Thailand’s Golden Age History

After returning to Bangkok briefly from Kanchanaburi, Dan and I then headed out to Ayutthaya; one of Thailand’s ancient cities. We stayed at a place I booked from home, Baan Are Gong guesthouse. A house made purely from teak wood, styled like a boat we think, with cabin style rooms, it was beautiful. Ayutthaya is a small inland island surrounded by a river and the guesthouse was located just next to the river ferry crossing.

That night we went across the river towards the bars area, where we ate, played lots of pool, and Dan sang with the resident band on stage!

The following day we went off to see the main attractions of Ayutthaya; the ancient city ruins and wats. We walked across town to Wat Mathat, Wat Bophit and Wat Si Sanphet. There were also elephants you could ride as taxis, but it was expensive and very touristy.

After a pit stop for boat noodles and roti, we headed back and Dan went out to watch the city match, I surprised him later in the evening by arriving via motorbike (which I rode side saddle (I’m turning Asian!) As I was wearing a dress! It was amazing and I think now I am slightly obsessed with getting a motorbike!)
We met a German girl named Anna at the bar, and once again Dan was asked to sing on stage with the band!

The following day we went to the southern part of town, again getting a motorbike taxi to take us. We crossed over via river ferry again (which usually costs about 5p!!) Here we saw an in use temple, a Thai Wat next door to a Chinese style temple. Locals were setting off fire crackers (so loud!) And feeding the hundreds of cat fish that resided in the river. The temple was packed, mainly with locals making their offerings to Buddha. In the Thai temple locals were buying orange monk robes to throw over the large golden Buddha, which were then collected and piled up in the back… ready to be bought again!

We got the train back to Bangkok that night so Dan was ready to catch his flight home the next day. We ate with Ben and went to the jazz sky bar again afterwards. It’s been amazing having these 2 here! Really helped me settle into travelling and now I know I have the confidence to continue by myself! I love you guys 

I chilled in Bangkok for a day before catching a bus to another ancient capital, Sukhothai. The bus was amazing, like an airline, I got a free meal, drinks and snacks, and even got escorted to my seat! I met up with Anna in Sukhothai and we shared a room inside the old town, right next to the ruins.

We rented bikes; the only one that was big enough for my height was a rusty gold coloured traditional Thai-style bike, unique to any of the other bikes for rent and I loved it! Even it’s very squeaky brakes!

We spent the whole day exploring the ancient ruins, and for at least 2 hours we didn’t see another tourist, which was a perfect way to see the sights!

We went all over the western park of the park, stopping to climb a path. It was hard work in the heat, but worth it once we reached the top!

The park really was beautiful…

After a shower and a nap we went back to the park as we had heard there was going to be a light show. It wasn’t really much about lights, but there was a festival and some of the ruins had lights pointed at them. We gate crashed the party (as the only westerners (or western women I should say…)) and there was free food and drink (which I took full advantage of!) A talent show on a stage, and at the end everyone got up dancing and I was dragged to the front to be taught traditional Thai dancing (and to be laughed at for my efforts!!). The evening was so much fun, it just topped off a perfect day in Thailand