It started badly- at about 6.30am, having had not much sleep- with a very chatty tour guide on a busy coach! He was a great guy, very interesting with lots to say- but at that time? Seriously!

Everyone was just falling asleep! His name was Audi, (or at least thats what people call him!) He spoke very good English and had an extensive knowledge of Thailands history. Obviously with Ayuttaya being the first capital of Thailand (before Sukothai and Bangkok) it has a hell of a lot of history.
We started off by visiting Bang-Pa In (Summer Palace) Which was very beautiful, there were many temples and stunning oriental style buildings in these huge botanical gardens, and obviously the palace, which you cannot enter. The interesting thing about many odf the temples is that they, or things within them were often gifts from China or Burma, for example. So they often have a very oriental or different look to them from the traditional Thai and Buddhist temples.
We went on to Ayuttaya from here, the ancient capital in the period of 1350-1767 A.D. There were extensive ruins in this area, some of the oldest. The Ancient Palace itself is not still standing but you can see the Buddhist statues (such as Wat Prasri- Sanphet) that were within it and see where its walls once stood. And we also saw wat Yai- Chai- Ya- Mongkol.
After a long day, we then had a two and a half hour cruise along the Chaopraya River, and buffet lunch. But it was extremely tiring, and just when Audi seemed to be giving our ears a break- he started up again! He is very knowledgable though, and we would have just been cruising past and not knowing what the buildings were otherwise! Still, when we got into Bangkok we were looking forward to leaving! Tommorrow we will check out of Asia Hotel, go and see the Grand Palace and some of the Buddhas and then we shall be off to Sukothai!