Ah-you-tee-ah

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It's hard to believe that we have been in Thailand for only 6 days. Time is not flying and we are having fun. Take that English idiom! We ended up cutting our time short in Bangkok, I found the city to be aggressive and annoying. Khao San Road is where we were staying and it was a total tourist haven. There were merchants selling trinkets and clothing, tuk tuk drivers trying to get you to take a ride and drunk tourist goons eating fried bugs. After speaking to a few locals I found out a few better places that Im looking forward to checking out when we return.

Jen and I were itching to start backpacking so we decided to take a train to Ayutthaya. The train only cost us 20 baht. That's LESS then $1. You can't even legally ride the Vancouver skytrain for less then a dollar. I love traveling by rail, I think this trip was my favourite train experience yet. Jen and I stuck our heads out the window and practiced our rendition of Oops I Did It Again for the inevitable karaoke night. Shame? What's that?

We decided to stop at Ayutthaya to check out the ancient ruins which are littered all over the city in the strangest places. For those who are struggling with the name, Ayutthaya is pronounced ah-you-tee-ah. The city is situated between 3 rivers: Pasak, Lopburi and Chao Phraya. We had to take a water taxi across a river for 5 baht to get to the city centre. The heart of the city is a open market which is surrounded by some crazy intersections and skillful drivers.

After getting a little lost and hella sweaty, we found our temporary home. With some help from Hostel World, I found the coolest hostel I've ever been in. It's called Stockhome, the atmosphere is social and has an ambiance of your best friends hipster apartment. The dorms are spotless, the wifi is strong and the owner is so chill and accommodating. There is a recreation room with a comfy couch and backpackers waiting to share the stories of their adventures from the day. I highly recommend that you stay here if you're ever in Ayutthaya.

Our first day we decided to check out some of the ruins that were in walking distance, we found Wat Phra Mahathat, which is also known as the Monastery of the Great Relic. The ancient brick and mortar was constructed to house holy relics of the Buddha. Within this prang, there are crumbling structures and Buddha statues. One of the the trees have protectively surrounded its roots around Buddah's head, it looked like something you'd see on a post card. We wandered around the ruins until the sun started setting.

The next day was my favourite day in Ayutthaya, I woke up early and went on a solo run around the city. I got lost and was spooked by a Komodo dragon collecting bottles. Jen and I also rented BICYCLES!!! My favourite mode of transportation. We biked the perimeter of the city, stoping to take photos, to wave at strangers on boats and to snack on fresh guava and green mango. We headed back to Stockhome to cool down and drink a cold Chang. I decided that I wasn't done bike riding so I biked around the city again as fast as I could singing Chromeo, Elton John and The Kills. Shame? Never heard of it. The rest of the evening was dedicated to beers live music at the Jazz bar and chatting with expats that are teaching in Ayutthya and other surrounding cities.

I'm having such a great first week so far, I feel so spoiled with the experiences we have had so far. We are on to a new town and new adventure but that's another blog post.