leaving Bangkok! Huzzah!

So we decided Bangkok was giving us the shits- I couldn't handle saying no to all these people trying to take us for rides in their tuk tuk's etc. So we got up early and went to Bangkok train station (i think called humphalong? ). we jumped on a train to the Ancient Capital of Ayatthuya. it was about an hour and half journey and I found it to be pretty exciting and interesting. Tim read a newspaper most of the way. it was so bizairre to watch out the window and see all these shack houses that line the railway and people living amongst what is essentially a lot of rubbish. We saw some nice sites as well, like some watery farm land etc.

On arrival in Ayatthuya I immediately felt a sense of relief. It is a much smaller place and the people don't hassle you. We walked from the tain to the ferry and crossed the river. The town is broken up by a river which runs in a kind of circle around the part of town called 'the island'. We headed to a hostel recommended to us by Rochelle which was on the island facing the river. It is an old teak traditional thai house. Very beautiful. The food at the restaraunt is absolutely the best we've had yet. We had hot and spicy prawn soup- there were at least 6 prawns in the soup the size of a fist! more excitingly we watched these funny little squirrel creatures which were either white or brown and had tails that looked like old used bottle brushes. They ran around the tree and roof of the hostel and actually kind of flew from one to the other, launching themselves across.

After lunch we borrowed some bikes from the hostel and decided to explore the town. I'm really glad Tim convinced me to ride as it was the best fun we've had yet. We rode about 4 km's to the Historic park and centre of the island. We decided we wanted to see the Old Palace ruins and followed the map as far as it said to and for the life of us couldn't find the bloody ruins. we rode up and down this one street in the park under a torrential downpour to no avail. Eventually we sucked up our pride and asked a lady - she pointed and we looked across to see we had been cycling past it the whole time. I don't know how we could miss such inredible ruins. By this stage it was getting dark and we decided to come back tomorrow. We cycled around the see some elephants nearby that were giving rides to people. I have never touched an elephant before and I was so excited I nearly pissed my pants. There skin is kind of prickly and the elephant slobbered all over my hand.

Anyway we headed back to our hostel and parked our bikes. Lonely planet convinced us we should eat at the night markets and so we went for another trek trying to find them. We found markets eventually that were operating at night- but Lonely Planet led us astray- they were pretty average and we headed back to the hostel for more fist sized prawns.

We ended the day by sitting on the balcony overlooking the water and having a read. Such a wonderful day- Iw as filled with happiness.