Weekend in Bangkok/Ayutthaya

Friday was a long and exhausting day for me physically and emotionally and so I spent the evening packing and grooming. I was still pretty late going to sleep, but I just needed space and time to myself. I relaxed in my room for the evening and woke up later on Saturday morning. In the morning, many of us left for Chatuchak market, and I left with them, but I didn't stay. I stayed long enough to take a picture or two of the park before heading off on the BTS to the downtown area. I had to go for a fitting and had no idea how long it would take to get there. I hopped off of the BTS at Saphan Taksin station and took a peek at the river and all the boat tours offered. I had hoped that I would squeeze that in, but by the time my taxi driver from there to Ram Fashion where I purchased my suit, had gotten lost and stopped for directions 3 times, I was positive that it would not happen. And I was right. When I finally got to the tailor shop, I tried on my clothes, which needed a fair bit of work to be done to them. They had let them out a bit and so it needed to be taken in significantly. They had recommended that I allow an hour for them to make alterations, but that turned into 3 when they realized how much needed to be done.

From there, I left to meet the a few other ladies at the Grand Palace for a tour. It was beautiful, and I'm happy that I went, but I found it slightly less impressive after having been to Wat Po where we paid only 1/7th of the entry fee that we paid at the Grand Palace, and where we found a great tour guide. It is beautiful and incredibly sparkly. I had assumed the Emerald Buddha would be bigger, and since we had been allowed to take photos in all the temples in Wat Po, it was disappointing to not be able to get a decent photo of it. I'm glad that I finally got to see it though, and we went back for another fitting of my suit before finding our way to a train station and going out to Ayutthaya.

This was my first time taking a train, and for less than a dollar, I took a train 3rd Class for an hour and half to Ayutthaya and it was fabulous! We had pretty much the entire car to ourselves for the ride to Ayutthaya and we spent it just chatting and enjoying the air blowing in through the open train car windows. Since we had spent the ride talking, neither of us had really paid attention, and if it hadn't been for a young boy on the train yelling that it was Ayutthaya, we never would have gotten off! The train stop appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, and the doors that were open were facing away from the station toward a creek, so we were not sure that we were truly in Ayutthaya until after the kid had disappeared, the train had moved away and we finally had a view of the station, and the last person to join our group for our tour of Ayutthaya. From the train station, we took a short tuk tuk ride to our hotel, Baan Thai Guesthouse, and enjoyed a fabulous room that was like our own little house. The sleep wasn't perfect because we were too cold, but the guesthouse was beautiful and the service was amazing.

The three of us enjoyed supper at the hotel and then went back to our "house" to sleep. We wanted to start early so that we could see as much as possible before catching the evening train. The staff at the Guesthouse brought us a map and circled her recommendations, and we pulled out my guidebook to circle some more. Then we mapped out our route and took off on bikes (the bicycle rental was included in our hotel room) for a long day of walking and cycling. But it was entirely worth it! The day was amazing and every stop was well worth it!

Our first stop was Wat Yai Chaimongkhon

Our second stop was Wat Chaiwatthanaram

The third place we stopped was the Million Toy Museum where we also enjoyed lunch

Our fourth stop was Wat Phukhao Thong

Our fifth stop was a double where we could see Viharn Phra Mongkhon Bophit 

and Wat Phra Si Sanphet

We journeyed past but not into Wat Phra Ram

and Wat Ratchaburana

Our final stop was at Wat Maha That

After cycling and walking for a solid 8 hours, we arrived back at the hotel to pick up our stuff but the staff saw how hot and sweaty we were and handed us towels and sent us to the pool and the pool showers to freshen up before we left! Exhausted and sore from using muscles that have not been used in ages, and sitting on a bicycle seat all day, we hopped on a train back to Bangkok. For literally less than 50 cents, we took the train for an hour and half from Ayutthaya back to Bangkok. The trip back was much more crowded and slightly more uncomfortable with no seats to sit on. We did meet a wonderful couple from Scotland who told us of their adventures and about what they had planned to do next. Overall it was a fabulous weekend!