Warning: lots of PICTURES!
I’m writing this post more than 2 years after I traveled to Thailand and to the ruins. I planned my trip to Thailand so I had extra free days to buy stuff for the yoga studio as well as sight see (something I didn’t have the opportunity to do on my last trip here). I filled my days with as many activities I could think of while in Bangkok so I could take advantage of seeing as much as I could and eating as much as I could. Before this trip, I had been dealing with many health issues so I had to prepare as much as I could to survive in a foreign country. During this particular visit to Thailand, I was gluten free and vegetarian. I was also not eating anything spicy (trying to). Everything in Thailand is spicy. I made the best of this trip and it was amazing. I am so glad I took a ton of photos. As I’m reviewing photos now (2+ years later), it’s taking me back to the beauty of so many amazing things I was able to experience while in there. I hope to share that with you the reader/viewer.
I intended to write this post while in Thailand while things were still “fresh” but that didn’t happen. Not like before. I really spent my free time exploring, shopping or reading. I carried a notebook around with me and took notes. I’m using them now and hopefully I am not missing anything important. Also, the actual historical park at the ruins is spread out. There were many different areas that I visited and I won’t be able to remember where those specifically were. I’ll post the photos below and hope you’ll enjoy them for the artistic/historical beauty rather than geographical/accurate location.
The Ayutthaya Kingdom was the 2nd capital of Siam (now known as Thailand) but destroyed by the Burmese army back in the 18th Century. So I was staying in Bangkok and this is how I got to the ruins and experienced it. I had traveled the public transportation and knew how to travel to the large indoor mall MBK on the teal line. I think my boutique hotel was also on the same line (purposely). So using the BTS map, I hopped from teal to lime green line headed north at Siam. I exited the Victory Monument station. It can be really confusing because this is a huge transportation hub. There is a circular bridge and there is a ton of traffic in this join. Buses, trains, cars, taxis etc… All headed in multiple directions.
When I saw Jeffers Steak (a restaurant), I took a right. Moving towards the monument. Then took a right at the end of the road, past the escalators, walked down the stairs. There is a Pepsi umbrella away from the circle main street. There is an information kiosk type deal and it said Ayutthaya which is how I knew I came to the right place.
The cost for the minibus or van is 60 baht (about $2 US dollars) and will be about 1 hour length of travel. The minibus has AC! Lovely. But to be honest, it is really sketchy…. you can be taken anywhere. No guarantees… Still I went. I was here in November but no year round Thailand can be hot. While you wait, get some goodies and help the local businesses.
Upon arrival to the ruins, there are many options. You can bike ride (via bike rental) around the ruins, you can ride public transportation bus, then the third option which I took was getting a personal driver to take you around. I forgot my girls name but I wanted AC. Plus when the minibus drops you off, they don’t tell you where to go. It was like you get dropped off right next to the busy road next to a market. This is a small town and I asked “Ayutthaya” and they are answering “yes” because that is the name of that area/city. Eventually a young girl like 20’s possibly 30’s comes up to me and offers me 1000 baht to be my personal tour guide for 3 hours or something with AC. I say yes. This is approximately $30 US dollars. I like this idea. It also kind of raised red flags because I could really be taken anywhere in the world, kidnapped and murdered but again I said yes and went.
Below are the pictures taken during my exciting exploration. If I were to go back, I would definitely say yes again to the personal tour guide. She doesn’t follow you to many of the ruins because there is a fee. I think maybe I could offer to pay for her next time and have her take pictures of me but she just waited with the other drivers and there were no problems. She spoke enough English for us to communicate to explore and not miss an opportunity. Also, you don’t pay until the end so I didn’t worry about her running off with my money. She took me to the best spots first then later we explored more to use up the time. To ride a bike through the town would be fine if I was staying overnight there but that was not part of my plan. I still wanted to get back to the city and do some shopping. I was a girl on a mission. Okay, so here goes the photos below.
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