Today our agenda was Ayutthaya, capital of Thailand c.1350 - 1767, when it was sacked by the Burmese and doomed to lie abandoned for centuries.

Getting there, was, fortunately, not as much of a hassle as getting to Sukhothai, although we had to wake up really early to catch the train. A taxi to Bangkok’s Hualamphong station followed by a 1.5 hour ride on State Railway of Thailand, third class was sufficient to get us there. The station was rather quaint and possessed a fair degree of old world charm, as train stations tend to. Third-class travel may sound rather undesirable, but it was not a bad experience, really. We were comfortable enough, after a fashion, and the journey there was not half so painful as our bus ride to Sukhothai.

Upon attaining Ayutthaya, we were almost immediately approached with an offer of transport - in a tuk-tuk, this time. Being quoted originally at 300 baht per person, we managed to reduce the rate to 250, which we found acceptable. Upon setting out, we were to discover that this was a wise decision, for to traverse between the ruins on foot would have been rather… impossible. We also found that it was impossible to spend an entire day in Ayutthaya like we had planned, because a) After a while all wats just look the same and b) The town is really dead. It’s full of stray dogs and children and taxis and guesthouses and absolutely nothing of interest other than its grand past.

Fortunately, transport was to take care of our afternoon for us. We were scheduled to leave Ayutthaya on the 1530 train for Bangkok. Instead, we left at 1610 and the relaxing journey of 1.5 hours we expected turned into a frustrating 2-hour nightmare. It was unbelievably hot and constant stoppages for seemingly no reason were rather difficult to wait out. By the time we got back to Bangkok it was past six and the sun had long gone down (it rises and sets earlier here).

With the night still to go, we decided to catch Casino Royale. We found that the cinemas in Thailand are really amazing - Singapore-style comfort (or better) for a fraction of the price (120 baht per ticket, or $5+; in Singapore the minimum price is $6.50?). We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and are looking at what other movies we can catch here.

Anyway, that’s about all we did today. Roger will be around soon with today’s pictures.