Monday we planned on spending in Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We woke up early again because we weren’t too sure how to actually get there; all we knew was that there were daily buses/vans to Ayutthaya from Bangkok. The hotel receptionist informed us that we could get a minivan from Victory Monument to Ayutthaya. Having no clue where this monument was, we took a taxi. It was basically a huge statue in the middle of a rotary. We had to wander around for a little while and ask multiple people where to get the van, but we finally found it. We were the last two people in the van, so we got to sit in the front and it was only 60bhat (or about $2USD)!
A tuk tuk (I realized I didn't post a picture in the previous post, so here you go!)
The ride took a little over an hour and once we got closer to Ayutthaya, the driver would randomly stop to let people off. We had no idea where to get off but at one point the driver pulled over and was like “Ayutthaya” and dropped us off on the side of the rode where there were about five or six tuk tuks. Of course they bombarded us at once offering their driving services, but for ridiculous prices, especially compared to our 20bhat ride the day before. After much bargaining we finally agreed with one driver for 200bhat per person for 3 hours. Our driver told us these tuk tuks are more expensive because they don’t bring you to different shops like the ones in Bangkok do, so no tailors for us today. Haha.
Our first stop for the day was an elephant village where we were able to ride an elephant for thirty minutes! When Kat and I were planning this trip, riding an elephant was at the top of our to-do list, but we weren’t too sure how it was going to happen. Thankfully this opportunity basically fell into our laps! The ride was great! We rode around a temple site and through the elephant village and Kat and I were actually allowed to sit on the elephant’s neck while our guide took pictures. It was quite the experience.
Our tuk tuk driver then took us to Wat Maha That; a lot of the actual places he took us to, we had no idea what they were, but they were all very interesting and we were able to see a lot of Ayutthaya. Wat Maha That contains the ruins of an old monastery that was destroyed in a fire in the 18th century. The ruins are amazing, and rather good condition. Inside Wat Maha That is the head of the Sandstone Buddha Image; the body of the image has disappeared but the head is rather engulfed in the trunk of a tree; quite a site to see.
Once we were finished wandering around Wat Maha That, we moved on to Phra Mongkhon BoPhit, one of the biggest Buggha’s in Thailand. Built as a sitting Buddha, the statue stands at 16.95 meters (about 55.6ft)!
Following Phra Mongkhon BoPhit we went to another area of ruins (at this point, all the sites were beginning to look very similar) but I don’t remember what this was called, sorry! Basically the same thing though, ruins and Buddhas all around.
Our second to last stop was a reclining Buddha. Unlike the one we saw the day before in Bangkok, this Buddha is outside and is not made of/painted in gold; it’s just chilling on the side of the road (most of these sites are just on the side of the road/around the neighborhood. I think it’d be so cool to live in the area and see all these historic ruins everyday). Size wise, this Buddha seemed comparable to the reclining Buddha we saw at Wat Pho.
Our final stop for the day was Wat Ratchaburana. Wat Ratchaburana was built for King Boron Rachathitirat II (1424-1448) as a burial tomb, something similar to the pyramids in Egypt. In the 1950 (or was it the 1970s?) the tomb was robbed so it too is in ruins. Unlike the other ruins we explored, we were actually able to go inside the main buildings and further explore. We were able to climb to the top of the main building and there was a small exhibit explaining what was found in/stolen from the tomb; it was cool to see everything from a higher viewpoint.
We asked our driver to drop us off at the bus/minivan to Bangkok because we had no clue where it was or where we were. We got lunch (fried rice) at a little side street cart and ha a great conversation with the owner. He answered our questions and was so helpful in providing maps of Koh Samui and Ayutthaya (a little late, but that’s okay). We ended up taking a coach bus back to Bangkok, or rather the outskirts of Bangkok and then transferred to another minivan to take us back to Victory Monument, where we walked around before heading back to the hotel.
We got dinner at a mall just down the street from our hotel. Oh. My. God. What an amazing shopping area! Of course it was all high-end stores, but the bottom floor was basically the food court/grocery store and so many American brands. Haha. It was great walking around and seeing familiar names and smells. For dinner though, we wanted an authentic Thai meal and found a restaurant offering just that. I got chicken with cashew nuts- so good!
Back at our hotel, we planned our trip to the floating markets for Tuesday, and since we had to get up early for that, we hit the sack early.
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