Ayutthaya and Hua Hin

Yesterday we took the train from Ayutthaya to Bangkok and then another train from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Our time in Ayutthaya was pretty relaxed. Just wandered the streets a bit by bicycle (although that wasn't terribly relaxing, although quite fun as long as we didn't think too much about all the traffic zooming past!). Corinne and I took separate turns to bike down to the ruins and have a look. I didn't spend much time there. They were nice and historically impressive, but not much different from Old Sukothai, which I liked more, and so I didn't take any photos.

We met some great people at our guest house, which was a friendly, cozy place with a patio, small bar, and a balcony. I met travelers from France, the U.S., Thailand, Czech Republic, and Wales. Nice people. The young Czech/Thai couple we met had travelled extensively throughout New Zealand, and gave us some good ideas. They were a funny couple, and the Czech guy had been traveling for over 1 year! He was lamenting having to go back home, but I guess the world cup (soccer) is going to be held in the Czech Republic this year and, being a big soccer fan, he had to be home for that. When asking about things in the past, he counted years based on the World Cup and knew where each of them had been hosted for the past 20 years. Pretty funny! His Thai girlfriend, who was really sweet, made fun of him for it. I think he may be an even bigger fan than you, Stephen! (little cousin Stephen, that is).

We went out for supper on March 7 at a little street vendor run by a Thai family just down from our guest house. The smell of good food, the friendly cook who wouldn't take no for an answer, and the general lack of little wild dogs that roam the place after dark and protect their territory was more than enough to entice us. The food was great, of course, and the people we're wonderful! They had a little boy who sat with us and played a game of "what's this called" in Thai and English. For example, I would point to a chair and say "chair" and he would then give me the Thai word for it. It's things like this that really make the best of traveling! We then had drinks and exchanged stories with a middle-aged couple from Wales, braving the misquitos to enjoy the company. The wife was origionaly from Australia, and they were on vaction to visit them, spending 2 weeks in Thailand first. The husband (Welsh) tried to scare us with wild stories of poisonous spiders under toilet seats, killer jelly fish, sharks, and snakes that attack. But the wife just shook her head and said that the thing we have to worry about most in Australia is the Auzzie boys!

Hua Hin was quite a shock to the sences after our travels north. It's extremely touristy! It's developed into a beach/golf resort for rich europeans. In the northern cities, we were stared at as we walked down the street beacuse of our (and mostly my) fair skin. Here, we're were stared at by the rich europeans because we were backpackers. I prefere the first kind of attention we got! We find that the locals here are not qutie as friendly as the Thais up north, probably because this place is overrun by caucasians. It's hard to find a Thai restaurant here and the wonderful street-side food stalls are almost non-existant except in the market areas. Lots of "european" restaurants, especially Italian! We're avoiding that, aiming for the little places away from the major tourist center instead. There's even a Burger King and a Subway! We're avoiding that, too. Although we did crumble off our high horses last night and bought some Gelatto (Italian Ice Creme). It's much more expensive here, too. However, the night market was fun. We're planning on eating there tonight. Between markets and higer prices, our wallets are getting quite a work-out here and we're looking forward to finding a quiet beach somewhere that's a bit cheaper. Although we may be fooling ourselves. Some of the beach activities look really fun and I think I'll have to indulge. I figure Thailand is the place to do it, since it is still relatively cheap. Plus, it's activities that I couldn't really do back home.

Cheers for now!