Away you will go sailin’, in a race among the ruins. If you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon.

Ayutthaya was the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, what is today called the Kingdom of Thailand, from about 1350 until it was destroyed by the Burmese army in 1767 and the new capital was built in Thonburi, what is today a district of Bangkok, the modern day capital of Thailand.

I found Ayutthaya to be a very pleasant, history filled city. It is also the only time in Thailand I had a hot shower, and that was only because the water tanks on top of my guest house had been baking in the sun all day long and I took a shower in the evening. Ayutthaya is covered in this brownish red clay dust, and I was covered in it and didn’t want to sleep that dirty after a day of biking around.

There are ancient ruins all throughout Ayutthaya, and you are able, usually for a small fee, to walk amongst the ruins, travel into 700-800 year old temples. And you can pose on the landings of some of these temples for your friends to take pictures.

A great story I have from my 2 days in Ayutthaya, and this might help explain my friend Eltee to you, or at least his ability to always be prepared. We got a little lost riding the bikes back to our guest house, and we went down an alley. Out of nowhere to our left came these two dogs, barking and growling, clearly sounding like they were all ready for dinner.

I did what any normal person would do: I pedaled faster and pulled the bike to the right to get away from what I was certain was two rabid and hungry dogs. Eltee, on the other hand, with no hesitation, steered his bike to the left, right at the two dogs and barked right back at them.

The dogs responded by yapping, putting their tails between their legs, and running the opposite way.

And then, since Thai roads are set up on the opposite side from USA, like they are in the UK, about 5 minutes later I came seconds away from being run over by a bus since I thought I was crossing the correct turning lane when in reality I was pedaling faster to get right in front of the bus.

As usually, Eltee kept pedaling assuming I’d make it through. When we finally stopped and my heart was still pounding from what I saw as my near death experience, he was calm as a cucumber and said “Well, you didn’t get hit, so we might as well enjoy another beer together.”

All in all, one of my favorite places in Thailand, though I was only there a short time. Tom & I will be there for about the same amount of time, so I hope we get to see all the ruins, and none of the rabid dogs or oncoming buses. But maybe I should tell him these stories so that he can be more prepared than I was.