bangkok, thailand – day 2

Temple Tour day for Day 2, so we were up early to get from the hotel to Victory Monument via BTS. From the Victory Monument, we walked to the station of parked vans that would take us to Ayutthaya, the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam.

The six of us hired a tuktuk (auto rickshaw) for the entire tour.

Some snapshots of Ayutthaya’s splendor. Imagine how the kingdom looked before it fell into ruin.

Gigantic Buddha.

Exquisite detail.

Inside Wat Mahathat.

I felt bad for these elephants, so I just decided to split a basket of fruits (50 THB) with a friend and feed them.

See how close they were tied to the pole. :(

This tourist stop also sells ivory products. They claim that the ivory used was taken from a living elephant.

On with the tour:

A panoramic view of the original Reclining Buddha at Wat Yai Chai Mongkol:

Lovely colors and architectural design.

A closer look.

I can’t remember the name of the place, but all of the statues there – like this one – are asking visitors for donation.

We went back to Victory Monument, and from there took the train to National Stadium to visit MBK (a shopping mall; we didn’t stay long, but I managed to buy a small bottle of Evian facial mist) and Siam Paragon.

Chicken satay for lunch! It was delicious, but I went overbudget.

After using up all our Baht inside Platinum Mall, we had dinner at a sidewalk stall:

Yum.

We went back to the hotel, and I finally had my shower! A glorious, glorious shower. I can’t stand the heat, and this is coming from a girl who lives in a tropical country.

I slept late because I had to wrestle with my damn luggage, now filled to the brim with pasalubong. You know how it is. Pinoys love buying gifts for the entire barangay. I don’t know why we do this to ourselves.