Tim Green

travellingtim

Tim Green

23/9 Ayutthaya

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Ayutthaya September 27th 2016

IMG_1644

travellingtim

Just 250 years ago Ayutthaya was the biggest city in the world with a million inhabitants, it was a huge trading centre and any trading nation worth its salt would have had offices and interests there, the city was said to rival anything seen in Europe at the time. Then in 1767 the Burmese came and totally sacked the city leaving it in ruins and causing the capitol to be moved to Bangkok. I didn't have the earliest of starts, still feeling the effects of the night flight, but still had all the afternoon to explore the temple ruins before catching the night train to Chiang mai at 19:45. First stop was Wat Rachaburana, built by an Ayutthayan king to house the ashes of his two elder brothers who had fought to the death in a ... read more

22/9 Bangkok to Ayutthaya

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 26th 2016

IMG_1576

travellingtim

There wasn't a great deal of time until the train to Ayutthaya, definitely not enough to do the Chinatown area around Yaowarat road justice. I had spent an afternoon getting lost in the street markets there last summer but didn't realise at the time that the shiny new white temple on the start of Yaowarat road was Wat Traimit, home of the Golden Buddha statue. With two hours before my train and with the rain bucketing down it was the perfect time to go and pay this temple a visit. The temple also contains the Chinatown heritage centre and a ticket for this and the golden Buddha costs 140 baht. The heritage centre covers the first floor of the temple and tells of the history of the Chinese immigration to Bangkok and the influence they had ... read more

Getting to Hualamphong station

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok September 23rd 2016

IMG_1557

travellingtim

I arrived at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport after a sleepless night flight from Manchester, exhausted but knowing the only plan for the day was to get the train up to Ayutthaya. First up I had to get to Hua lamphong, Bangkok's main train station. It's pretty straightforward getting there from the airport.....first you go from arrivals down to B floor where the rail link station is, you then purchase a ticket to Makkasan for 35 baht, at Makkasan you follow the signs for Phetchaburi MRT station that is just around the corner and buy a ticket here to Hua lamphong, the end of the line for 30 baht. You leave the MRT via the exit that says train station and around the corner you will see the facade of the station in front of you, also on ... read more

Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.004s; cc: 4; qc: 42; dbt: 0.0603s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb

Joined	June 3rd 2015	Trips	1
Last Login	October 24th 2016	Followers	0
Status	BLOGGER	Follows	0
Blogs	3	Guestbook	0
Photos	17	Forum Posts	0