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Published: March 18th 2011
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Thursday 27th January 2011 We bought a 3rd class train ticket for 40p, but when boarding the train at Bangkok we accidentally (on advice from the station guard) sat in 2nd class – we thought it was a bit weird that the carriage had aircon!
Shortly after departing we were advised of our error by the ticket inspector and moved on to the last carriage with cattle class. It was hot & sticky, but we managed to get a seat & then left the connecting door open for a nice breeze! Luckily the guy sitting next to us was keeping an eye out and let us know as we reached Ayutthaya - we could have easily missed our stop as it didn’t stop for long at the station.
After arriving in Ayutthaya we wandered to the river where we crossed by long boat for 6p each. At the other side we found a helpful English chap from whom we hired bikes and a very basic map with which we toured the inner city temples & old palace.
Starting at Wat Mahathat, we purchased as Audio guide that gave a nice introduction to the period in which
the temples had been built when Ayutthaya was Thailand's capital in the mid-14th century until the late 18th century. One of the most interesting sites was a tree that had grown around and enveloped a limestone Buddha’s head.
Next we cycled to Wat Phra Ram, but it was far less impressive so we quickly moved on to the Old Palace where a giant gold sitting Buddha was housed.
Our last stop of the central temples was the very imposing Wat Pra Si Sanpheth which had 3 chedis (pointed towers) in a row (taking over from the rounder Prangs of the earlier Khmer period) and we listened to our second audio guide.
After finishing the main sights we returned our bikes and had some much needed sustenance before taking a boat tour along the river to see the temples on the river bank before sunset.
The first temple we stopped at was modern and held very little interest... in fact it was so gaudy it looked like a fun fare.
Our second stop was at the far more beautiful Wat Phuttaisawan which had Buddhas everywhere and little rooms hidden in the top of the Prang for
worship.
Just before the sun-set we made it to Wat Chai Wattanaram – we tried to get some photos as the sun went down and were chased out by guard because we refused to pay an entry fee without the audio guide which we’d paid for - unfortunately they’d closed early.
We headed back to the train station at around 20:30 for our 21:00 night train to Chiang Mai, only for it to be delayed until 22:30! It wouldn’t have been so bad, except the announcements were all in Thai and they kept changing the order on the board, so Richard had to run up to the train announcer every time a train pulled up to check if it was ours.
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Judith
non-member comment
..what if they're energy saving ones!!
We were practically up-to-date. Spoke to Mum and Dad last night to ask exactly when u would be coming home. It sure will be a cultural shock for u both but what unbelievable memories u will have for the rest of your lives!! Take special care love Judithxxx