We arrived in Ayuthaya at about lunch time after a 2 hour train journey, that was exactly the same as the trains in India, with people walking up and down the aisles selling food and drink constantly. It was none eventful apart from a dear old lady opposite us praying to every wat we went past and there was at least 10 and one food seller with the most revolting smelling fish ever. She came through our carriage at least 5 times too, nice!

We found a room no problem that was really cheap, so we dumped our bags, had some food and then hired some bikes....push bikes! I don't think either of us have ridden a bike in about 10 years, so it was amusing at first. We were both a bit unstable, but got the hang of it easy enough. It meant that we could get round the whole city in an afternoon, or at least the places we wanted to see anyway. The problem was trying to read a map at the same time, so we had to stop riding a few times and Gemma's bike was faster than mine and so she spent most of the time half a mile ahead of me. It was ok because if I was in front I could not hear Gemma shouting to take turnings.

First stop was the historical study centre to give us an idea of the background to Ayuthaya as it was the old capital before Bangkok but most of the city had been destroyed by the Burmese conquerors. Next was Wat Phra Mahathat, which had been burned down, but some sites remained, the best of the wat being the Buddha head engulfed by tree roots. We then cycled to another Wat that used to be the grand palace until the 15th century when it was converted to a temple, and next door to this was a huge bronze seated Buddha, the largest in Thailand.

After a full afternoon, we went back to our hostel, had a few drinks and some food. We decided that we has seen everything we wanted to see, so on the move again!