From Bangkok back North

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Today wasn't our best day yet. As I mentioned yesterday, we arrived by night bus (not recommended!) in Bangkok at 5:00AM, and were immediately mobbed by taxi drivers. After some harsh bargaining we got one to take us to the airport for 700 baht (about 70 NIS, or $22, more or less) instead of 1,200, and we paid the 25 for the toll road. When we got there he tried to get 800 from us. We stood fast. Then he didn't have change. We found someone who did and saw his back fast!

We found the rental agency (it was open and the rep was there). After some paperwork we got our car for the next week, and sat down for some very much needed coffee! It was getting light now, and we headed on our way towards Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand. The first thing we did when we got there was to park in the shade, by the city's historical park, put the seats way back and sleep for about an hour and a half with the air conditioning on! Without that nap and after our night bus ride we would have been zombies all day. As it was we were only marginally better.

We got up, left the comfort of the car and went to see some of the ancient ruins of the town. I must admit they are impressive! Even though it was sweltering hot, not a cloud in the sky and any bits of shade were few and far between. All the ruins were made of red brick, and then covered with white plaster or stucco. We toured the remains of an ancient temple complex and found very quickly that although all the signs were written in Thai and English, they explained the design of the buildings, not their purpose. This was true for all the remains in the city, which is a shame. I'd be more interested in what the king used that great big Prang tower for, rather than how many levels it had.

We went from one lot of ruins to another, bought a ticket that included them all. Every now and then we were solicited by tuktuk drivers for tours of the city. I understand they want the business, bt we'd prefer to walk or drive our own (air conditioned) car. We got a couple cold drinks (Gilat her by now regular iced green tea with milk, I got a fresh pineapple smoothie, and both were cold, sweet and deliciously refreshing).

The main part of the park has lots of connected ponds and canals with foot bridges over them, and that area had lots of trees. We spent quite a while there, watching the birds and insects on the water lilies, and then I saw what I thought was a turtle swimming among the lily pads. But a closer look showed it to be a large monitor lizard! Cool! I kinda wished it was me swimming in the water instead of it. We sad on the bank of the pond for a while watching it, and the birds, the occasional squirrel in a tree. After a while we moved on, and spotted another monitor lizard swimming from one of the bridges. I caught it on camera as it climbed ashore and trundled off. It most have been 1.5 meters long!

A little later we found the famous Buddha head in a tree. Pretty cool!

We got back to the car, got a snack from one of the stalls and went for a visit to one last lot of remains. It's all very impressive but we were all Watted out - too many temples and centuries-old brick buildings being taken over by the jungle. We were exhausted and it was way too hot to really appreciate them. We got some fresh cut pineapple and drove on towards the town of Uthai Thani, where we booked a room. Gilat fed me pieces of fresh pineapple as I drove, but those were shortly gone and by the last half hour of the drive I was battling to stay awake.

Our hotel was a little homestead overlooking a swampy area. The proprietor was a very friendly young woman who talked a lot and didn't know a word of English. Communication was not super efficient, but it got done. The room looked nice, clean, but super hot and it took a while to get the AC working. The walls were still giving off heat long after the AC was on full blast!

We showered and went out to find dinner. We found a nice little restaurant at the water's edge. There was a local family at the next table and their young daughter (she must have been 14 or 15 years old) just came over and asked, in English, if she could help us. She helped us communicate with our waitress and order supper, and we thanked her profusely, and complimented her on her English.

Gilat had the Tom Yam soup (and we decided we could order it every time and not get bored, because it's different at every place we tried it), and I ordered a steamed fish right out of the pond. The soup was very good, but the fish was fantastic! It came with a hot & sour sauce that really upgraded it. A good way to end a not-so-good day.

Back at the hotel we took way too long planning tomorrow (exhaustion doesn't help in such situations), swept the bugs off the bed (this is the last time we reserve a room overlooking the water!) and crashed. Or tried to. Did you know that geckos chirp? And Gilat was afraid our room's gecko would crawl on her at night... I assured her it wouldn't, and it didn't. Finally a good night's sleep!

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Photos

Pretty blue bird
Not sure what it is, but it sure is pretty!

One of the prangs
A Prang is a sort of tower with a pointy cone top