Ayuthaya - temple ruins by bike

Once we got ourselves another set of wheels we went to look around some of the more popular ruins. Like with Sukhothai, the temples are free to visit till the end of the month, in memory of the King who passed away. Noticed the heat and humidity again, now that we have come further south so struggled a bit in it. Found a nice coffee shop and then a good place for pad thai to escape the midday heat. Took a bit of a ride out beyond the 'island' in the afternoon to the lovely, Wat Chai Wattanaram. It has a 35m-high Khmer-style central prang that tried to resemble the Cambodian Angkor Wat and is in quite good condition. We passed elephants on the way giving rides to tourists and while we have done this in the past we have learnt since that it may harm them so as much as we love the animals we refrained from doing this. We also came across a load of tourist police - how many policemen does it take to change an inner tube? We ended the day with a quite meal and beer until the dragon-lion dance came along the street and visited every business offering them a prosperous year (if they donated generously!). It was great to see it lit up and then dance through the pub complete with mobile band and generator.Read more