Today Jen, Naresh, and I are heading out to Ayuthaya for a tour of the former Thai capital along with a river cruise back into Bangkok. Ayuthaya was the capital of Thailand from 1350 to 1767, and it used to be a bustling, beautiful city filled with historic wats until the Burmese swooped in and absolutely destroyed it in the mid-18th century. After the attack, the city was so bad off that the King of Thailand decided to move the capital to Bangkok, which has been the capital ever since.

We left early in the morning and arrived at the first of four sites, the King's former Summer Palace. It was crazy hot out, and the air-con on the bus felt good. Naresh and Jen force us to travel in style. If it were up to us, we'd be on the el cheapo bus sleeping on the floor. I'm glad they're here.

So, we had a little over an hour to check out the palace. It felt a bit like Epcot center, with Thai, Chinese, Khmer, and European architecture peppered throughout manicured gardens along Venetian-style canals. We checked out a few of the buildings, learned a bit about the architecture, and had two interesting conversations with our tour guide regarding Buddhism and politics. His take on the political landscape was muted, but his opinions on the royal family were strong. Since Thais don't often share their opinions with others until establishing a relationship based on social hierarchy and trust, this was a nice surprise.

After exploring the buildings at the palace, we moved on to the site I had personally been most looking forward to, Wat Phra Mahathat. This site is the ruin of a formerly enormous temple complex, and it has the most photographed item in Ayuthaya, a stone Buddha head wrapped in the roots of a mango tree (see the Ayuthaya photo album).

There were Thai, Khmer, and Burmese structures in proximity to each other, along with Buddha statues a plenty. The whole area was oozing with history, as the destruction by the Burmese army was readily evident here.

Burmese soldiers lopped off the heads and arms of the Buddha statues after their victory, which we found particularly interesting since the Burmese were also practicing Buddhists. We also noticed some similarities between these ruins and Angkor Wat, especially the khmer-style temples and construction materials. At this point in the trip, we are more readily able to pick out similarities between the various southeast Asian countries relating to culture, architecture, and religion. We spent the better part of an hour at this site and then took off to see a few more things before the boat ride.

Next up was Wat Na Phra Meru, containing one of the only crowned seated Buddha statues in Thailand, sitting high at six meters off the ground. The site also housed a green stone Buddha dating back to the 8th century.

Before we all got back on the bus, I popped away from the group to buy Thai iced coffee from the street vendors outside the wat. The Thais make a mean iced coffee by brewing it, concentrating it, adding sweetened condensed milk, pouring it over ice in plastic bags, and topping it off with fresh cream. Slap a straw in the bag, and voila, Starbucks eat your heart out. On a hot day, these things are heavenly. I just drooled on my keyboard. My apologies. Anyway, I brought one for Naresh and Jen, and they were hooked.

After coffee and a nice respite in the air-con bus, we saw our last site, an enormous reclining Buddha draped in huge billowing saffron robes (those are the saffron robes you requested, Amy).

We then took a three-hour river cruise back from Ayuthaya to Bangkok. Naresh and Jen got their first taste of Thai river life, which is very different from anything else they will see in Thailand. It was very reminiscent of what we saw in the Mekong Delta, so check out the Mekong Delta photo album to get a feel.

On the boat, we met a really nice couple from Australia who happened to be on their honeymoon, and we spent the better part of an hour chatting with them and getting travel tips, including a custom map of the east coast of Australia with all the key sites highlighted. They were really nice, and I bought a round to celebrate their marriage. I have to say that everyone we have met from Australia has been just fantastic. They all seem so easy-going and friendly. I think we will enjoy our visit there very much when the time comes.

Once the cruise ended, we hooked up with Bev back at the hotel. We found Jen and Naresh another authentic Thai dining experience by going to a place recommended by one of the staff at the hotel (she eats there, and is on a tight budget). Once again, the décor was mediocre at best, but the food was pretty tasty. We were pooped from a long day of sightseeing, so we decided that tomorrow night would be the big final hoorah in Bangkok. Sweet dreams.