Ayuthayya Adventures

Well, you’ve heard all about New Year’s eve and our adventures on our days off for that… After that it was back to school as usual until mid January when the thankless task of teaching is honoured in Thailand by giving us a day off (teacher’s day). So yet again we packed our hats and sun cream and set our sights a little further a field this time: the ancient city of Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya, which is built on an island on a river, was pretty much the capital of Thailand (or most of the territory that is now Thai). It flourished for some 400 years but was ransacked by the Burmese in 1767 (cue pantomime prop-man holding up a sign that reads: boooo!). Most of the art, palaces, temples and Buddha statues were destroyed. Still, we decided to go have a wander around what’s left…

Ayyuthaya is about 90km north of Bangkok and we decided to go by train (we being Matt, myself and a friend from work, Kirsten). This may not have been a great decision as we were treated to a charming display of Thais’ lack of punctuality: the train was over an hour late! But once we were off and out of Bangkok we travelled past rice-paddies, herons, water buffalo and fields. Very picturesque indeed, although I managed to miss all the buffalo as I was too engrossed in my newspaper!

Ayyuthaya proved to be a lovely break from bustling Bangkok. It is quiet, beautiful and very relaxing. We rented bikes and cycled amongst all the ruins and statues. We were a little creeped out by all the beheaded Buddha statues but apparently the Burmese cut their heads off to check they weren’t made of gold and just covered in plaster (a common dissimulation technique), or so said the French tour guide I was eavesdropping on!

All in all it was a lovely day, marred only by a disgusting lunch (Thais make some of the best food in the world, but as we unfortunately discovered they also make the worst!).

School resumed the next day and the next few weeks held all sorts of fun such as a 3 day scout camp for Melissa (not much scouting but lots of fun activities) and being the judge of a speech competition for Matthew. Until you've taught at a school you have no idea how demanding it can be!!!

Hope you are well, take care!
xxx