Ayutthaya: 16th June to 20th June

Having decided we couldn’t face another night at the elephant hotel we left a day ahead of schedule and were soon at Phitsanulok station waiting for the train to Ayutthaya. We hadn’t booked ahead but were able to pick up two tickets on the day for just 30 baht, that’s right 60p in your face GNER. After wolfing down some noodles from a shack by the side of the station we climbed aboard and settled in for the long haul.

We arrived at Ayutthaya, found a Tuktuk and were just walking to get in when disaster struck, Hayley walked through a huge mud puddle nearly losing her beloved Birkenstocks and getting coated in mud in the process. I was hopeful that the world’s ugliest shoes would soon be confined to the bin but I was disappointed the next morning to find they’d made a Lazarus like recovery after Hayley had showered them the night before.

Rather than a hotel we were staying in a serviced apartment which meant we got our own kitchen – http://www.kameocollection.com/classickameo-ayutthaya/

Up early the next day we were going to head to the historic park we got outside and were nearly floored by the heat, it must have been about 38 degrees before 9.30. Since we had plenty of days before our flight to Singapore we decided to extend our stay here (the room was really comfortable and the complimentary breakfast was really tasty) and spent the whole day in the pool.

That evening we thought we’d try to cook something ourselves for a change. Walking the streets nearby we found plenty of 7-11’s but nowhere that sold food that wasn’t pre-packaged so we admitted defeat and ordered room service from the restaurant that was part of the building.

Determined not to let the Heat beat us twice we were up early again and this time got into the park. Unlike Sukhothai, which is set in a dedicated park outside of town the Auytthea ruins are within the main town. Again we decided to hire bikes and set off to do the rounds

First off was tourist centre for some maps.

Followed by Thanon Si Samphet

Wat Phra Ram

Bueng Phra Ram

Being totally honest it was at this point that “temple fatigue” hit us hard. I’ve lost count of the number of shrines we’d seen and as the temperature was already shooting up the highs of the previous day we cut short our trip and headed back to the hotel for some more pool time – it really was this bright! (Maybe I’m just a terrible photographer?)

Having recharged, we headed back into town that evening for dinner, which was pretty ropey and quite possibly the most oily meal I’ve eaten. We finished pretty quickly and rounded off the evening over the road with a few beers and games of pool.

With two more days in Ayutthaya but very little desire to see more temples we spent the majority of the time around the pool.

We discovered that the apartments offered a shuttle bus out to a nearby shopping centre so one evening we headed out to pick up supplies for dinner. Hayley had completed a check of the kitchen equipment we had available to us and had come up with a gourmet menu that made use of every implement available to us, beans on toast it is! Hayley had been hankering for this for about 3 weeks by this point.

We had a real struggle tracking down the ingredients in the huge supermarket, apparently it’s not a delicacy round these parts. Along the way we resisted the temptation to try some of the Thai offerings.

With dinner out of the way we decided to have a night in before our trip to Bangkok the next day.