haves” and eating up the local fare. The town, like the rest of the places we have been to in Thailand, was easy-going, friendly, had great food everywhere, and was difficult to leave once our time was up. Thank you Thailand!!

Next stop, Nepal. Something tells me things are about to get interesting…

STATISTICS

• Flights taken = 4
  
• Intercity trains rides taken = 9
  
• Intercity bus rides taken = 29
  
• Times lost = 9
  
• Total instances of diarrhea = 3
  
• Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel = 2
  
• Total megabytes of pictures taken = 13,020
  

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