On our drive to the Ayutthaya temples we experienced mad Thai traffic in its full glory. Cars constantly changing lanes, skimming past eachother and undertaking while motorbikes dodged in and out. I also observed many numbers of food stalls set alongside the road with different areas we passed through selling a particular product that they specialise in. On the way David needed to stop off at one of the houses he was building. Within a fenced community the house was set alongside a lake. With huge ceilings and rooms for purposes such as 'walk in wardrobe' and 'man cave' it was the kind of house one could only imagine owning in England. Next door we visited David's friend who's house had been built on the lake a few years before. I couldn't stop staring at the view and the relationship their decking and the outside area had with the water. This was my idea of a dream house.
With it still being early in the morning we went to the elephant sanctuary just outside of Ayutthaya. Using David's local knowledge it was the perfect place to meet elephants. There were no other tourists and all the elephants were looked after well by individual carers. We were lucky as there were two baby elephants that were allowed to roam free and play with us. I was so happy to be back in the presence of such wonderful creatures. I am always overwhelmed by their sheer size yet kind nature.
Agreeing to go back to see the elephants again in the morning, it was time to do some culture and see the temples. In contrast this area was indeed very touristy. And it was amusing to see Chinese tourists making the weirdest poses infront of the ruins. The old temples themselves were eye catching due to their stand out red colour and the small bricks used to create them. A highlight was seeing the Buddha stone head that had been encapsuled by a tree and its roots over the years.
Following this, David took us to the Kantary hotel he had booked us into nearby. His kindness and valuable advice throughout the time we were with him made the start of our trip exceptional. The hotel had a pool and luxurious rooms. He again treated us to an evening meal and suggested we head out to town to see the bars. So Immy and I hopped in a tuk tuk and headed for a few drinks in town. We were surprised to find few tourists but some lively bars along the stretch. What we learnt from this night out is that in local areas such like this, taxis and tuks tuks don't run late at night.
The following day after returning to see the elephants we made our way back to Bangkok. For our last day with David he treated us to a manicure and pedicure - a regular treat a lot of expats enjoy due to the cheap prices. Once on our own, we found an authentic restaurant near to the station and spent the evening waiting for our night train. Later while waiting in the station we got chatting to some Thai boys. They were interested to hear about London and whether we lived near Manchester or arsenal. But also relative prices of certain things, it was clear they had heard of the relative expense of English products.
As we had heard from David, Thai services are quite relaxed and our train arrived half an hour late. But we were pleasantly surprised by the comfortable inclining seats and good air con within the carriages. Our tiredness at this point probably made the journey feel quicker and before we knew it we had arrived at Surat Thani in the morning. It was very easy to find and book onto a bus to Koa Lak.