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Temple ruins, Ayutthaya
Very peaceful - got there just before the tour parties arrived Greetings all
We hope this blogs finds you well and ready to party over the festive season. Pleased to report all's great with us. As our first visit to Thailand is nearing an end we thought we'd get this one posted before Christmas.
Sadly we never got to see the River Kwai Bridge sound and light show as unfortunately a woman was hit by the train earlier in the day which screwed up the two evening performances. We were undecided on whether we should head north or south but after overhearing a Norwegian girl waxing lyrical about AYUTTHAYA we decided to head west and check it out.
Ayutthaya was the capital of Thailand before Bangkok, which is only 80 kms away, and in its pomp was so well endowed with gilt covered temples that it is rumoured that the sunlight reflecting from it could be seen for miles around. Today none of the gilt decorations remain but there are temple ruins everywhere dating back 600 years or more that give you a good idea of how grand it must have been. The town is in a beautiful setting encircled by three rivers
Temple ruins, Ayutthaya
One of these might need underpinning! making it an island city. We enjoyed three full days here, the first two on foot exploring the nearest sites with an evening boat trip on day two around the rivers seeing the sun go down over the most distant ruin. On the third day we decided to hire bicycles and cycle back to the final site of the boat trip as it was so beautiful and well preserved that we wanted to spend more time there. During our stay we also visited the local museum which contains fabulous golden jewelled artefacts which were only excavated in 1956 - there would be far more to see but unfortunately in 1957 the police chief entrusted with guarding the excavation sites "invited" looters to help themselves to the treasures and 80% were never recovered. Considering the artefacts recovered weight around 97 kilos that's a crap load that was stolen!
On 10 December we flew down to Krabi on the southwest coast, it's the provincial capital and where we learned to dive 13 years ago and boy has it changed. It seems to have doubled in size and is choc-a-bloc with hotels, bars & restaurants but somehow has retained its
Temple ruins, Ayutthaya
These Buddahs are everwhere friendly and relaxed atmosphere. We installed ourselves in a cheap little guesthouse and spent a few days revisiting the nearby beaches (Ao Nang and Railay), bars and restaurants that we remembered from years back - great to see they are still going. Whilst strolling along the pretty riverside walk one evening several boatmen approached us offering tours around the local mangrove swamp. We stopped and chatted to one and ended up booking a two hour tour on his longtail boat - so pleased we did as it was wonderful. On it we visited a cave system where some 40,000 year old "missing link" skeletons were found, a fish farm where Trev nearly lost his fingers whilst hand feeding some rather hungry fish as well as the mangrove swamp itself where we passed through some ridiculously narrow channels. Got to spot some great birds too including kingfishers and a white-bellied sea eagle.
We then decided to head to Ko Lanta, one of the many islands on the west coast - one we visited before and loved. We chose to stay at a small resort on Khlong Khong beach, seduced by the pictures of the bar on Booking.com (where
Temple ruins, Ayutthaya
One of the six huge sites of massive ruins we visited we are currently sitting typing this). We came here primarily to go diving and have enjoyed four fantastic dives at Ko Phi Phi and Ko Ha. We dived into caves and saw black-tipped reef sharks, a hawksbill turtle, octopus and many many varieties of fish, marine life and coral. In between our dive days we decided to explore the island and hired a motorbike and had great fun buzzing around for two days. Old Lanta Town was well worth visiting and we even had a personal tour of the community museum there by the curator (he actually had to open it for us!). For those who know Trev's motorbiking history both days were unqualified successes. For those that don't, 35 years ago he ended up in hospital with 9 months off work and 13 years ago (the next time he rode a motorbike) he was overtaken by a pedal cyclist! We also managed a couple of days on the lovely long sandy beach at our resort, which has some nice rocks off shore so lots of fish to see when snorkelling.
Travelled back to Krabi today - only here for one night although it will be spent
Temple ruins, Ayutthaya
Had this to ourselves until 4 coach loads of school children turned up in a bar watching Liverpool vs Arsenal (11pm kick off here) before flying to Vietnam for Christmas. No idea what to expect but we hope our spicy noodles and BBQ fish are as good as turkey and all the trimmings! On that note, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2015.
With lots of love
Trev and Verity xxx
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Mugsy
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What a small helmeut you have !!