Day 27: Ayutthaya -> Bangkok

Wednesday morning was spent wandering around the temples in Ayutthaya. We took a cab into the old city, which is about 14km west of the new city. Some more info on Ayutthaya to come. We didn’t have long because we wanted to catch the bus to Bangkok around 2pm so we only looked at the temples in the center of the old city.

We started out at Wat Ratchaburana. Marco enjoyed these ruins a lot more than the ones in Ayutthaya. We debated renting a bike but decided against it. We then checked out Wat Maha That before taking a tuk tuk over to Wat Phra Si Sanphet. At that point we were a little ‘ruined’ out so headed back to the hostel.

We then went to the mini-bus station to catch a 90-minute ride into Bangkok. In order to get to the station we went one at a time on the back of a staff members motorcycle. It was my first time on a motorcycle and I was helmetless and sitting with my huge bag between the driver and I. However, it was a surprisingly smooth ride! We waited in the mini-bus for about 30 minutes because they wanted to fill the whole thing up of course.

We arrived in Bangkok 90-minutes later and were immediately back in the city frenzy atmosphere- very different from a laid-back temple town. We somehow managed to get the skytrain. Luckily Marco knew where we were going because I mistakenly bought a ticket to the wrong stop. We finally made it to Lub d Bangkok, which means sleep well in Thai. It was really nice as far as hostels go and was in a great location right by the BTS (the local subway).

We checked in and settled into our room and then headed to the MBK center across the street to grab some lunch. They check your bags when you walk in, which I found a little strange. On the top floor they have this food court that has a fake credit card system. They give you a card with 1,000 baht on it (about $35) and you order whatever and pay when you leave. Pretty fancy. I had some delicious chicken caesar wraps.

Next up was trying to meet up with Molly and Johnny, who are both interning in Bangkok at the moment. That turned out to be a complete failure. First I went to the wrong ‘Thong’ stop on the BTS. We had to head back to the hostel and call Molly (of course I forgot to write down any of the information, which is pretty unlike me). Then we planned to meet up at the Skybar but were waiting in two different lobbies so completely missed each other.  Luckily both of us had the good sense to go and get a drink anyway. The bar was super crowded but had a great view of Bangkok at night. We chatted with an American couple that had been visiting Thailand with their kids. The wife was appalled that we had been staying hostels. Apparently the bar is featured in Hangover 2 but neither Marco nor I have seen it.