Day 123 - Thursday, May 24
I was planning to try to get a sleeper train to Chang Mai from Ayutthaya that same night, so I wanted to try to get to Ayutthaya by early afternoon to have some time to explore the ancient ruins of Thailand's one-time capital.
I got the 10:00 public bus out of Kanchanaburi and was pretty ecstatic to find an area in the back with a rounded couch-type seat that provided plenty of room (almost like a big round booth at a restaurant, or like you'd find on a party bus). About 30 minutes into our journey the bus stopped to pick up a guy who stumbled a bit getting on the bus, yelled something to what I assumed was his girlfriend, and slumped down on the couch area in the back, M-150 in hand (Asian version of red bull). He looked like he had been up all night drinking and was very hungover or still drunk. Shortly, it became apparent that he was drunk. Very drunk. He was trying to communicate with me, but failing miserably. He kept trying to force his M-150 on me and the other tall Thai guy in the back seat. It seemed he had added some alcohol to it and was still drinking. About the only thing I understood from him was "I .... Lub .... Joo." Which, the first 10 or 15 times he said, I interpreted it to mean like "I love you, man," in the way that it might be said between friends after a lot of drinks. And I responded "thank you," without much else. But then in addition he started to tell me that he thought I was beautiful and often touched my leg or my arm when he said it. So then I was a little worried that perhaps his professions of love had a slightly different meaning and that I should clarify that I'm not gay. But He really didn't seem to know much English, so I decided the less I said, the better. So eventually, I moved across to another seat to avoid the frequent touching and the forcing of the drink on me, and luckily he passed out on the seat for the last 30-minutes or so of the bus ride. I really regret not taking a picture of him while he was passed out. This story would've been way better with a picture.
I eventually got to Ayutthaya around 2 and spent the next 3 or 4 hours exploring the ancient ruins of the city, which were really cool to see, and shockingly unprotected from the public. I wish I could've seen what the city looked like hundreds of years ago when all the temples and such were still standing.
Luckily, it seemed like 3-4 hours was all I really needed to see the highlights of Ayutthaya. I headed over to the train station and bought a ticket for a lower berth (i.e., bottom bunk) on a sleeper train that left Ayutthaya at 7:45pm and was scheduled to get to Chiang Mai about 12 hours later. The train was late - surprise, surprise, but only about 15 mins late. The lower berth was better than the upper I had before, though I still didn't fit very well, and couldn't drape my feet over the edge because of arm rails on the sides. But I still managed to get some sleep. A picture of my sleeping quarters:
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