Left Bangkok early this morning, headed north.
Wat Maha That
Phitsanulok comes later in the day; we'll get to that. Today we started off at the ruins of Ayutthaya, the second capital of the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand) which was destroyed by the Burmese a few hundred years ago. The remaining stupas, pagodas, and Buddha statues are a sight to see.
This Buddha head was part of the damages waged by the Burmese, but this bodhi tree gathered it up and protected it all these years.
There we are at the ruins. Do we look hot? 105 today, plus 90% humidity...🔥
The ruins of Buddha are all over this sacred site.
After seeing the ruins, we got to check out the Monkey Temple. I wonder why it's called that?
We had fun watching them jumping, splashing, and frolicking around the temple. Our guide warned us that they like to steal tourists' hats, sunglasses, and cameras, so we were careful of that. What he didn't tell us was to watch out for them jumping on us... which happened to Jenn! Too funny. No trip to the monkey hospital, though.
As we journeyed north, we stopped at this amazing little lunch spot for a private, gourmet Thai lunch. Can't beat the food or the ambience dining al fresco in the lush gardens.
Our last stop today was a real, working temple in Phitsanulok that was in worship. The monks were chanting and the temple was full of school kids learning the chants. Our guide mentioned that he tried to be a monk once but only lasted two weeks.
Just outside the temple.
The main altar inside the temple.
Wandering around Phitsanulok. Isn't this cute? Didn't see this in Bangkok.
In the mall looking for some dinner.
We've seen and done a ton in the last few days, but it's pretty darn hot and humid, and let's just say things are getting a little chafed. Commando style was just the ticket.
Some awesome pictures, particularly of Ayutthaya! So cool. I don't imagine Jenn was thrilled about the monkey attack! Glad everyone's ok, in spite of that and the heat. Ugh. That lunch looks pretty awesome, though it's too bad about the dinner! At least you found some veggies to throw in there. Love the pic of you two in front of the doorway there! :) Hope you keep enjoying everything- with or without your knickers....
ReplyDeleteDinner was awesome actually and we made it really good. The heat is tolerable because we typically travel and hour in AC, see something awesome for an hour. Repeat. Maybe we are just getting used to it or distracted by the locale. Whatever it is its been great.
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