In the morning I had a long, hot and humid walk to the Hualamphong train station in Bangkok. Then I took the train 2 hours away to the ancient capital of the country, Ayutthaya. It was the capital for 400 years of its history. I was surprised the 3rd class ticket was only 15 Baht ($0.50). Once I arrived, I walked toward the city and a guy invited me to his guesthouse and I took a 100 Baht ($3) room there. Talk about a low cost of living city. Later in the day I tried to find a special noodle place that serves cheap bowls of noodles and you eat many bowls and stack them on the table. I found one with 10 Baht ($0.30) bowls and I had four. I thought the bowls would be smaller or else I would have stacked up twice as high!
The next day I rented a bicycle so I could ride around the city and see all the ruins, museums, and temples. I started off at 7:00 in the morning and visited Wat Yau Chai Mongkhon, Wat Phanan Choeng, Chao Sam Phraya National Museum, Wat Chai Watthanaram, Wat Lokayasutharam, the Ancient Palace (which was only some foundation bricks), Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, Wat Mahathat, and Wat Ratchaburana.
Wat Ratchaburana was interesting because you could go inside down some steep stairs into a chamber where a lot of treasure was found in the 1950’s.
At one point I noticed I was barely casting any shadow. I looked at my watch and it was 12:00. I’m walking through a field where the ancient royal palace used to be and there isn’t much shade anywhere! So that’s why Thailand is so hot. I got some sunburn this day too. I didn’t put enough sun lotion on myself.