Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand, was invaded by the Burmese armies in 1765. After 14 months, the city of Ayutthaya surrendered and was burned in April 1767. The Burmese brought the Ayutthaya Kingdom to ruin by burning its' art treasures, libraries containing its' literature and its' historical records. The city was left in ruins, and the inhabitants suffered mass murder, rape and enslavement. The Burmese only held the city three months before leaving to fight a war with the Chinese that were trying to take Burma. All that was left were the charred ruins of the palaces, evidence of Ayutthayas' past splendor.

It is thought that by 1600 CE, Ayutthaya had a population of 300,000 . It reached 1 million by 1700 CE. It was one of the worlds' largest cities at the time.

Today, I will view the ruins of the many temples of the past. There are many of these and I imagine (from seeing the wats I have already seen) of the grand beauty these once were.

I rented a bicycle and rode around the city and to the many ruins. The bicycles to rent here are two kinds: a girls bike with a basket or girls bike with a basket. I pick the girls bike with a basket. 

I have to lock the bike at the gate before entering each of the ruins. I walk around looking at all these ruins. I climb stairs once leading to majestic temples. 

 In one place I climbed some stairs only to find the entrance to the inside of the temple blocked off. There is a small ledge around the temple leading to another doorway. I hang on to the brick wall as well as I can and walk on the ledge to get to the open entry on the other side of the ruins . It's slow and nerve wracking for someone that does not like heights. I turn my foot sideways in some places to stay on the ledge. Once there I breathe a sigh of relief. I held on and moved carefully to get to this door that was open, so I can see what is inside. I catch my breath and settle my nerves. Then I look behind me. 

 There behind me, at this doorway, is another set of steps coming up from the ground level like the ones I just climbed. I could have walked around this building and walked up the stairs. Another one in the books for me! 

In my defense, though, I saw a man in front of me take the hair-raising climb around the outside ledge. That is when I decided it must be worth doing. Was he a crazy American, too?

I enter the doorway and find steps going both up and down. They're only wide enough to step on if you turn your foot sideways as you climb.

I go down a few floors and see open rooms, all of it cement, it looks like . The stairs are so narrow there are handrails to hold on to. It is a little dark and musty smelling down in the bottom rooms. Maybe these were dungeons. The upper rooms are sunnier but the stairs are very narrow and it takes slow going to climb them.

 There is a group  with a tour guide coming through. Maybe I can follow along and pick up some information. They came on a bus and there are a lot of them. I follow along behind. It takes a while for all of them to get down the stairs. Some of them are very cautious and it is slow going for us all. Finally,everyone gets downstairs and crowds into the small room. I patiently follow them into the crowded room and stand in the little space left in the back of the room. I wait for him to start talking. He is talking in Chinese.

It takes 4 to 5 hours before I have seen 4 of the ruins, riding my bike between each one. I decide to return to the hostel. There are many more, but you cannot see them all in one day comfortably, and I have seen 4, all of them different in design . They must have been beautiful in their day and just as amazing as the ones you see today, if not more so.. 

While I am unlocking my bike I meet two guys doing the same. They are David from America (Oregon) and Bjorn from Germany. We stop and talk a while before riding off in separate directions, they on their girls bikes with a basket, and me on mine.

I spend a few hours relaxing in my room before deciding to go find some place to eat. I walk just a little way down the street and decide this sidewalk cafe looks good. Actually, the table and chairs I sit at are in the street. Cars just drive on the two lanes that are left.

It's a full moon night and I eat with a dog laying curled up at my feet. The night air is just perfect, with a slight breeze blowing. I look at the stars and moon and enjoy my meal in the streets of Ayutthaya. Thai music is playing in the background, then after a while they change to American country music .

There is a man eating alone right next to my small table and he is not thai. I speak and find he is German. We talk about our travels. He is here with his wife. They toured some ruins but did it on a motorbike. He doesn't think he could do it on a bicycle.

We talk and enjoy the night air and watch the walking and driving traffic as it goes by. Then, a bicycle goes by and an arm flys up, waving. It is Andrew and Callum. They don't stop but keep riding down the street a little ways to eat. 

Callum, Andrew and I were all going biking around the ruins today, but they were going early and I could not go that early. I had to wait until 10 a.m. to see if there was a room open for me.

 I was able to check into their hostel this morning but didn't see them. I am sure they had already rented their bikes and were out touring the city. My hostel last night was 700 baht . Their hostel is 300 baht. In their hostel, I still have a private room and bath. Besides the price, the main thing is the interaction with other backpackers is better here. 

In a few minutes they leave their bikes down the street and walk up to my table and ask to sit down. They decided to come eat with me. We talk. They are interested in what America is like in my eyes. They want to know how our health care works. They ask about how our politics work and if we are happy with our party system. They ask about how Americans feel about gun control. They ask if the Tea Party is a party like the republicans and Democrats. 

They also want to know what Americans, and me in particular, think of when we think of England. I think of double decker busses, bobbies with hard hats, the Queen and Palace and Changing of the Guards. They want to know if England gets much press coverage in America. I say the Royal Family is always covered in case of a big event and their politics are covered, but more so on a news channel .

I ask them if Harry and William will someday be King? They tell me William will be King but Harry never will be. William had a son, so that knocked Harry out of the lineup.
 
We talk until around 10 or 11 p.m. They will leave going to north Thailand tomorrow and I will head back to Bangkok. Callum asks for my e-mail address. They want to keep in touch and maybe meet up again during our travels. We shake goodbye again for the third time.

These are two of the nicest and most fun 19 year olds I have met anywhere. They are a credit to their parents and represent their home country of England well. I hope we can connect again further down the line.

(Note: Thanks to Big Al, from my Act II days, for researching my mystery place I talked about in the last post. He found just a little information about it. It seems to be a Chinese Wat and cemetery.)