Hello again..

It is strange to think our time in Thailand is almost over. We just spent the last few days in Ayutthaya the former capital about an hour north of Bangkok. We stayed at a beautifully decorated guest house.. Run by an artist, his paintings (portraits, landscapes) decorate the common areas and rooms. There was a great balcony overlooking the river, where people would gather at different times of the day.. doing their own thing.. reading writing, or chatting with each other. There was also a cozy living room area.. even with a TV which came in handy later on.

We spent one day cycling around the city. Luckily the traffic is nothing like Bangkok.. otherwise I definitely would not have agreed to venture through traffic circles with tour buses, Tuk-tuks and trucks. The traffic that was there respected us although we had to be quite assertive otherwise we'd be waiting at intersections for hours. It was a bit hot (read understatement here). I was glad one of our stops included the Cultural Study Center - which in addition to being a very modern museum describing the history of Ayutthaya's hey day - was also air conditioned. It was interesting to read about how Ayutthaya (the king/government) allowed European foreigners in, have independent self run settlements outside of the city, and incorporated them in the government to assist with trade and diplomacy, yet at the same time not be colonized. Apparently of th European countries the Portuguese arrived first, then Spanish, then Dutch, and lastly the French as well though less consistently. Before this Thailand also had significant trade with China, Japan and other Asian countries.

We also went to several ruins of the Wat's built during that time. They had been destroyed by invasions (mainly from Burma) as well as deteriorated over time. There have been recent moves of renovation of some areas. Quite impressive non-the-less to see the remnants of a large Stupas rising above the ruble. In-between the remnants of walls demarcating halls and temples, were parts of hundreds of Buddha sculptures. Almost all, except the largest, were headless. Odd to see what the guide described as almost a scrap pile of Buddha's parts. On one part of a wall I found several Buddha's heads and faces, leaning against each other.. grey but still reasonably distinct. There was also one Buddha face that was completely surrounded by old Boddhi tree roots. Nice unintentional visual; driving home the point of Buddha's oneness with the world especially nature.

We also came to Ayutthaya to see the Loy Krathong festival. It is a time when people float little round floats decorated with banana leaves, flowers and incense on the river. They send them off with prayers and wishes for the new year. At night, we went to two festival areas and were able to see several performances and people sending off the Krathong floats. Seeing the ritual with it and the little boats themselves was wonderful. However, we had hoped to see the river full of lit little boats, which did not happen. People sent them out over a wide spread period and it seemed the candles burned out quickly. We did see several beauty pageants - one for young women, and another for older women. Interesting to see the contrast. Both groups of women dressed in full color and glitter - crowns decorating their heads.

Unfortuntely we had Unfortunatelycare (okay I was more scared than Peter). Peter became sick - fever, etc. Luckily we had anti-bioticcs with us from the U.S. (thank you Zipro), and a quick visit to a small local clinic confirmed it was nothing too serious other than a bacterial infection. We had to post-pone our departure to Laos. His napping and resting (watching movies on the afore-mentioned TV) allowed me to have a few adventures on my own. I had taken a motorcycle taxi at night. (yes a brief momment of stupidity to jump on a motorcycle with a strange man in a foreigmomentry at night) to get to the train station to cancel our overnight tickets. I found myself being driven away from the train station on a side road... I had vision of the worst results, and was mentally trying to figure what kind of stunt jumps and rolls I could do off of a movingmotor bike. Luckily I tried direct diplomacy and when I asked the driver to stop and return to the main road.. he actually did so! After several hand signals on my part, sheepish grins and head nods on his part, we got back on track.. and were 10 mins later (during which I memorized the number on his taxi jersey and the phone number of his taxi company just in case) we were laughing in front of the train station. I count myself lucky.

Since then Peter has recovered quite well. On our last day we wandered the city again. Although, our attempt to find the Dutch settlement indicated on our tourist map was unfruitful. That night we left for Laos by train. After several bus and taxi change overs we passed through both Thai and Laotian immigration and arrived in Vientiane. We had been given mixed descriptions of the city by people, and were a bit curious. But we have been pleasantly surprised. Perhaps this is influenced by the fact that we had great pasties and my first good coffee in a long time. We walked around the town a bit today, and you can definitely see the French/European influence in the architecture, and culinary offerings. These are alongside the usual Wats, and all located along the Mekong river. Quite a wide river, and by Peter's report the third longest river in Asia. Not a small claim. It feels less busy and more cosy than other cities. It is strange because there are signs indicating prices in dollars, and in many places you can pay in dollars, Baht (Thai currency) or Kip. Although you are mostly likely going to be given change in Kip. The rate of Kip per Baht or Dollar is astounding. The amount of Kip you receive gives the temporary illusion that you are wealthy! It feels a bit odd to be paying sixteen thousand Kip for a coffee and croissant.

Unfortunately we are here only for 2 1/2 days. So we are unable to venture much further into Laos, but we may try to go for a boat tour tomorrow.

Well hope this message finds you well. Look forward to hearing from you!.

Trish and Peter

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