It is possible to travel to Ayutthaya from Bangkok by train, but we decided to do a coach tour, as the journey is quicker by road, and the temples are somewhat far apart, so it's convenient to have transport included.
This was one of three tours that we took during our two weeks in Thailand - while we were in Khao Lak the following week, we went on tours to James Bond Island and the Surin Islands. The Ayutthaya tour, which was run by Sun Leisure World, was definitely our favourite, as well as by far the best value. For 32 USD each, it included guided visits to two temple complexes, a sunset cruise with a dance performance, and a meal at a restaurant.
The journey to Ayutthaya in the bus took about 90 minutes, but it passed fairly quickly, as our guide told some good jokes and interesting facts about Thailand. Plus, we could enjoy the landscapes between the two cities.
The first temple we visited was Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, and it was pretty spectacular. It has a huge pagoda you can climb to the top of, which gives you fantastic views across the site.
There's also a big area outside where you can buy gifts and snacks. We bought this elephant shaped ice-cream, which was coconut flavoured, and as delicious as it was adorable!
The next temple we visited was Wat Maha That. This is the famous temple that's known for having a head of Buddha in a tree!
To be honest, it was cool to see the head, but there was such a big crowd around it that it wasn't possible to even get a photo of it from front on. We didn't spend much time on it, because the site is big, and there was a lot more to explore.
Our guide explained that there are two types of pagoda in Buddhism: the Sri Lankan bell shape, like we saw at the previous temple, and the Cambodian corn shape, of which there were many examples at this temple (including one that was leaning like the Tower of Pisa!).
I enjoyed looking around the site, but unfortunately it wasn't so much fun for Claudio, as he'd accidentally left his phone on the bus, which had then been driven off somewhere else. Luckily, it was there lying on the seat when the bus returned! Interestingly, when waiting for the bus to come back again, we had our first glimpse of Thai elephants going past in a big truck! (We would get to meet several more the following day...)
Next it was time to begin the penultimate part of the tour: the river cruise in a traditional boat. The boat was beautiful, and the cruise was very entertaining. We passed by beautiful temples, fed catfish, and enjoyed a Thai dance performance.
The highlight was passing by Wat Chaiwatthanaram, a temple that was inspired by Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It was really exciting to see, as Angkor Wat is a place that was high on my bucket list, and which we'd considered visiting as part of this honeymoon. However, I'd seen in mentioned in a few different articles about overly-crowded tourist sites, and decided to give it a miss and focus on Thailand for this trip. So it was a nice experience to see a sort of smaller version of it and take photos without the crowds, and it was also a really beautiful historic site to admire.
At the end of the cruise, the boat arrived at Krua Phirom Restaurant, where food was waiting for us. Our table was right by the river, looking out over Chedi Sri Suriyothai, a beautiful pagoda.
We were all given a glass of a Thai juice (I think it was pandan leaf juice) that was very sweet and tasty. There wasn't a large amount of food, but everything was perfectly prepared. I had the veggie options, which I found to be very simple and plain, though Claudio had the opposite issue, as he found the meat options much too spicy for his liking! Though given the relatively low cost of the tour, we felt that the meal was pretty good value overall.
The restaurant also had a big garden, which we enjoyed exploring. The place was beautifully decorated, tranquil and full of atmosphere.
Even though Ayutthaya is only an hour or so away from Bangkok, it feels a world away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. I would highly recommend visiting these wonderful, historic temples to anyone taking a holiday in Thailand. Although our two weeks had almost too many highlights to even call them highlights, this day was definitely up there, and we felt it added something special and a bit different to our time staying in Bangkok.
After taking the coach back to the capital, passing by a beautiful golden palace on the way, it was time for us to pack up our suitcases and prepare to head for the airport early the next morning. Part 2 of our honeymoon was about to begin, and a lot more excitement was heading our way over the next few days...
