Ayuthaya and onwards

AOur journey into Northern Thailand began at Huelamphong train station in Bangkok, which must serve some of the best cafeteria food I've ever tasted. I tried papaya salad for the first time, which definitely lived up to the hype. It took slightly longer than the other meals to be served up as each person's salad was prepared individually and painstakingly in a large mortar and pestle.

We got the ordinary train without air con to Ayuthaya, which cost about 25p per person. The quality of the air seemed to improve the further we got from Bangkok - David is also adamant it is much more mild even an hour away. The landscape also changed, from ramshackle dwellings right next to the train lines to green vistas filled with palm trees.

After a brief interruption to our journey when we got off at the wrong station and were stranded for an hour, we arrived in Ayuthaya. Until 1767 when the Burmese attacked, this was the capital of Thailand and it  now hosts some spectacular ruins surrounded by a modern town. It is possible to see it on a day trip from Bangkok, but I would recommend actually staying here for a couple of nights as there's a lot to see and it's much more interesting to explore by yourself rather than with a guide.

We spent our first afternoon in town relaxing and getting our bearings, before going to a local bar which was meant to be a popular backpacker hangout. It was pretty quiet however, and the people who were there seemed to be content just talking to their travelling partners, whilst Dave and I are already bored of each other's company!

Most of our interactions so far have been with Thai people rather than other travellers, although the further we get from Bangkok the more that seems to be changing. A lot of Thai people have volunteered directions when we've been standing around looking lost, and many others have shouted hello when we've been walking past on the street, all of which is nice. The Thai sales pitch, at least in Bangkok, was fairly advanced and involved building a level of rapport and engaging you in conversation before trying to persuade you to go in their tuk-tuk to a gem shop across town. As a result, we've been asked many times where we come from, and I'm keeping a rough tally of the responses: whisky (3), blank face (3), bagpipes (1), very cold (1), and Stockholm? (1).  Does Scotland need to work on its global profile?

On our first full day in Ayuthaya we hired bikes from a world-weary American to cycle around the ruins. At times it felt almost unbelievably twee as we cycled through the park, with birds singing in the trees and ancient palaces rising up on the horizon. The ruins in Ayuthaya are a Unesco World Heritage Site and as the pictures will attest they were well worth seeing. There were tour groups around but although it is currently high season, at times we were entirely alone in the park or at the temples. It felt oddly like stepping into a virtual reality video game with a stunning back-drop.

We stopped for lunch at a tiny market stall in the middle of the historical park. The man and his wife running it urged us to sample the food they had in massive tureens, and then served us portions of rice and a delicious minced pork dish. We were the only tourists eating there which was a shame because they were very friendly and the food was excellent. The pink plastic holder appears on restaurant tables across Thailand and contains fish sauce, chillies and sugar which you can add to taste.

  

On Wednesday morning we arranged a private boat tour to see the ruins located on the mainland surrounding the island of Ayuthaya. This was quite expensive but probably worth it, as the river was quite picturesque and the last wat we went to in particular was amazing. As these temples are slightly more difficult to visit, there were even less people there, and little tourist infrastracture. This all worked out to our benefit as again visiting these places felt like walking onto the set of a Disney film, and then having a gigantic playground to explore. 

After our boat trip we travelled on the train to Lopburi, a small town notable mainly for the monkeys which wander freely around the town centre and crawl over the temples. At night they line the electrical wires and screech at each other, which is actually a pretty sinister sight. (Apologies to all the monkey-lovers out there - I'm looking at you Emma!)

We're moving further north today, and heading towards Sukothai, which will supply even more pictures of ancient ruins! If you can't wait till then, there are plenty more pictures from Ayuthaya on David's facebook.