For our final full day in Thailand we visited the temple ruins at Ayutthaya, which was the ancient capital of Siam from ~1350 to 1767, when Bangkok became the capital city. In its heyday Ayutthaya was a very wealthy city. It’s about 90 minutes to two hours outside of Bangkok, depending on traffic.

While touring the site we met up with a group of Thai teens, about 15 or 16 years old, dressed in traditional costumes, who were on a school project, part of which might have been to practice their English. It was already pretty good. They invited members of our group to join them in playing their version of the kid’s game we in the U.S. call “monkey in the middle,” not sure what they call it. Here’s a video snippet.

After the temple ruins we visited a nearby village, stopping at a shop that produces roti samai, a cotton candy-like treat that is wrapped in a crepe. It’s not like cotton candy in the U.S., though. The sugar is cooked and turned into caramel, which is then combined with a wheat and rice flour mixture and spun into strands that look like spaghetti. It’s all done by hand, but the end result was tasty, and it’s very popular in Thailand.

After lunch we enjoyed another boat ride, this time on one of the Thai longboats. Later we had a last dinner of Thai cuisine at a restaurant Pat found online. It was good, but to give you an idea of what rush hour traffic is like in Bangkok, it took about 50 minutes by cab to reach the restaurant and about 10 minutes to return later in the evening.

On Thursday morning we departed for a roughly two hour flight to Luang Prabang in Laos. Its on the Mekong River in the interior of the country. The heart of the city is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s quaint and on first impression seems very tourist oriented. It’s a small town, so it’s a big change from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

So far our impressions are very favorable. Its much cooler in the evening, so that is a plus after Bangkok’s heat, though we will be returning to hotter temps later in this trip. As I write this it is 74F at 9 p.m., heading to an overnight low of 63. Pleasant to us, cold to the locals.

Our dinner at a local restaurant featuring Lao food also was outstanding. And the best part is everything is super cheap for us Americans. One of my tour mates and I stopped at a bar before dinner while our wives went to the local outdoor market. We enjoyed a gin and tonic at 55,000 Lao Kip per drink. Sounds expensive, right? That’s about $2 each. Cheers.