Ayutthaya & Sukhothai - Ancient Ruins in Thailand

When we got back from Myanmar, we spent 2 nights in Bangkok, washing clothes, updating our blog, and we even went to the movies. We had about ten days free before starting our week of volunteering in Chiang Mai, so we decided to visit two old capitals of the Siam Kingdom. A two hours train ride took us to Ayutthaya, where we found a nice and cozy guesthouse to spend one night. Because of the extreme heat, we decided to rent a scooter to visit some of the ruins of the old city.

Ayutthaya was the second capital of the Siam Kingdom, after Sukkhotai. In 1767 it was destroyed by the Burmese army, and the ruins are now preserved in the Ayutthaya Historical Park, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

One of the maintained Buddhas in Ayutthaya

The reclining Buddha used in a scene of the old game Street Fighters

The famous head of Buddha in a tree

When the sun set we didn't feel to comfortable about riding around in the dark, so we made our last stop to the local street market where we had some yummy chicken wings and refreshing fruit shakes. 

The next day we took a bus to Sukhothai, the capital of the first Kingdom of Siam about 800 years ago. One of its rulers, King Ramkhamhaeng the Great, created the Thai alphabet. The city is divided into Old Sukhothai and New Sukhothai. We stayed in New Sukhothai because there was supposed to be a street market there, but comparing to others cities the market didn't have so many culinary options. We had dinner there the first night and for the next 3 days Tachi didn't feel well, so we didn't do much those days. When she felt better, we took a local bus to visit the Sukhothai Historical Park, also an UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Old Sukhothai. We biked around the park, which was really beautiful and well mantained, surrounded by lotus flowers ponds. It was a cloudy day, and perfect to bike around. 

Lotus flowers in Sukhothai Historical Park

A great day for biking around, visiting the ruins

Buddhas placed at the roots of a tree

 The next day we took a bus to Chiang Mai, it was a 6 hours drive. We decided to stay at the same place we stayed the last time where we had good internet :) We also spent the weekend there so we could visit the regular night market and the Sunday night market, where we always had good food, including Tachi's so wanted fresh popcorn. 

Tachi enjoying her fresh popcorn

Chiang Mai

The day after the BSB concert we took a night bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. It was about 10 hours ride and when we arrived in the city we had to look for a place to stay. We found a very nice room just outside the old city. After some rest we went out to explore the numerous temples inside the old city, which is surrounded by ruins and a moat. When we stopped to eat, we met a very kind woman who invited us to follow her to her home. She took us on the back of her scooter, and showed us her pets and gave us some tips about the city before we continued our walk.

Ruins of the wall around the Old City

The next day we had our first cooking class. We got picked up at our hotel and went to a local market to learn about some of the typical ingredients in Thai food. Also we got to try bamboo worms, crunchy and salty, yummy! After that we went to the home where we would have our class. There we had to choose 7 different dishes we would learn to cook. We chose different from each other, of course, so that we got to taste more different foods. It was a very fun experience and it was amazing when we tried the food we made. We actually couldn't believe that we were able to cook such good food! And it was a looooot of food. At some point we were so full that we had to ask to take the food back home. Our dinner and dessert that night would be our own take away! 

Masterchefs

The next day we went to the Elephant Nature Park office to book our visit, and in the afternoon we took a songthaew to the Wat Doi Suthep. Doi means mountain, so this was a temple up in the mountain from where we could have a great view of Chiang Mai. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy :( Coming back from the mountain we wanted to make a short visit to the night market in the old city. We arrived just when it was about to start, and everybody froze on the street while the national anthem was played over the loudspeakers. The market was huuuuge, and we ended up spending more than 3 hours there, including an amazing massage!

The whole city froze for the national anthem

On Monday morning we got picked up at our hotel for a day trip to some places outside of Chiang Mai. The first stop was at a hot spring, where Tachi boiled quail eggs in the hot spring for our breakfast. We also had a stop at Wat Rong Khun, also known as The White Temple, in Chiang Rai. This was a weird, but beautiful temple. We couldn't go inside because there were people working on it due to a earthquake last year, but it was interesting seeing it from outside. It had so many white and mirrored details. 

One of the weird things you can find at the White Temple

The next stop was the Golden Triangle, which is where the Ruak and Mekong River meet at the triple border between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.
At this place we had an option to take a boat across the river over to Laos, but we preferred to go to the Opium Museum. We learned a lot about the area which is one of Asia's main opium producer, second largest after Afghanistan.
After lunch we headed to Mae Sai, the northernmost point in Thailand, at the border to Myanmar.

Handstand at the northernmost point of Thailand

Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent at the Elephant Nature Park, the main reason we planned visiting the city. This was a suggestion from Caroline, a very close friend of David's family. The Elephant Nature Park is a rescue and rehabilitation center, very different from the other places nearby where they offer riding the elephants that are actually forced and hurt to do that. We got to see how they took care of injured and handicapped elephants who had been taken out of their captivity. After visiting this place we decided to sign up for one week volunteering here :) 

Feeding the elephants

Since David was running out of time on his visa exempt, we had made our plans to visit Myanmar for a couple of weeks and then return to do our volunteering. So early the next morning we jumped on the bus heading for Mae Sot, where we would cross the border to Myanmar by foot.