Up and at 'em early today. We picked Loftel 22 because it's close to the Railway station. Originally we had planned on taking a train to Ayutthaya and a sleeper train from Ayutthaya North to Chiang Mai. We didn't realize that the sleeper train required you to buy tickets 3 days in advance so the night before leaving we got some cheap flights from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (about $50 USD each).
This changed our plans with regards to Ayutthaya so we got the latest flights we could (9:30pm) and turned Ayutthaya into a day trip.
We checked out of our hotel and took our first real taxi (50thb) to the railway station. Then checked our Porter 46's at the luggage check in the station and grabbed a waffle for 16thb ($.45 USD) before getting on the 8:40 am train to Ayutthaya.
The train cost about 40thb ($1.20 USD) for both of us and was a cool way to see the city and landscape. The teenager across from us was fascinated with us foreigners and asked to take our picture to send to his friend. It was a pretty fun experience.
An hour and a half later we pulled up to the Ayutthaya station and were bombarded by some very clever and persistent tuk tuk drivers offering tours of the Wats. I had made up my mind that I wanted to bicycle and do our own tour so we held strong and resisted them. One was so dedicated he drove along side of us as we waked towards the bike rental.
After a little confusion we found a bike rental (Hint walk down the ally directly across from the station to find bikes then take the 5thb boat at the end of the ally to get to the city.) The rental place gave us maps and suggested a route through the Wats.
It was fun finding our own way around the ancient capitol of Thailand that dates back to 1350. Our first stop was Wat Phra Mahthat. Home of the Buddha head in a tree! This is one of the iconic images you see when looking at Thailand pictures.
The iconic sandstone Buddha Head in the roots of the tree
I'm writing this post about a week after visiting Ayutthaya so I'm a little fuzzy on the dates and names of every temple we saw. Ayutthaya has a long and interesting history story so if you want to learn more check out
http://www.ayutthaya2020.com/
Which is full of information and videos.
After a full day of biking and seeing temples we got back on the train and returned to Bangkok. Here we had a few hours before our late flight to Chiang Mai so we took a TukTuk (70thb) to Chinatown. It was about 6pm and Chinatown began coming to life around us. As the sun went down more and more stands went up and the lights and smells surrounded us.
Bangkok's Chinatown is so full of life.
The most delicious fresh squeezed pomegranate juice!
After a few stops and a couple of detours down small ally ways we took another TukTuk (80thb) back to the Station. Here we picked up our backpacks and crossed to street to get on the MRT (60thb) to the end of the line at the airport.
We flew Bangkok Airways and it was one of the best flights. Within 10 minutes of being in the air we got our food (a meal on a 1 hour flight?! Crazy). About 20 minutes in we were sleeping and only woke up when the wheels touched down.
A 16thb taxi ride to Old town Chiang Mai and we reached 9 hostel. The hostel that would become our home for the next week or so.
That was the end of an incredible (and incredibly long) day. In total we took two tuktuks, two taxis, one flight, one boat, one train, and road bicycles all in one day.
