Driving Dumbo
Trip Start
Mar 14, 2006
1
137
374
Trip End
Mar 15, 2007
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Ayuthaya,
Thailand
Saturday, July 29, 2006
With her having a dentist appointment first though which by the time she was finished and we'd made out way through Bangkok's morning traffic it was near 11:30 before we actually left.
Not that that would matter much anyway with us getting a small mini-bus to Ayuthaya with the driver apparently trying his best to break the speed of light we half wondered if we would start traveling back in time and actually arrive at the ancient capital when it was still the capital.
Ayuthaya has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site (really racking them up on this journey) to preserve the historic temples and ruins scattered throughout the city. We started off in the outskirts of the city at Wat Yai Chai Mongkhan or 'Big Wat' which seemed well named given it's large Chedi (the upside down ice-cream cone building found in most Wats) topped off with a band of bats having a siesta inside.
Walking as far as the river encircling the city centre we realized our free little map was not to scale or at least not to a scale that our feet agreed with so we hopped in a tuk tuk to reach the main cluster of temples in the centre. Being informed by our friendly driver (always easier to bargain with when one of you can speak Thai) that there were elephants to ride around town May stated she had never ridden one but, for some unexplained reason, would be too scared to do so. Before I even got to ask why though her mind changed immediately on seeing them lumbering down the road exclaiming "We have to ride the elephant!"
After a 30 minute Dumbo tour around town we continued to tick off the many more Wats in the centre with me glad of the services of 'May's Personal Tour Guide Inc'.
Back in Bangkok we took the bus from Victory Monument were the bus stopped back home taking us over 1.5 hours on an A/C-less bus as I wondered whose smart idea it was to have leather seats on these things as I attempted to de-stick myself to get off.
