A Change of Scenery

Ayutthaya, Thailand
1pm

First, happy birthday to my cousin. They grow up so fast!
Second, we're starting to meet random people and it's turning out for the best!
Third, we've covered a bit of ground. So here's the rundown.

We caught the sleeper train to Lop Buri on Wednesday, got in at 4.15am. It was stupid how comfortable I feel on trains and sorting out train tickets after Europe! The train was supposed to arrive at 3.30, so we were up at 3. If I'd known that the train was running late, I would have had 44 more minutes sleep!

Cantered into town, packs akimbo, and found the nearest open hotel. We had to wake the reception staff, but ended up getting a double and a single for 300baht a night. Passed out, woke up later, and went for breakfast in Thailand's equivalent of the Fawlty Towers restaurant. While we were there, they ran out of tomatoes, mushrooms, yoghurt, jam, sugar, and eggs. The two dudes dashed out twice to buy more stock...funny stuff! :D Couldn't hold it against the German owner though, he was too nice.

The monkeys in Lop Buri weren't all that exciting, but we did get to watch two of them go at it doggy style. He was a lion in bed...over in three seconds. We found our way to the bus station, and some random pointed us at "the bus" to Ayutthaya. I checked the name board, and the name in Thai matched up with the Thai name for Ayutthaya, so we jumped on and prayed. Turns out that, although the bus only cost us 40baht for a 2 hour trip, it was a) a local bus and b) PACKED with people. It was an interesting experience, being the only farang on a local bus driving between the sticks and the "big city".

We rocked up in Ayutthaya and checked into PU's Guesthouse. Again, another double and single. Drew and J are getting really good at spooning with each other. For those interested, Drew is the little spoon.

Yesterday we hired bicycles and rode around town, checking out ruins and historical study centres. This town was the duck's nuts back in 1672, and the 400 years before it...then the Burmese invaded and wrecked the joint. Economically strong, politically stable, good life for the people. Tops place!

Before we went riding, we went to the bus station to check out how to get to Kanchanaburi. An old man on the side of the road says "Hello! How are you?" I stopped, answered, and ended up talking to him for 15 minutes or so. Our new friend Mr. Yod informed us that there is no bus station, we just jump on a bus. He even told us which bus to take, and when it left. What a champ! He used to ride a rickshaw around for 30 years taking tourists on tours of the city, but then he fell over and bunged his leg. Now he just talks to random folk like us and was extremely proud to show all the notes and business cards people had written on over the years to say thank you. Goes to show that there are still nice people in the world who aren't out to scam you!

We went on a river tour of the Wats, took some wicked photos of them at sunset, then went out for dindins at a place called MALAKOR! Cool name. Sadly it means 'papaya' in Thai.
It was here that our plans changed: we met a bloke called Pui, who is a mechanical engineer working for Panasonic. Speaks Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and English, all fluently. He's just moved back home (his parents live in town) 6 months ago from Singapore, and we decided to get thoroughly sauced with him. We went to a night market after dinner for some more eats and drinks, and we spent most of the night chatting with Pui, learning things in Thai, and asking questions.
We're meeting up with him again tonight at Malakor, and he's gonna show us the sights and sounds of Ayutthaya, then we're crashing the night at his parent's place. Get this: back in the day when Pui and his sisters were still in school, the family hosted exchange students. Their first exchange student was called Helen, and she was from a little town called Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. Bloody small world!

Breakfast this morning saw us chatting to Chris, a British ex-pat English teacher who works at the high school Monday to Friday, then runs a bar he owns (where we had breakky) Saturday Sunday. He married a Thai chick, been here for 2 years. Also met Glen, another Brit ex-pat English teacher who gave us the advice to go swimming at the Grand Royal Hotel pool if we were looking for something to do to kill the day. I think we might just do that!