Well, besides the rat and cobra detour, we made our way straight to Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand, an "island" surrounded by three rivers. In the 1700s it was the largest city in the world. We went to the Summer Palace of the royal family. It was very interesting - but I'm afraid our crew, including our travel mates, are just as interested (and perhaps more so) in wildlife than historical buildings, so we were easily distracted by the monitor lizards and turtles. At one point when the guide was talking we saw a ruckus in a tree and three people yelled simultaneously "squirrel!" The guide made it interesting for the kids - told them how only eunuchs and concubines were the only non-royals traditionally allowed on the grounds. Then he had to define each of those. Mason said "concubine, oh, a side ho"...I'm not sure we are getting the full grasp of history!
With matching elephant pants:
There are tons of ruins and temples around Ayutthaya. We got on bikes and traveled single file around the city, trying to always remember to stay on the left side of the road (completely counterintuitive to someone raised the other way). Traffic was quite heavy and we felt a bit like a bike snake dodging and weaving through the cars. We also went through a market on our bikes, avoiding the various vendors on both sides of the low-hung canvas ceiling and the random sleeping cat or lazy dog. We visited three magnificent old temples. Once again, however, the highlight might have been when we were looking at ancient buddha heads and crumbling brick ruins in Wat Mahathat, and thousands of BATS started streaming out of one of the chambers. They just kept coming out - for as long as we stood there they poured out, like a scene out of a thriller movie. Of course Mason walked to the top step to make the day complete with both rats and bats.
For dinner we hopped on a converted rice barge and cruised up the river to see the ruins from the water. (Oh, and do karaoke. There was way too much karaoke. Thankfully Kenzie can carry a tune so we at least had a few numbers that resembled the original song.)
We're out of the tent and into a lovely hotel in downtown Ayutthaya. We are all grateful for not having to look for snakes when we use the bathroom!
