Exploring the city of Ayutthaya

4th of August, Weekend Market Bangkok
The weekend market is every weekend (hence the name of it.) and it’s definitely not like the night market in Chiang Mai or Kao Shan Road and worth to be seen. You get everything at the weekend market, food, cloths, gems even furniture’s and its really crowded. Most of the people going there are Thai, because it’s much still cheap then the rest of Bangkok. It takes about an hour by the bus to get there and if you are in Bangkok on a Saturday or a Sunday, don’t miss it! We also went to the Bayoketower, which is the highest building in the city, but that was a disappointment.

You have to pay 120 Baht to for the elevator to the observation deck and inside the tower there are shops selling stuff just like on Khaosan Road. We accidentally took a wrong elevator and ended up the 12th floor. Just to find out that there is nothing between the 12th and the 9th floor, just empty unfinished rooms. The Bayoketower probably also was a victim of the financial crisis in south-east Asia. You see a lot of unfinished buildings in Bangkok, waiting for a buyer, or to collapse.

5th of August, Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya was the Siamese Capital from 1350 to 1767 (one of the most important and biggest cities in the world at that time) before the Burmese destroyed it.. It’s about 70 kilometres north of Bangkok and a nice day trip if you have some time left. It takes about 2 hours to get there by train. Most of the books recommend to rent a tuk tuk or a bicycle to explore the city, but we decided to walk around which is also a good way. The city itself is an island, so you have to take one of the boats to get there (there are also some bridges).

The ruins in and around Ayutthaya are really impressive and show the old power of this magnificent place. We visited a few temples and had a rest in the park in the middle of the city. The park is not just a big meadow or something like that. There are a lot of little islands, connected by bridges which creates an awesome scenery.