Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya is an ancient city on an island surrounded by three rivers. In the olden days it was the Siamese capital until the attacking Burmese destroyed most of it. Now a modern town has grown up around the island but there are still ruins everywhere from the old palaces and temples.
We spent three days exploring the ruins and parks. You can get right in to most of the ruins, climb up the towers which are still intact, walk through the old foundations and get close to the statues and parts of smashed up Buddhas which are everywhere.
Just outside of town we visited an Elephant village. We had been meaning to go to see some elephants for ages but were waiting for somewhere which sounded nice. Here the elephants seemed healthy and well looked after but you never really know. It was good to see them even if it's a bit sad to see them kept in a little farm instead of in the wild.
In the evenings there was a fantastic night market and we always went home far too full with fincsi things.Read more