Hello everybody,

We decided to come to Ayutthaya because of all the ruins. It's only an hour and a half from Bangkok. It is full of old, some hundreds of years old, Wat's (Buddhist Temple). We've only spent a couple of days here as it's quite small and apart from all the ruins, there's not much else to keep you here. So it will only be a small journal I'm affraid!

The ruins of the Wat's are amazing to see. Especially when some of them date back to 13th Century and are still just about standing. One of them we went to, you were allowed to go inside. It was cramped with very narrow stairs going down towards a 'box size room' shrine. The other one's we visited, we just walked around the grounds. They all close around 6pm but are lit up which you can see from the main roads. It makes it all very atmospheric. It's a little similar to Rome with all the ruins but on a much smaller scale.

On a walk today around a lovely green park we saw a Monitor Lizard. It was really amazing and Gemma couldn't believe we actually saw one in the wild. It was nearly five foot in length but didn't get a chance to take a photo as it ran off as soon as it saw us. Darren was gutted!

The weather now is hotter than Bangkok which is strange when you think we're moving further away from the equator. So we're walking in the shaded areas of the streets as much as possible. There are a couple of cool night markets here and lots of street markets. Which are fascinating just to walk around in? We tried some more local foods and sweets. Again all very nice.

We have booked a coach up to Chiang Mai from which we leave for in a few hours. It's an over night one and takes about 11 hours. But it has proper seats so should be a lot more comfortable than the over night buses in China. We have booked a place in the centre of the city and are only 3 to 5 minute walk from the main Chiang Mai 'Night Bazaar' which is the cities main market and attraction and is meant to be huge. So we're really pleased about that.

We'll update again in a few days. Told you it will be a short journal :o)

Lots of love Darren and Gemma xxx xxx