Ayutthaya at last!

On Sunday I finally made it to Ayutthaya! As one of the three past capitals of Thailand (the other two being Sukhothai and Thonburi), it's a pretty popular destination. Only 90 minutes to the north by train or bus, Ayutthaya boasts acres of ruins (or should I say 'rai' of ruins-FYI, Dad: 2.5 rai=1 acre). Unfortunately, I took the slowest route possible. I left my apartment before 7am and 'just missed' various modes of transportation all day. I just missed my van and had to wait twenty minutes for the next trip to Bangkok. I just missed a ferry boat to the train station and had to wait 15 minutes. I just missed the 9:25 train (the bell sounded as I bought my ticket) and had to take the 10:05 train which didn't pull out of the station until 10:30ish. Thankfully, I made it to Ayutthaya by noon. Being the penny-pincher that I am, I decided to walk to the ruins and by-pass the over-priced tuk-tuk drivers waiting for fresh meat at the train station. I walk for about 30 minutes in the sweltering, 90+ degree heat until I happened upon a bike rental place. For just over $1 US, I had a bike for the day! I zoomed (well, slowly rolled) across town on my one-speed two-wheeler. I could practically feel the wind in my face! I stopped by the most-photographed site- Buddha's head surrounded by overgrown tree roots. Ayutthaya is definitely a city of ruins: mostly piles of bricks and decapitated Buddha images. By the end of my trek, my face was beet-red, and I nearly passed out from heat exhaustion. All in all, a good day, and I'm alive to tell about it.

Since my last post, I:
- voted absentee in the Texas Democratic Primary. I really feel like my vote might count in this one. I sent my ballot on Saturday, but the post office sent it to the return address rather than to Texas despite the fact that I paid for international shipping. Ugh. This time, I highlighted the address and had a Thai teacher talk to the post office, so hopefully, it will get to the US by March 4!
- traveled around with some grad students and a professor from Silpakorn University. We went to a floating market, a Catholic Church, and a few wats (temples). The three Thai women were very nice and excited to practice their English. The Chinese grad student was sleazy and kept throwing pick-up lines at me in Thai. It was awkward.
- went to a monk's funeral, or part of it anyway. Since this monk was under royal patronage, the funeral lasted for seven days. I went to a one-hour prayer session and listened as monks chanted about birth, aging, pain, and death. The picture below shows the funeral display with a huge urn flanked by royal symbols.
- changed the 'comment' settings on my blog. Anyone can make comments (even anonymously), but I just check each comment to avoid spam with links to silly advertisements. So, feel free to comment! I love comments! :)
- have been proctoring final exams!