Koh Phi-Phi was so amazing that instead of staying there one or two nights we lasted five and still were heartbroken leaving. But unfortunately the show must go on and we didn't fly all the way to Thailand to stay on one little island. So once again we packed up our bags and headed off up North, this time with an extra body. Lisbet, the girl from Denmark we hung out with in Koh Phi-Phi decided to join us.
Our end point is Chang Mai but on the way up we are going to stop in two towns to get as much thai culture as possible. We got an over night bus to Bangkok which wasn't as bad as I had imagined and from Bangkok a train to Ayuthaya. The train journey was two hours and cost us just 20B (€5).
Ayuthaya was the old capital of Thailand and is full of temples some crumbling ruins and others still in use. Our hostel was in walking distance from the train station so we turned down the many offers of tuk-tuks and set off on the direction indicated on our trusty lonely planet map. After a few minutes we met a canal and in order to cross we had to pay 4B to get a boat which was kind of exciting in its own right. After quiet a walk we found our accommodation and were very happy with it, the rooms were tidy and quant and we had some hammocks our the back to relax on. All in all a very good find.
After dumping our bags myself,Lisbet and Ruth went in search of food. We came across a market and decided to explore. This was quiet an experience, unlike all the other markets this one only catered for Thai people and it was a bit shocking. Everywhere we looked meat, fish and fruit were on display, covered in flies and giving off unpleasant smells of rot and decay. I always thought I had a strong stomac and an fearless attitude towards trying new foods but there wasn't a thing I would have eaten at that market.
After escaping our market we opted for a safe breckfast in a near by restaurant, yes maybe in the kitchen the food is also covered in flies and left out for long periods of time in the sweltering heat but in this occasion I was happy to go along with the motto ignorance is bliss.
Next we all rented bikes for only 40B a day (1 euro). This allowed us to travel the town at our own leisure and we got to visit two temple ruins, Wat Phra Mahathay and Wat Ratburana. The temples were beautiful but out of respect you have to be fully covered up which is very difficult with a strong mid day sun beating down on you. Due to the heat we decided to finish our temple exploration for the day and head out instead to see the famous floating market.
Upon entering the marked we thought we had stepped into a twilight zone, one of the girls described it as Disneyland on a bad acid trip. Childish music was blaring out of speakers, and everywhere we looked animals were being used as attractions in a cruel and upsetting way, for example we looked into a cage about the size of a large room and saw two beautiful tigers crammed in with massive chains around their necks or we saw a small pin full of goats falling around on the wooden floor which was littered with their excrement. We were all troubled by these sites and close to leaving but decided to walk a bit further. On a bit from the evil Disney site we found the real floating market and were very impressed. It was full of little stalls selling everything from clothes to jewellery and even pharmaceuticals.
One thing I forgot to mention about Ayuthaya is that although this town has plenty of tourist attractions we found that it had very little tourists so many of the locals had little or no english. As usual we are used to travelling anywhere in the world and expecting who ever we meet there to know at least a bit of English so because of that we have become shamefully lazy in trying to learn any words or useful phrases. Well we really suffered for our laziness at the market. We were all in the mood for some pad Thai but nobody had English so it was quiet difficult to find a place that served it and even more difficult to order it when we had found that place. It was funny all the same I must admit. We sat down and were instantly surrounded by about five Thai people trying to figure out what we wanted. They were literally standing over us and laughing at our pathetic attempts to order and eat with chop sticks. For shame!!!
I'd imagine westerners don't often visit the floating market because lots of people were starring at us and taking our photos. One man even asked myself and Deirdre to pose with him for a photo and then trusted his baby at me and got me to pose with the child. Such a funny and new experience.
On our way home from the market we once again had to cross the canal, because it was late in the evening we were the only people on the Boat. About mid way across the canal the driver offered the wheel to brid which was very exciting indeed, one by one we all had fun driving the boat and posing for photos. We thought it was the funniest thing ever but I don't think the large group of people waiting on the other side of the pier felt the same, woops!