I've not even heard of Ayutthaya, once the Thai capital for 417 years, until Uncle Hans said he wanted to go there with me.
So that was what we did with Josh when he came to join me in Bangkok recently after the trade show I had to attend came to an end.
We started off at Wat Phra Si Sanphet, which was hailed as the most impressive and important monastery in the ancient city. Uncle Hans spoke of Ayuttaya's glory, and how that glory was stolen when the Burmese army sacked the city in 1767.
Then we proceeded to Wat Chaiwatthanaram, one of the many other architectures in Ayutthaya. This monastery is located along the Chao Phraya River.
When I saw Wat Chaiwatthanaram, the first thing that came to mind was the temples in Siem Reap. There was something similar about these temples although Wat Chaiwatthanaram was only constructed in 1630, many centuries after Angkor Wat.
And I thought Wat Chaiwatthanaram was much more magnificent than Wat Phra Si Sanphet. Perhaps because it was less ruined than the latter.
I love visiting ancient cities. Not only is the architecture beautiful to behold, the thought of how the ancient people had built those impressive structures without advance technology and machine is humbling.
And we modern monkeys complain bitterly when the Internet is too slow!
Furthermore, ancient cities grant me plenty of opportunities to make wonderful photos with my Nikon baby.
But several hours under the unforgiving sun is no joke.
Not only was I visually kaput (in Uncle Han's words) by the end of our tour, I was physically kaput too. I was only too happy to call it a day and look for lunch.
Lunch was had at a cluster of street hawkers. I tend to be careful with where I dine overseas because I have a pampered Singaporean stomach that may not be able to withstand a single strand of bacteria.
But heck. I was so tired and dehydrated that I was thankful for any shelter that came with chairs to rest my arse on and drinks to quench my thirst.
To my surprise, those street hawkers whipped up some out-of-this-world beef kwayteow for a mere 17 baht a bowl - a very minute bowl which just about fits both my palms cupped together. So each of us had at least two bowls!
Josh and I joked that the soup stock was so flavourful because the hawker had not washed his soup pot for the past 10 years, thus soup flavours were accumulated. :)
After lunch, Uncle Hans browsed the various snack stalls that lined the roadside, and he bought us these.
I don't know what these are called, but they were bloody good. They were some sort of wafer with savoury cream and shreds of coconut and carrots. Uncle Hans, Josh and I munched on these in between drags on our cigs.
We also had Thailand's version of goreng pisang - bananas coated in sweetened batter with sprinkles of sesame seeds, and then deep fried till brown. It was much sweeter and crunchier than the Singaporean version, and very delish!
After lunch break, we journeyed to some obscure building that showcased arts and craft made by locals to help give them a livelihood. Those art and craft were really bleh and not worth the hour-long journey.
We eventually got back to the hotel at past 5pm. I was ready to fall asleep by then and all I wanted to do was to peel off my clothes and leap into a cold shower.
But Josh and I were starving too, and we were dying for our sharksfins and bird's nest soup fix. So we recharged and dashed out to Chinatown's Charoenthai Sea Food restaurant.
We knew right away what we wanted, but had to wait quite a while for our ecstasy to arrive because of the dinner crowd.
The indulgent dinner made hardly a dent on our pockets. I love you, Bangkok!
We cleaned out dinner by 8.30pm or so, and our energy levels were down to almost zero. And yet we were reluctant to retire for the day that early. I, too, did not want to waste the chance to hang out with Josh, who flew all the way to Bangkok to join me.
So we swept our exhaustion under the carpet and headed to the Italian restaurant in the hotel, which has outdoor seats along a very pretty alley. There, we shared a bottle of wine, chatted about things that made us laugh and discussed plans for the new apartment.
Look how Md Relak bin Satu Corner somebody was. It could have been a perfect place to hang out if wasn't for the hungry mozzies. By the time we were done, my arms and legs were riddled with angry red bumps.
We were due to return home the next day, and at the airport I lost not an opportunity to expand my collection of Oh! Bears. This time I bought two at one go because I was running late for my flight (I blame the slo-mo Thai immigration officers, but that's a story for another day) and could not decide between two very cute bears.
So now I have five of them sharing my bed. I would have to find them a place to rest in my new apartment.
Oh, but before I end this post, I would like to share with you all two of my favourite photos of Uncle Han's hotel. Both were taken in my favourite place in the hotel - the club lounge. It has a very charming living area, which looks even better from the mezzanine.
More photos on Facebook, peeps. Have fun browsing! :)
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