Finally we left Bangkok a little later than planned as we could not drag our ass's out of bed but eventually we made it to the train station a little after 9. We set off on the 2 hour journey up to Ayutthaya which is the former royal capital of Thailand. We decided to spend the day here as we were catching the overnight train to Chiang Mai and did not really fancy another day in the capital. As we disembarked the train the first thing we noticed was the immense amount of stray dogs roaming the streets, we were warned that this maybe the case but as long as we did not get in there way they stayed out of ours. Ayutthaya is set on a little island in the mainland but is surrounded by a river so we jumped on a boat across to the main area. We jumped off the boat and found a small little internet café that offered bike hire (don't worry push bikes) around the town. We had already decided this is how we were going to view the ruins as walking with the rucksacks would have been a mission. We dumped the bags and set off on our way with our 70's style bikes with a shopping basket and bell, the stuff of dreams really.

As we biked around the ruins there way not a lot to see really but the imagination could run wild with a place that was once dominant in the land, all the statues of Buddha's still standing but beheaded symbolising the fall of Ayutthaya. Continuing on our journey we cycled round more of the temples only to be mobbed by school kids. Now this is a funny story me and Rachel as you all know are kind of celebrities lol or not. Any how these kids kept on starring and we could not work out why, turns out that they have never seen a westerner before as they were from a deeper part of Thailand. So when Rachel agreed to a photo she was swamped in kids trying to practice the little English they had learned, really cute in fact. Anyway after our moment of fame or Rachel's we dumped the bikes and had a good old fashion bangers and mash in a British run café where we spend the night waiting for our train. It could not have been any handier as we sat and heard tails of one mans trek through the Asia where he now calls his home.

After about 4 hours of waiting we finally left the city of ruins and made it on the train to Chiang Mai, where I was shacked up with three Thai loads, all retired and on a golfing weekend away from the wives, even with the communication problems we shared the different types of music that I listen to (Indie) and there (Jazz) while sipping on some brandy, believe me it was kind of needed to sleep as the tracks over here don't quite run as smooth as network rails.