Ayutthaya อาณาจักรอยุธยา, Thailand

Ayutthaya
Thailand's ancient capital an hour drive north of Bangkok.



NOTES INSIDE MY HEAD: The train left Chiang Mai (700km north of Bangkok) Railway Station at 8:45am and would arrive Ayutthaya by 7:45pm. If, again, you do the math, it's an 11-hour ride.The train soon snaked its way to the Northern terrain of Thailand which for the most part, is a graceful curve in green with thick rainforest, long tunnels and mocha-colored rivers to break the monotony.

And as expected, the train arrived an hour late in Ayutthaya Station. To add a little bit of drama, the rain, brought about by typhoon Ketsana lashing her way from Manila to Vietnam and Cambodia, placed everything in Ayutthaya in damps; the streets, washed by the headlights of cars and tuktuks.

The hostel, aptly called Old Palace, is a hundred baht (by tuktuk) and 15-minutes away from the train station. The exhaustion was beginning to push me to the edge, but the charming family run-hostel with the charming daughter calling the shots at the front desk was enough sedative to calm my nerves.


Ayutthaya Province
N14 20 52 E100 33 38

Ayutthaya (อยุธยา) - full name Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (พระนครศรีอยุธยา) - is an ancient capital and modern city in the Central Plains of Thailand, 85 km to the north of Bangkok (wikitravel).

UNESCO World Heritage Site (1991).
Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese in the 18th century. Its remains, characterized by the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries, give an idea of its past splendour (unesco.com).

Thank you a million times over to W for the photos. I owe you big time. Hihihi