It's been so long since we've even looked at this site that I'm surprised it hasn't died off already. In any case, we'll try to put in a little more effort in updating. Since we haven't been anywhere in a while, let's do a throwback to 2013 where we visited Ayutthaya and Saraburi. My original plan was to talk about Ayutthaya and Sukhothai in the same post since they are the ancient civilisations of Thailand but the post would be too long and unwieldy, so this post will just be about Ayutthaya and Saraburi instead. All photos are taken with my iPhone so let's not expect any National Geographic quality pictures here.
Ayutthaya is less than 2 hours drive out of Bangkok, so it's easy to do a day trip there and back from Bangkok. There is also a train from Hua Lamphong station but it supposedly takes longer than the stated time so I would say driving is a better option unless you really like trains. There are also minivans that depart from Victory Monument to Ayutthaya and I think those run rather frequently.
We drove there so it was easy for us to visit the various temples at Ayutthaya. You could walk around but having a bicycle or motorbike would make it a lot faster. Within Ayutthaya, there are charges for individual temples, so you should do some research as to which temples you want to visit. I actually can't remember the names of the temples we went to except for what I can Google but I think we only visited 3 or 4 that day as it was really hot the day we went. Since our main purpose to Ayutthaya was to visit the temples we had to be appropriately dressed (i.e. no sleeveless tops, no miniskirts/ shorts for ladies) as a form of respect. While some of the temples are no longer in use, they are still religious sites, so the dress code still applies.
We visited Wat Phra Mahathat, which is famous for the tree which has grown around the Buddha's head. This is a popular tourist spot so there are tour buses full of tourists who come here. Most tourists come and take a photo of this and leave for the next temple but the temple grounds itself has more to see than this tree, so take your time to walk around and explore.
Wat Phra Mahathat
I actually cannot remember where this was taken, oops
same for this, not sure which temple
We also visited Wat Lokaya Sutha which has a large reclining Buddha. It is apparently 37 metres and 8 metres high, yes it was so long I couldn't fit it into my iPhone frame so the picture below is what you get instead.
reclining Buddha at Wat Lokaya Sutha
Since it was a really hot day, we didn't really feel like temple hopping much so we decided to go to Saraburi instead to visit the vineyards and waterfall to cool down.
The vineyards were open but sadly there were no grapes, I think it was the wrong season to visit. And proving that I cannot blog for a living I do not remember which vineyard we visited. There are quite a few around the Muak Lek district and they are all situated quite close to each other so if you don't see one you like you can just move onto the next one. We bought a bottle of lychee wine but since we are not wine connoisseurs I can't tell you if the quality was any good. We did rather enjoy it though so that's what counts.
After the vineyards we went to Namtok Chet Sao Noi National Park to visit the waterfall. You can swim in the waterfall but we just took a short break to enjoy the scenery and had a small picnic. There were lots of Thai families and teenagers there enjoying the cool breeze, making it quite an enjoyable place to just relax.
there are supposed to be 7 levels for the waterfall
All in all it was a rather enjoyable day out. If you are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, do consider going to Ayutthaya and Saraburi for some temples and greenery.
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