Back in Bangkok, we visited the Grand Palace. This is where the emerald buddha is housed (the guy that wears a different outfit for each season). It's an amazing place, temples, spires and pillars crambed into a relatively small space. There is so much gold and everything glitters. They even have the changing of the guard - home from home (?) It tipped it down while we were there, and we were very amused by all the shoes floating away in the ensuing floods.
This place was a real highlight on our trip and we ended up staying here an extra night...just to see all the buddha! Ayutthaya was the old capital of Thailand and the whole of the old town is full of ruins, temple after temple. They're all called Wats (just like Ankhor Wat in Cambodia) and contain prangs and chedis. Ben is easily bored by "old stones", but even he was impressed by much of it.
The old town was made into a man-made island, with canals running around it and rivers weaving in and out. Like Bangkok, a lot of life happened on the water with floating markets, houses on stilts etc.
With Ben and Alice, we went to a lovely little island called Ko Samet. It's one of the more peaceful ones off the Thai coast because it has no airport. Our chalets stood on poles in the sea - very tranquil. This was where we hired the mopeds and we explored pretty much the whole island...in the rain. Just to top off the indulgence of it all, I started my day with a swim in the sea before everyone got up. Doesn't get much better really.
We haven't done a lot of touristy things while in Bangkok, but we made up for it when Ben and Alice came to visit. Most of these buddha were in Ayutthaya, but others were in Bangkok and a few smaller places that we've visited. We started giving the nicknames - big buddha, sleeping buddha, laptop buddha, old buddha, fat buddha. The photo of the wall contains lots of little holes, each containing its own incarnation of buddha. The little buddha in the dark picture is at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. He gets to wear a little outfit according to the season - hot, wet and cold. The king himself has to dress him in his new outfit at the change of season.
Our friends Ben and Alice came out to see us for a holiday. Over our ten days together, we ended up seeing how many modes of transport we could use.
We hired a Toyota Hilux for five days, which made Ben very happy. On Ko Samet, a beautiful island we hired mopeds. Great fun - especially in the pouring rain and dirt road. We got back to the mainland on a speed boat.
In Ayutthaya, we road on an elephant. At the palace at Bang-Pa In, we hired a golf cart. Back in Bangkok, we went on one of the long boats along the river and the little, weaving canals and had a journey in a tuk tuck.
