January 4, 2010 – Day 375 – Ayatthaya, Thailand

The ruins of the old capital Ayatthaya are scattered across the now restored, modern city. Renting bicycles is a great way to get yourself around the city, using the extensive road system, a handy map from the rental folks, and a bit of caution when crossing the multi-lane highway that operates on the opposite side you might be used to. This is how we saw Ayatthaya’s ruins and it turned out to be a whole lot of fun.

In the ruins

Each temple complex is relatively small and takes little time to explore and enjoy. Nearly all the structures are made from bricks and most lean to the side thanks to resettling foundations and/or a light emphasis on structural integrity. The ruins are still quite beautiful and have so much history wrapped up in their bricks you will leave wanting to learn more about the events that led up to and eventually caused the downfall of this once booming capital city. Instead of boring you with a long diatribe we will satisfy your optical needs with a few photos.

Head in the tree

Inside a wat in the ruinsLatham in the ruins

Headless

Latham in the ruins

Ruins

Ruins

Travel Tip:

Skip the expensive and boring tour package and go yourself! It’s easy and cheap. All you do is catch a minibus from Victory Monument (they park all around the thing so just ask as many people as it takes to get to the right bus). It costs 60 baht one-way and takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. You’ll get a seat inside the air conditioned minibus and leave when it’s full, which is usually not too long. (For example, we only waited about 15 minutes).

Victory Monument

When you arrive in the city of Ayatthaya (pronounced like “aiy-YOU-tea-uh”), the minibus will terminate at a little bus stand kind of in the middle of the city. Your next move is to rent bicycles (50 baht/day) or mopeds (around 200baht/day), grab the free map at the rental place, and be on your merry way. You will have to walk around or ask someone where to find a rental place if you are dropped in an unapparrent location but we found the “Rent Bicycles” sign and walked toward a quieter part of the city til we found the place.

Ready for action

When you are ready to go back to Bangkok, grab a minibus (usually the ones back to BKK will have a big english sign across the hood) in the same area you were dropped off at (or ask for help if you need to). Although we can not necessarily confirm this, we heard that the minibuses run only until 5pm so be sure to check into it before getting stuck overnight without your stuff.

Also, please remember that Thailand traffic flows the opposite directions you are used to (depending on your country of origin) so be extra cautious and keep safely out of the way with as little swerving and looking behind you as possible.