Next Stop Thailand - Bangkok & Ayutthaya

With a heavy heart, we left Myanmar, one of the most impressive and interesting countries of our journey around the globe, with its incredibly friendly people, behind us. From Mandalay, we once again took a flight (now flight number 20, including our USA trip in September last year) towards Bangkok, where we arrived safely with Air Asia, which provided a very good and affordable experience.

In Bangkok, we had booked a very nice hotel (P&R Residence), which we can highly recommend both in terms of value for money and for its beautiful rooms and delicious breakfast. Additionally, it is located near a boat dock, from where you can easily explore the city with the public ferry for very little money.

Our days in Bangkok were heavily focused on organization, while we completely neglected sightseeing. However, this was not a problem, as we will be visited by Lisa's brother and his girlfriend in mid-August during our trip, and the meeting point will be Bangkok, including an extensive sightseeing program. So we have already tested the hotel, used the public boat, explored the Khao San Road and informed ourselves about possible tours and transfers.

From Bangkok, we headed north towards Thailand. For the first stop of our Thailand trip, we chose Ayutthaya, the former capital with its historic temple ruins.

Ayutthaya is located about 70km north of the metropolis Bangkok and was the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam. In 1351, Prince U-Thong made the city the capital of the Siamese kingdom, which lasted for 400 years. During this time, numerous impressive temple complexes and palaces were built, many of which can still be visited today, making a visit highly worthwhile from our perspective.

In 1767, the kingdom was conquered by the Burmese and the city was almost completely destroyed, after which Bangkok was founded as the new capital.

For our days in Ayutthaya, we stayed in a hostel for the first time in a while. We were especially happy to be able to use a small kitchen again after almost 3 months and treat ourselves to pasta according to "European standards" ;-) However, the hostel was not very convincing due to its sparse furnishings and the uncomfortable bed made of pallets =D The absolute highlight was the completely theft-proof safe, which felt like it weighed half a kilogram =D

However, the owner of the hostel was super friendly and spontaneously helped us when all night trains to Chiang Mai, our next stop, were already fully booked due to the upcoming Buddha weekend, which we oddly enough were completely unaware of. He took us to the nearby bus station, where we were able to secure a night bus ticket to Chiang Mai. Unfortunately, this connection is not mentioned anywhere on the internet. Tip at this point: The bus to Chiang Mai is significantly cheaper than a train ticket and very comfortable, so anyone looking for transportation to Chiang Mai should definitely consider this option, both from Bangkok and Ayutthaya ;-)

For our exploration tour of Ayutthaya, we rented a scooter, which we would recommend to every traveler, as the distances between the temple complexes can be quite long and it becomes unbearable hot in the afternoon, as is often the case in Southeast Asia ;-). The breeze from riding the scooter is thus a welcome way to cool down.

Our first stop took us to the nearby Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, a truly beautiful temple with countless Buddha statues.

The next stop was meant to be the absolute highlight of our stay in Ayutthaya, Wat Mahathat, perhaps known to many because of the famous Buddha head that seems to be growing out of a tree. By the way, when taking photos, you must never photograph the Buddha head below your own head, which is why you always have to crouch down in a sign of respect when taking photos here.

Next, we visited Wat Rachaburana right next to it. Here, you can easily climb the temple and enjoy a very nice view.

For the final stop of our scooter tour, we chose Wat Chaiwatthanaram, also known as the mini Angkor Wat due to its appearance.

There are countless other temple sites in Ayutthaya, but we chose the ones listed above as the most interesting and were absolutely not disappointed.

However, from our point of view, the city has relatively little to offer, so we would recommend making a day trip from Bangkok, or including the former royal city as a short stopover on the journey to Thailand's north, as we did.