Blogs from Ayutthaya, Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia

After a few months break back home, I have started to travel again. This time, I am traveling in Asia, as usual, I don't have an end date. I begin with Thailand, a country I have been to before. But this time, I am trying to cover a bit more offbeat places and avoid the usual suspects. I started with Ayutthaya, an old historical city about 90KM away from Bangkok. To those in India, yes, the name is similar to Ayodhya. South Eastern Buddhism has imbibed Ramayan into their culture and in fact many of the kings in Thailand have taken the name Ram. Thailand also has its own version of the Ramayana. The Ayutthaya Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Established in mid 14th century as the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai, the ... read more

Na een busrit van 8 uur kwam ik eindelijk aan in Chiang Rai. Een vriendelijke Thaise gozer bood mij een gratis rit naar mijn hostel aan achter op zijn scooter, wat er in resulteerde dat ik mijn tweede hoed verloor. Verder was ik heel blij met de rit, het was namelijk nogal warm en het was een flink stuk lopen. Verder had ik die avond, behalve wat eten bij de avondmarkt halen niet veel gedaan, ik was nog te gesloopt van de lange busrit. De volgende dag besloot ik om een fiets te huren, Chiang Rai is behoorlijk plat, dus een stuk makkelijker te doen dan Pai. Ik besloot een paar tempels te bezoeken. De eerste was de Boeddha grot, die zijn naam dankt aan het feit dat de grot vol met Boeddha beelden staat. Daarna ... read more

Out of my list of 5 wild animals to find and see in Thailand, this was actually the one that my wife wanted to see the most. :-) These are flying foxes, with faces much cuter than other smaller bats. There are 2 places called "bat temple" in Thailand, but this one is in the Ayuthaya's province. The temple seems to have no name on Google maps, but this is the adress: Unnamed Rd Tambon Mai Tra Amphoe Bang Srai Chang Wat Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya 13190 Tambon Mai Tra, Amphoe Bang Srai, Chang Wat Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya 13190, Thailand To get there from Ayuthaya, take road 3263, and then 3111 South. About 1km before Chan Thara Lake village, you can see a golden bat statue on the left. Take the small road next to ... read more

So this morning was a bit hectic, running around packing up last minute items and checking under beds, in cupboards and behind doors for any lost items......I don't think we managed to leave too much behind! Whilst I was showering I could hear the phone ringing and when I got out Todd mentioned that Anand had called and that he was calling back. So he calls back, and says - 'Hey what happened to you? I am here at your hotel in Ayutthaya and you are not here!!' Holy fuckballs, I booked the tour for the wrong freaking date. OMG. I apologised profusely to Anand for wasting his time and the driver's time and we tried to work out what best to do. He suggested that they just come and get us now, but we had ... read more

D. 22/08 Idag tog vi vores første bus til Ayutthaya. Der var ankommet endnu en pige (Betty), der var fra Kenya, som skulle rejse med. Da vi ankom til Ayutthaya, spiste vi frokost og tog ellers en båd til 3 templer; Wat Lokayasutharam, Wat Phananchoeng og Wat Chaiwatthanaram. Vi havde en guide med os på hele turen, hun fortalte om de forskellige templer, samt lærte os noget basic thai. Derudover lærte vi også hinanden bedre at kende, hvilket var rart. Templerne var rigtig flotte, men da vi var færdige, så var vi også godt og grundige tempel trætte, så vi valgte at tage en drink/is, og tog derefter på et lille marked. Da klokken nærmede sig 18 tog vi til togstationen for at nå vores nattog til Chiang Mai, dog var toget 2 timer forsinket, så ... read more