badmonkeyfatpig: Bangkok revisited 23.06.10

waking up early in the morning to take BTS to Victory Monument for an 1 1/2 hour van ride to our destination, Ayutthaya.

and boy, it is hot there…

since we are not taking any tours AND with only a map in our hand, as usual we had trouble finding the place.

what we found after 10 minutes of walking,..

after walking for like 30 minutes, we had reached our destination!!!

Yes, it is Wat Mahathat.

and this is where the famous Buddha Head is located

amazing isn’t it? there’s a certain calmness in the statue although the roots of the tree made it otherwise.

other than the head, i found that there is nothing special about Wat Mahathat as there’s only rubbles and ruins. look at the photos below and you will get what i mean…

this is what remains of the Grand Hall.

most of the Buddhas are beheaded. what happened back then?!

This is used to place Buddha’s relics!

one of the Buddha’s which is not destroyed

is this called ‘Klongs’, right?

Can you imagine how grand it is if it was not destroyed by the Burmese back in 1767 AD? screw them for destroying the royal temple!!!

after Wat Mahathat, we decided not enter the other Wats (there are like more than 20!) as they look the same (and most of them charge 50Bht per entry).

instead, we just take photos from the outside as we walk pass them

lunch was so-so…

thai style char siu + siew yoke + lap cheong rice for 250bht

on the way walking back to the van station, i saw a bus station to Bangkok. so… being TOO smart, i decided to take the bus home as that means we don’t have to walk any further.

the bus ticket. please take note.

the time it took to reach bangkok is slightly longer than taking the van. and the bus stops at a bus stop near Chatuchak market, in which we an take BTS back to hotel.

but the problem is…

once we arrived, we can’t find the damn market. from the map, it is just BESIDE the bus station. yet, we can’t find it. so near yet so far…

in the end we had to take a cab back and experienced how jam bangkok traffic can be, even though it is not peak hour. damn, money wasted on the taxi trip. damn…

next, is dinner time. nothing much can be done on the 2nd day as some time was wasted on the journey from Ayuthaya.

decide to go to Cabbage and Condom for dinner, a restaurant with condom-based concept established by Population and Community Development Association (PDA). read on the link provided to know more.

the ambience of the restaurant is very nice! and it really feels like fine dining, at one point, i even told them to stop serving us as i got used to do it myself. guess i’m just another ‘ulu’ people. haha! food is ok, and it is suitable for those with low tolerance for spicy stuff (as it caters more to westerners).

here', i’ll let the photos do the talking :

lanterns made of condoms.