Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai

Once we arrived in Ayutthaya Tim and I checked into our new guest house.  It was a small quiet place with no hot water or air-con, which was an interesting change of standards, but the price was just right and the hospitality was excellent.  That night we wandered the small strip and found a nice place for dinner to celebrate our four year anniversary!!! (Feb 2nd).  After some mediocre American food and a few large Chang's (local beer) we headed home and got some good rest as the jet-lag was still lingering.  The next day we rented bikes and pedaled around the ruins of the ancient city. We met up with a few other travelers that we ended up sticking with for a while; Elisabeth and Manuel from Bavaria (Germany). Later that night, our group explored the local night market where ate Thai food by the river. The next morning we left for Lop Buri, a nearby town infested with monkeys. After a day of being crawled on by very aggressive little rapscallions we took the overnight bus to Chiang Mai.

We made it to Chiang Mai at 6am and sleepily wandered the town to find a guesthouse. We ended up with a great place with hot water for 200 baht or 6 dollars a night. That day the four of us took advantage of the annual flower festival that was occurring in the town center. We watched the parade for nearly 4 hours and the flower covered floats just kept coming! The following day we took a tuk-tuk (open air taxi) just outside of the city to a beautiful temple on a nearby mountain top. Later that day we checked out the Chiang Mai zoo. The definite highlights were the black leopard (and other big cats), hand feeding giraffes, and petting a baby elephant. Later that night we walked around a huge Sunday night market and got Thai oil massages for 200 baht/hour each. Yesterday the four of us toured northern Thailand. We saw a gorgeous white temple, some small hot springs, and the black-gold triangle, the opium and heroin capital of Asia (also the joining place of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand). Unfortunately on the ride home to Chiang Mai our German companions decided to stay north in Chiang Rai, so we parted ways with high hopes of later visiting them in their homeland for some world class beer and sausage!  After a long ride home an episode of Dexter on the ipod we got home and passed out!  Today we have done nothing noteworthy, and have lazily milled around town just enjoying the beautiful weather and the land of 1000 smiles.