Our major excursion today was a 3 hour morning boat ride on the Chao Phraya River from Bangkok upriver to Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand. We were on a large, air-conditioned boat that served a buffet lunch while en route. As we left the hotel it began to rain, the first rain we had seen since we arrived two weeks ago. Luckily by the time we boarded the boat the rain had stopped and the sun emerged while we were cruising. There was an outdoor viewing deck and we watched the life along the riverbanks as we went. We never got into a true countryside but the buildings became smaller and it was obvious we were in a rural area. The homes were mostly older, some were extremely old and looked like they were close to collapsing into the river. But there were also newer, modern homes scattered amongst them.

Our driver met us when we disembarked around 11:30 and proceeded to take us to walk the grounds of the King’s Bang Pa-In summer palace. It was a beautiful place with ponds, trees, flowers and buildings each built in varying European architectural styles. I could see why the king enjoyed coming here. It is serene and a dramatic departure from the maddening crowds in Bangkok.

There were several stops at other temple sites as we worked our way back to Bangkok. By this time the names and places were starting to blur together and we would have liked to simply call it a day, but Ben was eager to show these treasures to us. The one I do recall the name of is Wat Yai Chaimongkol. It was built in 1357 for use by monks who had studied in Ceylon. and was used mostly for meditation. It is distinctive in that a reclining Buddha is part of the complex, along with a very large pagoda (called a chedi in Thai).

The early Dutch traders estimated that Ayutthaya once had 300 to 450 monasteries, established from the 14-17th centuries.  It was the capital of Thailand until 1767.  Our last stop was at Wat Phra Maha That, which is thought to have been built in 1374.  It is now mostly in ruins, never having been restored after the wars of the 18th century, when the city was abandoned. The individual brick temples were not large as others we have seen but we were surprised at how large the grounds were. The temple complex covered many acres of land and there were always many individual structures in the complex. They reminded us of the ancient temples we saw in Cambodia.The sites were beautiful even though in ruins and I am glad we continued the tour as she had outlined it. The main attraction for tourists is the face of Buddha that has been encased in the trunk of a very large tree.

 

We told Ben it was too hot and we were too tired so we headed back to the hotel. Traffic was not as bad as previous days and we arrived back at our hotel about 3:45PM, with enough time to shower and head out for our farewell dinner. We had talked about having a good old-fashioned steak and imbibe with a Manhattan (or two). I found that one of the local Marriott hotels was noted for its steakhouse and I assumed they knew how to make a good Manhattan. In addition, they had an outdoor cocktail lounge on the 45th floor that offered great views of the city. I decided that was the place to end the trip on a high note. We put our trust in our hotel to tell our cab driver, who spoke no English, where to take us. We arrived about 15 minutes later, safe and sound, with a cab fare of $1.50 (try to find that in the US)! Gerry doubled that and, boy, did the driver grin and profusely thank him.

The views from the outdoor lounge were all they said they would be and they created a decent Manhattan (stirred rather than shaken, the only way to mix according to Gerry). The only negative was the cost for the drinks were big city prices, not the $4-8 we paid in Myanmar and Cambodia. Dinner at the District Steakhouse in the hotel was equally rewarding and a nice change from all the Asian dishes we had been eating. Again, the only negative was the big city pricing for the meal. We talked about what we had seen and done these past 16 days, amazed at the sights we saw, the friendliness of the people we met and how thankful we were for our lives in the good old USA. We toasted the fact no one had gotten ill or hurt doing our trip, other than bug bites that seemed to plague both Yvonne and Sue. Mosquitos were out day and night in Cambodia and Bangkok. Their (winter) weather had been excellent except for the hot temperatures we experienced while in Bangkok.

It was back to the hotel to pack and get to bed early as we had a 4:30 AM wake up scheduled. We are heading home in the morning.