Gap Year 2004

Gap Year 2004 - Ayuttayah, Thailand | 02 Mar 2004

Extract from my Gap Diary.......

'Alarm clock goes off at 6am & we pack our bags for our day trip to Ayuttayah. Lukas is still feeling a little sick, I seem to have recovered. The Minibus takes just over an hour to get to Ayuttayah, the former Capital of Thailand some 700 years ago. Our bus drive & tour guide (2 in 1) gives us some interesting information about the city itself & the ruins we will see.

Our first stop is a temple just outside the city, with a large statute of the 1st ('The Great') King of Thailand. One thing I've noticed is that Thai people seem very proud of their monarchy, both past and present. The Burmese Army tried to conquer this area of land on many occasions, and so some temples have been restored to their former glory.

We then head on a boat ride which shows us a whistlestop tour of some of the other ruins we will see later in the day. We met an English teacher called Kat, who sort of invites herself out with us tonight.....

The other sights we see are a Cambodian style temple ruin site, with a buddha shrine carved inside a very old tree, fascinating. We also see a giant buddha shrine lying oin its side, 8 metres tall and 45 (yes, 45) metres long. The most unusual ruin we saw was a Temple in a European style built by the 5th King. It is so weird because it looks so much like a Christian Church from the outside, and the set up of it even reminds me of one inside. It has stained glass windows & something resembling an altarl very unusual but lovely all the same.

We then headed home, only an hour to get back in peak Bangkok traffic! We get showered & ready to hit the bars of Khao San. We met Kat in Central Khao San Bar, and we all have a little snack in there, before getting started on the SangSom & Coke....classic Thai drink. We play pool, where I met a lovely looking Thai girl, who I ended up spending the rest of the night talking to. After 4 bottles of SangSom, I was suitably battered, so we headed to the Lava bar further down the street which doubles up as a nightclub. After a few more drinks, the lovely Thai girl, with the strange name of Apple, tries to lead me off to her room, but I decline. She then begins to open up more and explain her job......someone so lovely shouldn't be doing this. So, in my pissed state, I tried to talk her out of her chosen occupation, which she didn't seem to really take in. Oh well I thought, at least I didn't take it any further and regret anything.......Just headed home at half 3 after a very heavy drinking session with my friends, with a bit of moral conversation thrown in ;-).'

Locations Visited: Ayutthaya, Bangkok Metropolis

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