Day 3 - Ayutthaya

Today, for the first time, we left Bangkok. We had already booked a tour to Ayutthaya by minivan. But first we had to get to the bus station. Since it was supposed to start relatively early, the way was far and it was a bit more complicated to get there, we decided to take a taxi to the bus station for only 250 baht (6€). Now we had to find platform 91. Yes, there are over 100 entrances at the bus station. But even that was quickly solved. You just have to open your mouth and you will be helped. Anyway, all the Thais are very helpful. Now we were already there 30 minutes early, but they just fill up one bus after the next and then leave. So we arrived in Ayutthaya earlier than expected. There we were immediately approached if we wanted a personal tuk-tuk driver who would take us to all the sights. 300 baht per hour (7.50€). We booked it for 4 hours and joined a Belgian couple to share these amazing 30€ by 4. The couple was initially very nice, but maybe a little... Simple. She definitely reminded me of one of my not so smart students. But never mind. We exchanged a bit about goals and experiences and then it was rather quiet between us. So we didn't have more than a well-functioning community of interest. But that's enough too. In any case, we were then driven to many temples and Buddhas... Small Buddhas, big Buddhas, lying and sitting Buddhas and so on. But we also discovered and saw something new again and again. Until 1700 something, Ayutthaya was its own little, very rich city-state. Then unfortunately much was destroyed and the king decided not to rebuild the ruins, but to relocate to Bangkok. So you can mostly only visit ruins there. But they are impressive. It reminds a bit of the buildings of the Incas. Among other things, there is a ruined city that was definitely the template for the monkey city from the Jungle Book. I saw King Louis in my mind's eye the whole time!!! So I whistled the jungle melody the whole time and we took millions of photos that we will probably never look at again. But most of the photos were taken with the camera, so I'll have to show you the monkey city in all its glory later. Unfortunately, there were no monkeys there, as I had considerately heard. They were 60 km further north. Oops. But we saw our first elephants, which trotted down the road with tourists on their backs. But we didn't want to ride them. They looked well-groomed, but somehow. I can't explain it. At 4 p.m. we were back at the minivan and headed home. The journey took 1.5 hours each way. At home I just wanted to go to the pool. Yesssss! Vera stayed in the room. At the pool I started a conversation with an Englishman named Sam, who was initially traveling alone. I spontaneously invited him to have dinner with us. I know what it's like to travel alone. You're happy to have company. The evening turned out to be really nice. We talked a lot about family, work, leisure, travel, Brexit, Angela Merkel, and how Germans see the English and vice versa. Really great evening. Before we went home, Vera and I treated ourselves to a foot massage and then off to bed. It was late again and on day 4 we were supposed to take the train to Phitsanulok. That also meant getting up early, packing, having breakfast, and checking out.