Whats? wats?

A peaceful night went by in the creepy room as i dragged myself out of bed at 6am. Dumped everything into my pack and was out of the room in less than 5mins. Daylight was early in thailand, the sun was out an hour before me. In a matters of minutes, the bus was rolling towards ayutthaya!!

Through the cracked wooden floorboard, i could see the asphalt road running beneath me. As Jay Chou's Dao Xiang started to play in my mp3, i looked up to see both sides filled with rice crops. Truly a fitting moment

Moments later, my bus was filled with many university students heading to school in ayutthaya. I was kinda intrigued by the male female ratios of the university students here. There seems to be more females than males in a 7:3 ratio. Knocked backed my belief that parents would rather send males for education.

As my bus came to a halt and everybody on it alighted, i find myself in an unfamiliar land.

"Do you know where i can find Internet?" I asked a few university students in uniform who seems shocked by my sudden intrusion.
I was pointed down a road where the availability of westerners were augmented. Logged onto the internet to find a place to stay and after obtaining the address, got lost(again) trying to find it.

Rented a old bicycle(30B $1.30) and went in search for food. If you ever head to ayutthaya, remember to head to the tourist center for maps and information. Those provided at GHs were far too vague.

Duck rice 25B $1.10

Many of the sights, wats mainly in the city central has a admission fees. And these although was not alot, could add up to a considerable amount by the sheer number of them.

Big statue with gigantic robe
What's wat?
More wats!

A snack that you have to try when you come to ayutthaya is this thing called Roti Sai Mai(20B $0.90). It is actually hairlike cotton candy in Poh piah skin. Kinda weird combination? it taste pretty good though.

Pack of sweets and skins
Put a bunch of hair in it
Roll it up
And pop it in

My first night in Ayutthya was spent at "Ayutthaya guest house"(150B), i asked for a single room but instead they gave me a double. The place is clean and pretty chic, but i did not need these decor, so i went to a cheaper place the 2nd night. At BJ Guest house(100B), the place was not as new as the other 1 as it was the home of the family staying there. A good point other than the price is that the family speaks good english and was very hip.

They were having lunch when i was checking in and they told me to eat with them. Their lunch was from a mobile store which stops right outside their place, selling noodles(20B $0.90) and stuff. Char siew noodles

You know when you eat, there would always be some sauces and chillies to go with it. In thailand, they have something else.

Sugar

Dan, one of the family member took a huge heap of sugar and added it to his noodles! i followed suit and tried half a table spoon. Pretty interesting though. Then its more wats!
This tree looks like the 1 from ankor wat, and appears in almost all brochures and pamphlets. i climbed over the wall and did not have to pay to get in. LOL!
Ayutthaya used to be the capital of thailand for awhile before it was taken over, that explains the many wats around
Walked past a school and saw many students eating this, so i went to try. Cheap and good and sour, not my favourite kind of food.
Their tuks tuks here is slightly different from other places in thailand, they eat max 6 instead of 3.
At night i went to their night market and had a familiar beef hor fun(30B $1.30) which taste very much like from Singapore

After the 2nd day, i felt like there was not much to do here except more Wats, so i decided to leave Ayutthaya. So i laid in front of me 4 choices, 1. Lopburi , 2. Phitsanulok, 3. sukhothai, 4. Chiang Mai

1 being the closest to where i was. 1,2,3 looks pretty interesting and could take up some time before i head to laos. However what is there is more wats, similar to Ayutthaya. 4 is a bigger place with more to do but to get there, it would cost. Going to 1,2,3 first would break the journey in parts, making the cost of travelling more bearable.

Then i found a particular activity that caught my attention. A elephant camp where i can volunteer for a week learning and living with elephants in chiang mai. It is very expensive at 12,000B(bout $500) but would be the experience of a lifetime. With that i decided to head to chiang mai.

Gave them a call that evening and they said they are full!!! Damm! So i am back to square 1, not knowing where to go.

The morning i wanted to leave, i just went to the train station and see what information i can find there. Looked at the schedule and saw there is a train to Chiang Mai at 9.43am. A quick glance at my watch shows 9.42am!

I did not want to ponder anymore about where to go and i allowed fate to decide for me. Since i am directed there, i am sure there is something or someone there waiting for me. Picked up my ticket(586B $25 Ouch!) and spent 10 hours of xmas even on the train. Off i go to chiang mai!