We had booked ourselves on a full day tour of Ayutthaya for the second day in Thailand - this is a UNESCO world heritage site and was where the old capital used to be and is now mainly ruins. We joined a coachload of tourists early in the morning, having been collected from our hotel and taken to the coach. We had to wait there a good half an hour before the coach was due to leave so we spent our time wearing the kids out in the alleyway leading to a square next to the coach. Sebastien loves chasing birds - if any chance to land near him - so the pigeons were in for a bit of a scare.
Finally it was time and we were off on the coach. Hmm, checking that we have everything... children - yes, wallets - yes, camera - oh dear. We had left it on the minivan that had collected us from the hotel. Hence the paucity of photos.
Ayutthaya is about an hour's drive north of Bangkok and we spent it entertaining two children - we (wisely?) had decided to sit in the very back of the coach... right next to the toilet - whilst the guide educated the tour participants in the history of the area and of Thailand itself. He also pointed to things to notice on the way there.
We visited Bang Pa-In, the summer palace. It is only used infrequently however there were plenty of guards with weapons visible during our visit. This must be a frequent stop for school excursions as we saw several whilst we were there. The architecture was very european with only the pavilion in the middle of the pond looking thai. The grounds were meticulously maintained with a series of animal topiaries along the walk back to the coach (rabbits, deer, elephants and others). When we got to the only building open to the public, the Chinese style residence built in China and gifted to King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in 1889 which has and ebony and red lacquor interior, Alex and Sebastien preferred to play in the smaller servants house that Mummy had to bend over nearly in half to go into. It had a small staircase of about 7 steps which just added to the fun.
Daddy took them up into the Sages' Lookout tower (looks something like a lighthouse) where they waved to Mummy who had sought shelter in the shade below. Then it was time to head back to the coach and move onto the ruins.
We visited several areas of ruins and heard a lot of information about them. It was very difficult with the two children to do this and we wouldn't do it again with them. We did see the headless buddhas at Wat Mahathat - the heads having been removed to the relative safety of museums. Apparently collectors will take the heads of the buddhas as prizes, leaving the heavy bodies - also, the head is considered sacred in Thailand (remember it is taboo to touch someone's head) so that is why they specifically were removed. There are many prangs (chedis) here but many of them are succumbing to gravity as the ground shifts and looking like the leaning tower of Pisa.
Most picturesque was the buddha head in the tree that Mummy had seen photos of many years before. We visited around three Wats altogether and at the third one Mummy found a street vendor peeling and slicing fresh mango - mmmmmmm! Mummy's all time favorite thing to eat and boy did it taste good! She purchased two as apparently mango appreciation is hereditary.We also visited{a place which shall remain nameless until Mummy goes through the mounds of paper maps etc we brought back with us} where we were able to see elephants being ridden (we were very close to trying to visit northern Thailand and the hill tribes and elephant camps but time did not permit) and actors dressed up in old-style fighting costumes. This was the most heavily hawked site we were at as person after person tried to sell us carvings of elephants, postcards and other knicknacks. We also discovered the way that the Thais keep cool is to immerse disposable wet cloths in ice in a cooler and by lunch time they are refreshing to wipe your face, hands and back of neck with. Even Sebastien enjoyed his!
Then it was onto the return river cruise. There was a western lunch buffet which we enjoyed. Sebastien had again fallen asleep so we lay him on the bench seat whilst we three enjoyed our lunch. Luckily we grabbed a little extra food as the staff had all but packed it away by the time he woke up.
We became friendly with a lovely italian family, Barbara, Paolo and Alessio, principally because of Aless and Alex who are almost the same age - we were sitting at the same table for lunch and both of them turned their heads each time a parent said either Aless or Alex.
Luckily for us because they sent us some photos - all the ones on this page except the last one - and we thank them very much!
The staff were quite taken with the children and gave them three toys each - a party blower, a drum and some sort of squeaky bird call. None of the toys lasted longer than that night but they were much loved during the cruise!
One of the staff members could also do a neat trick - turning a linen serviette into an indeterminate animal which would lie on their arm and move up the arm when stroked only to jump when either child tried to pet it - it scared the kids half to death but they kept coming back for more! Daddy even got in on the action too though his act needs a little more polish.After a leisurely cruise back to Bangkok, during which we spent our time more chasing after the children than looking at any of the scenery, we headed back to the hotel - our tour guide managed to find our camera in time to return to us at the hotel. We had to find dinner, get the kids to bed and then pack as the next day we were checking out and taxi-ing to Pattaya. At least, we hoped that our taxi driver would be there to take us to Pattaya...
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