We're in Ayuthaya today. Well, for a couple more hours before we head back to Bangkok and then take a plane to Sukothai (which I probably misspelled).
On day two, we toured the Grand Palace in Bangkok which was gorgeous. The Emerald Budha is so interesting. We'd already visited the largest reclining Budha (which is right down the road), but the Emerald Budha was...small. Gorgeous. I mean, of course it's gorgeous, but it's a wee little guy sitting up on a tall, ornate shrine. But it's just this little guy.
Then things went odd. After taking a break to get out of the heat, we headed to Jim Thompson's house. Or, that's where we told the cab driver we wanted to go. He decided instead to take us on a an unscripted, unspoken tour of the city. After a bit and even though we weren't where we wanted to be, we got out. When he demanded 145 baht, I instead gave him 100. Or instead of the $3.75 he wanted, I gave him $3.00. I was more than a little miffed. I don't like being cheated. I don't like people knowing they can cheat me and there's not a lot I can do about it. And the perspective of it being such a little amount of money to me helps. That's just how it is, I guess.
Anyway, we ended up taking the train. Thank to the help of a couple Thai people who were more than happy to help. (Sure, some cabbies and such are trying to game you, but a lot of people just want you to come here spend some money, have a good time and send your friends). It ended up being nice because we hadn't planned on seeing that part of the city and it was kind of neat.
Then we took a water taxi (again with help from people). And I gotta say, water taxi is the way to go. There's almost no other tourists (or obvious tourists) on the boat and it's super quick. There's little other traffic and it's really fun. Water spritzing you a bit. It's good.
We were going through the ruins of Ayuthaya yesterday (in 90 degree tempratures, plus humidity*), pictures of which will come after we get back. But it was weird. There's this dead city in the middle of this live city, which is live mostly because people want to come see the dead city. Don't really know what to make of that, but it's something I was thinking about.
We went to a night market last night and sampled a lot of good food. Many different meats on sticks and this crepe-like dessert filled with bananas that is apparently a Muslim treat. It was great. You could put anything in front of me and I would probably have eaten it. Of course...this morning there's rice and ginger chicken/fish of some sort alongside eggs and toast. And of course, I'm all eggs and toast, thank you. Sure, I made a nice attempt at the ginger stuff, but it wasn't breakfast. Xenophobia, for me, starts at breakfast.
Not sure when I'll be able to post again, but so far Thailand is great!
*Noted only to make people in the cold a little angry.
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