Train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya, Thailand

We had booked the train on the official Thai train website. The website has an English version, and although it's not super user friendly, I had no problem doing it. 

We left the apartment at noon, and made our way back to the pink line monorail, this time with our daypacks and carry on suitcases. With one connection, we arrived at the Krung Thep (Bang Sue) train station around 1:00pm with lots of time for our 2:15pm departure.

Boarding started at 1:55pm. It turned out that the train we were getting on goes all the way to Chiang Mai, which is between 11 to 14 hours depending on the schedule. But we were only going to Ayutthaya which is about an hour north of Bangkok.

The train departed exactly on time at 2:15pm.

Scenery along the way.

We chose the 2nd class non air conditioned car.

I had read that the non air conditioned cars are actually better because they keep the windows wide open, and so you get a nice breeze while being able to take decent photos along the way. And of course it's the cheapest way to travel by train in Thailand.

Our tickets cost 61 baht ($1.70 USD, $2.30 CAD) each.

Ussie on the train.

Watching the world go by.

They are building a new elevated rail line.

Arrived at Ayutthaya exactly on schedule at 3:17pm!

We had to take a short ferry ride.

And then a ten minute walk to our accommodation.

Siri Guest House gets great reviews. We are booked in for a five night stay at 567 baht ($16 USD, $21.50 CAD) per night for an air conditioned room with private bathroom.

Our room. Finally, a really comfortable bed!

The facilities are non air conditioned, but that doesn't matter.

Wet bath shower with hot water.

To be honest, with temperatures hitting 34C (93F) today, the hot water shower really isn't necessary! Supposed to hit 36C (97F) by Tuesday.

We got ourselves settled and went for a walk. The big attraction in Ayutthaya is a fairly large ruins temple complex that dates back to the 14th century. We walked in that direction, but didn't really plan on visiting the complex at the time. 

There is a popular night market along the way, and they were just getting set up.

Lots of local dishes!

Sushi. 15 baht is $0.42 USD, $0.57 CAD.

Some kind of little pancakes with sausages.

Funny looking fish!

Crickets and larva!

The night market just getting set up.

We decided we would go for a walk through the free area of the temple complex, then stop back in at the night market for dinner on the way back through.

Big old tree.

Temple ruins.

We were surprised by how much of the complex you can actually see from the free area. It's not expensive to get in to begin with at 50 baht ($1.40 USD, $1.90 CAD) per person, but there is enough to see that we would leave the paid area for another day.

Part of what the complex would have looked like 700 years ago.

Model of another section.

An Asian Openbill stork.

It's a fairly large complex, with a lot of park space.

Sunset at 5:30pm.

Walking back to the night market, we saw this truckload of elephants.

The night market was pretty busy.

But we found that this is a bit of a tourist market because it's located so close to the temple complex. Still, there were lots of locals as well as tourists, although prices were a bit higher than the big local markets that we went to in Bangkok.

We found this one stand that was really busy. The popular dish was some kind of whole fish. We hadn't had much fish for a while, so we chose one and shared it. It arrives in a pan shaped like a fish, covered in veggies and with some kind of very spicey liquid. The whole thing is presented on a bed of coals to keep things hot while you pick away at the flesh.

The meat itself was delicious, but there were too many bones to pick through for my liking. Still, it was good. I had a beer and Ruth had a water. The bill was 350 baht ($9.80 USD, $13.40 CAD). I was still a bit hungry though, so we bought a couple of vegetable spring rolls at another stand and ate them back at the room. That was another 60 baht ($1.70 USD, $2.30 CAD). So the total for dinner for the two of us was 410 baht ($11.50 USD, $15.70 CAD).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good deal on this Chemical Guys Car Wash Kit.

And in Canada...

Anker Power Stations are on sale.