on a mission to absorb some thai history and to view some of thailand's most impressive buddhist and hindu ruins, we traveled a couple of hours north of bangkok to the small city of ayuthaya. the ancient capitol of siam for 417 years, ayuthaya once had a population of over a million people. now a unesco world heritage site, ayuthaya's historic temple ruins are scattered throughout the once magnificent city.
unesco world heritage = a united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization that seeks to encourage the identification, protection, and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.
we enjoyed a couple of (hot) days touring the temple sites of ayuthaya, before continuing on about 4 hours north to the nice city of phitsanoluk. the city was an excellent base for touring the nearby unesco world heritage site of the sukothai ruins - which were quite impressive with huge standing buddhas. the food markets in phitsanoluk were exceptional, as were the fabulous foot massages and our interactions with the smiling and friendly locals.
from phitsanoluk we boarded a 3rd class train for the 7 hour journey to the northern city of chiang mai. the seat was a bit hard towards the end, but we enjoyed the fresh air (no a/c, open windows) and sitting with the nice locals for the trip. chiang mai is a nice smaller city that has over 300 temples. it's set amongst the mountains and we are certainly enjoying the cooler temperatures. it's quite a touristy town and has lots of guesthouses, restaurants, and bars. it also seems like a place to hang out for a while and take lessons/schooling for a number of things - such as massage, cooking, buddhism and meditation, or yoga. no lessons for us - some relaxation, massage, and a bit of touring was on our agenda. we were here for 4 days and enjoyed 3 massages. i think we've officially acclimated to thailand… we are moving on today about 4 hours north east to the city of chiang rai. we're hoping to do some trekking and possibly visit some local hill tribes. we'll keep you posted!
alina
No comments:
Post a Comment