Khaosan Road, Bangkok - the cacophony of noise and colour assaults the senses of the new, open mouthed arrivals, weighed down with their oversized backpacks, undersized credit card limits, and daring dreams of Thai adventures. This place has a long held notorious and infamous reputation as the backpacking melting pot of Asia. Its notoriety was further enhanced by the book and movie "The Beach".

We spent time here during our 2005 trip and absolutely loved it. Then, it was full of educated young Europeans on extended leave from affluent society, gap year travellers, university students on holiday, young Australians and New Zealanders in rite-of-passage uniform of singlet and boardies, and the odd few, not so young travellers, like ourselves. Maybe one or two Japanese backpackers rounded out the mix. It was THE place to begin and end Asian travels for the young. A place to discuss the best Thai Islands and beaches and book ongoing travel with the myriad travel agencies and just generally to feel like a backpacker.

What is surprising is the change to this dynamic. Asian young people have become the new travellers en-masse. Khaosan Road throbs with affluent young South Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese. Now, in reverse, the conspicuous few, are European, Aussies and New Zealanders. Khaosan Road is no longer one small road but an area of interconnected roads and laneways all purporting to be part of the "Khaosan Road Experience".

Where once there were hawkers selling badly photocopied Lonely Planets (we even bought one) now, travellers hold their phones out in front using google maps to find their way. Last time there were pirated DVD's and CD's for sale everywhere, this time we struggled to even find one bookshop and of course nobody pays for movies and music anymore.

As before though, during late evening, the streets turn into bars, loud music is played, and food hawkers sell barbecued insects and bugs as exotic snacks. These days though, the hawkers seem to be pandering to the selfie obsessed - there's even a charge for photographing the snacks.

Nothing beats Khaosan Road for people watching, "two for one" cocktail in hand, the promise of good cheap food and massages to come and, nowhere in particular to be. Even laundry, the constant threat to relaxation for "cabin luggage only" travellers, has been outsourced (love the low cost and speed of "per kilogram" street laundries in Asia!)

Well, we did have one thing planned, other than relaxing, for our three days left of our travels.

Ayutthaya, the UNESCO World Heritage ancient capital of the Kingdom of Siam, lies rather conveniently, only a 90 minute train trip from Bangkok. The sky was dark and monsoonal as we caught a cab to the railway station, but, so far, our choice to travel in the early monsoon season, had proved inspired, with attractions almost sans tourists, and only the occasional need for an umbrella.

On arrival at the Ayutthaya train station, we negotiated a tuk-tuk price with, the rarest of things, a lady driver, for the recommended 3 hours required to whip us around from site to site. "Call me Mum" she said with a beaming smile.

During the 14th to the 18th centuries, Ayutthaya grew to be one of the world's largest urban areas and a centre of global diplomacy and commerce. Located strategically on an island surrounded by three rivers connecting the city to the sea, it was safe from attack by the sea-going warships. Much of the city can still be seen, from a fabulously ornate royal palace to monasteries and evocative remains of toppled statues.

Close to the end of our 3 hours with our delightful driver, the monsoon heavens opened in a thorough drenching. "Mum" stopped and expertly dropped the canvas sides of the tuk tuk and we sped as fast as her little beat up tuk tuk could, back to the railway station, laughing all the way. Talking to a couple of travellers at the station, we found out that a "local third class standing ticket" on the train back would cost us only the equivalent of .80c each and we would still get a seat anyway! Well we did get a seat and it felt so good to be back to our old backpacking ways of travelling - on the cheap and with the locals.

Ayutthaya and Khaosan Road were a classic ending to our almost six weeks of travel. From the opulence of a Maldives Island resort where we were expected to pay $US10 for a bottle of water, to the backpacker reality of paying only 80c for a 90 minute train ride, this trip had it all.