Ayutthaya - yet another city of ruins

After the visit in Sukhothai, we felt that the ruins of Ayutthaya, the kingdom succeeding Sukhothai, was the logical next stop. Since it is located between Bangkok and Phitsanulok (well, a lot closer to Bangkok, but still on our route), this was a convenient stop over.

We went by train again, trying the 3rd class this time. Travelling third class in Thailand is really cheap, we payed 130 Baht (about 3 euro) per person for a five hour ride. It is an adventure to travel with the locals, but the fun ends just about when your back starts aching from the hard wooden seats. The difference to 2nd class is huge (and the price different is not big). It was a nice experience, but really not the best decision. Since trains always seem to run late in Thailand, our 4,5 h trainride turned out to last for almost six hours.

The biggest difference between Sukhothai and Ayutthaya is that the latter still is a functioning city and not just monuments from times long past. The ruins in Ayutthaya are a bit more ragged than the ones in Sukhothai.
For those of you interested in a brief history lesson:
The Ayutthaya Kingdom existed between 1350 and 1767, when the city of Ayutthaya was destroyed by the Burmese army. This was the 24th Burmese attempt to capture the city, which was the home to about 1 million people at the time.

Ayutthaya Historical Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

The city was hit pretty badly by the flood in November and December and you can still see some traces of the destruction caused. Most of the temple ruins however are fine to visit.
We spent two days exploring the city and the ruins by bike and here are some of the highlights:

This little fellow and his brothers and sisters were playing among the ruins

Evening light over Ayutthaya Historical Park

One of the most photographed sites in Ayutthaya

The ruins of Sukhothai

On our way back south, we had a stop over in Phitsanoluk to see the ruins of the old capital of the Thai empire (well, one of them...), Sukhothai.
Phitsanoluk is a typical Thai town, not very fancy, has a couple of temples and not many tourists. Most people who come here, visit the town on their way to Sukhothai, located about 50 km northeast of Phitsanulok. We stayed the night in Phitsanulok and took the local bus to Old Sukhothai and Sukhothai Historical Park the next morning. The bus ride took about an hour, cost us 39 Baht each and there was only one other tourist on the bus, Thomas from Germany. Once we arrived in (New) Sukhothai, we had to find transport to the Historical Park or Old Sukhothai. The tuk-tuk fare cost 200 Baht, quite a lot for 12 km. We decided to wait for the normal bus to take us, but gave up after 30 minutes wait since nobody at the bus station could tell us when the next bus was scheduled to depart. So we ended up taking the tuk-tuk anyway.

Sukhothai Historical Park is certainly impressive with heaps and heaps of temple ruins and Buddha statues everywhere. Amazing that the Sukhothai kings built such an extensive capital, since the kingdom only lasted for 140 years before it became annexed by the kings of Ayutthaya.

We hired bikes to go around the park together with Thomas from the bus. This proved to be a good idea since we could see the temples outside of the old city walls as well. Even though it was quite hot and very humid, the ride was not too hard since the area is mainly flat and bicycle-friendly.

With all the temples and Buddha statues, it is easy to get lost...





Easy rider