Ayutthaya
This was the Thai capitol until its destruction by the Burmese in 1767. Built at the junction of three rivers, an artificial channel has converted the town into an island.
Stranded in the middle of the highway, 6 km away from Ayutthaya we found out, that we had left our Lonely Planet in the bus. With all the stress, our backpacks already on the street, we jumped out of the bus, leaving our good traveler guide on the seat.
Here we are now in the middle of nowhere Taxidrivers in the back waiting to bring us into the city for a crazy price. They started with 200 Bahrt and we just paid 320 Bahrt for a 6 hours bus ride. Unbelievable. And we new it only takes about 15 minutes. But a better price than 160 Bahrt wasn’t possible.
Without Lonely Planet but luckily remembering the guesthouse’s name we got a good room. It was a nice and quiet guesthouse good to relax. The wooden terrace was in a lake and perfect chill out area.
We decided to do a little tour immediately. We met two Germans – Christian and Christiane. Because of the small group of the 4 of us it was really relaxed and nice. They drove us to different temples and in one of them we waited for the sunset. In the dark the ruines got illuminated and gave them a mysterious look.
I remembered the Wat Ch... in khmerstyle from 2002. It looks like a small version of Ankor Wat. We decided to go there on the next day to take some nice pictures. After the tour they brought us to the nightmarket. Eating and drinking we planned already our next trip for tomorrow.
It seemed quiet but at 5:30 o’clock we woke up because of some roosters. Luckily we had earplugs and drifted back to sleep. After a little breakfast we went to see some ruins of those impressive old wats. The first we went was Wat Mahatat. This one is famous because of the Buddha-head embedded in a big tree. Natur can be really impressive.
Afterwards we went on a little boattrip around Ayutthaya. Stopping by at the Wat Ch… again we took some fabulous pictures. The people on our way around had been so nice and where waving and smiling all the time. This makes our Thailand-Trip unforgettable.
We met Christian and Christiane for dinner. They where heading up to the north with the nighttrain. Micha and me got stuck at a bar watching a football game between France and Ireland. After the French won unfair with a foul we went over to another bar with good live music. An old Thai was sitting there playing Hendrix, Eric Clapton und The Doors. It was great. We got in contact with so many people this evening. That’s the good thing of backpacking.
We decided to stay longer in Ayutthaya to relax and write some reports, put some pics on our homepage. Maybe getting a good thaimassage. Tomorrow we are heading to noisy sticky Bangkok. On the 24th we are flying to Hanoi/Vietnam.
Accommodation: Baan Lotus Guesthouse
Price: good price value
Comment: great wooden terrace at a lake, nice atmosphere