Andrew Pell: Heading north to Ayuthaya

After 5 loud and busy days in Bangkok it was time to head north for some fresh air. Our next stop was Ayuthaya, a small city 2 hours away by bus. The first thing we noted about this place was the amount of feral dogs patrolling the streets. Thankgod they didn't take too much interest to the backpackers with smelly feet walking past! We checked into a funky guest house called Baan Lotus which was run by a lovely old lady who paused during every word, in both Thai and English! The guesthouse used to be an old school and was super clean. Our room was on the second level with a lovely view onto a lotus pond. We enrolled ourselves in the pre organised sightseeing tour around Ayuthaya for the afternoon/evening. It turned out to be a very entertaining evening! We somehow managed to fit 6 people into the hotted up bright green tuk tuk. Our driver even decided to pick up his friend and her daughter who slotted into the front seat whilst my legs hung out the back of the green machine. Whilst scraping through a few ditches/pot holes we did see a lot of Ayuthaya including an elephant camp that provides a comfortable working environment for the elephants. We were able to wander around the camp and were told not to go near 'the one's with tusks'. We did manage to steer clear of this however the boisterous young baby elephant decided Mara's baggy happy pants were the perfect thing to wrap his trunk around and 'play'/push Mara about. Mara did extremely well to keep her feet as thankfully a worker intervened and gave the baby elephant a smack on the bum. I thought it was hilarious but Mara assures me it was slightly scary! After watching the elephants bathe in the river it was time to checkout the ruins and temples of the area. Following a few more stops we ended up at the night market and enjoyed a well earned beer over dinner after a squishy few hours around Ayuthaya.