M&C: Ayutthaya

We had no problem at all getting to Ayutthaya on the 20th. Got extremely cheap tickets at the train station (20B, $0.66 ea), but then discovered that we hadn't paid extra to have assigned seats so we had to stand for most of the 1.5 hour ride with no AC. There were fans blowing vigorously and most of the windows were open, though, so it wasn't too bad. Central Ayutthaya is an island completely encircled by two different rivers, so we took a short ferry across to the island and then walked a couple kilometers to our cute little hotel called Grandparent's Home.

After cooling off for a little while, we walked around the corner and scored some Pad Thai (our first in Thailand) and boat noodles, a savory-bomb national dish that originated in Ayutthaya. By this time, we were right next to the central park and a couple of the temples. We walked around the nearest one, Wat Maha That, dipping our proverbial toe into the ruins water before taking a leisurely sunset stroll around a large public park teeming with swampy ponds, birds, and more temples.
Afterwards, we went to the Ayutthaya night market and finally got to purchase things from Thai vendors who had literally zero English. So we sampled a bunch of things that looked delicious, we had no idea what they were, or both. We had mixed results, absolutely loving the sweet crispy rolls, not really caring for the fruit-shaped mung bean sweets, and ending up more or less neutral on some fried chicken. We also ordered some green veg-and-pork curry from a woman tending a giant bubbling pot. The flavor was rich and creamy and savory and delicious, but this was also the first truly spicy food we've had in Thailand. Michelle took a few bites and sipped quite a bit of the broth, but Chandler really dug in and was absolutely drenched in sweat and panting from the pain in no time.

The next day, the 21st, was Chandler’s birthday! We got up around 5:45AM and walked back over to the park where we had seen the previous night's sunset, hoping to enjoy a similarly lovely sunrise. Although the sun didn't really materialize through the haze until much later, we had a very lovely stroll enjoying the beautiful bridges, small ruined temples, and abundant wildlife, including watching two 4-foot lizards thrash around fighting in the water!

We ended up walking for about two hours until we reached a Thai sweet shop called Baan Kao Nhom on the south side of the island where we sampled several small desserts each individually packaged in banana leaf wrappings. Our favorites were a salty-and-sweet coconut custard and a small pile of sticky rice with a flan-like egg custard on top.

Chandler was coming down with a mild head cold and wanted to rest a little, so we picked up some herbal medicine from the 7-11 and chilled a bit at the hotel before setting out again a little later in the afternoon. We got some more boat noodles then took a tuk-tuk to Wat Na Phra Meri before walking to Wat Phra Si Sanphet. We're recording these names here as much for our benefit as for yours. When we got back to the hotel, we treated ourselves to a super fancy (200B) mango kakigori, a Japanese dessert with shaved ice, whipped cream, fresh mango, and sweetened condensed milk. Unbelievably delicious.

For the evening festivities, we booked a two-hour boat tour around the island, visiting three temples along the way: Wat Phanan Choeng Worawihan, Wat Phutthai Sawan, and Wat Chai Watthanaram. Some highlights from these three were a massive golden Buddha over 30 feet tall, gorgeous ornate interiors, a beautiful white prang, and a super iconic hazy sunset over the temples and palm trees.
That night, we got an alright meal at the night market and had a beer with a couple of Germans we had met on the boat tour. We bought some fruit for the train ride the next day and turned in pretty early once more.

Next up: Sukhothai.