Bangkok '09 ~3rd Day..

We started the day going to Ayutthaya! Excited cos we'll be visiting the ruins of the ancient capital. Exploring thru the ancient ruins brings a mystique feel, wondering how the ancient pple manage to build all the pagodas thru sheer labour without all the modern machinery we have now.

For our overseas trips, we always enjoy mixing around with the locals. Instead of taking the easy way out of joining a day tour, we took a train there. Besides, we can enjoy the scenery of the countryside much more than compared to a coach bus traveling on the expressway.

Still hardly awake. Luckily we got seats as our 3rd class tickets doesn’t have seats allocation. The locals have priority when it comes to seating, glad we looked like Thais =)

Hired this taxi for 5hrs’ exploration in Ayutthaya. Cost us THB 200 per hour.

First up, Wat Yat Chai Mongkol, where the large chedi can be seen from a far distance.

It has a courtyard lined by Buddha statues all wearing saffron robes and destroyed chedis.

Our 2nd stop was Wat Panan Choeng, old monastery housing Thailand's
largest ancient Buddha image, known as "Luang Po To". Can see many worshippers here sticking gold flakes on the statues.

Really amazing to see the headless Buddha statues, centuries old pagodas, all the Wats which bored Noga to the max! Haha. Legend has it that when the Burmese attacked the Siamese, they took all the Buddha heads believing that gold are hidden in them. But the gold was never found.

The largest collection of headless Buddha statues was located at one of these temple Wat Mahathat. The main attraction is a Buddha head too heavy to be carried off. Later a Bodhi tree grew over it but mysteriously, the tree roots only grew around the statue head and never covered the face, coincidence or divine?

Outside Wat Mahathat, we had a simple lunch of phad thai and fried rice, before going to the Elephant Palace. The elephants are just standing in a row swaying side by side while waiting for riders or for people to feed them.

Further down, we get to Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopitah, and next to it, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, also known as the Ancient Palace.

The three stately Chedi of Wat Phra Sri Sanphet, a royal temple built in 1491 that honors three 15th-century kings.

Our last stops brought us to Wat Lokkayasutha, which lies a large reclining Buddha of approximately 42 metres. And Wat Chaiwatthanaram, which we only viewed from a distance.

Saw this cute nemo taxi on our way back.

The driver dropped us at the Cham Phrao market to see the locals bustling thru their work and to get some food as well. We seldom see any tourist here thou.

Took the express bus back to northern bus terminal at chatuchak, transferred to taking the BTS and had a nice dinner at Som Boon restaurant. A feast!!

We booked our spa treatment at 10pm so still had time for a little shopping at Patpong night market.