"Happy Bird-day"

After another somewhat adventurous journey, I arrived in Ayutthaya to spend my birthday weekend with friends and do some sight-seeing.

Friday night five of us went out for a western dinner at Tony’s Place. After a delicious meal of chicken and french fries we headed across the street to listen to some live music. Here we found a band with a singer who I can only describe as a Thai “hippie”. This guy was awesome. Aside from the fact that he was pounding back whiskey shots, he really had no idea the words to the songs he was singing. Songs such as Bob Marley’s “No woman, no cry” didn’t sound quite the same as he was mumbling through the words in a Thai accent.

I got the best birthday present when two of my friends surprised me with a banana chocolate roti birthday cake, candles included. Roti (kind of like a crepe) is one of my favorite desserts here so I was thrilled when they walked up singing happy birthday. The band, seeing that it was my birthday, began singing their rendition of the song. This was quite funny because it sounded like “happy bird-day” (Thai’s have trouble pronouncing the “th” sound in English words). Such a great way to spend my birthday J       

Ayutthaya was the former capital of Thailand (or Siam) and was built in the 1300’s. In 1767 the city was sacked and burned by the Burmese army. The city was left in ruins until they began to restore it in the 1950’s. During the attack the army stole all of the treasures and cut off the heads of the majority of the Buddha statues.

On Saturday we decided to rent bikes so we could ride around to all of the ruins. This was interesting as we had to cross the river with our bikes first. Hmm…didn’t really think that one though. We ended up getting our bikes onto the ferry (luckily it was about a 2 minute ride) and then attempted to ride down the side streets looking for the ruins. Riding bikes around Thailand is honestly quite terrifying. Again they have no pedestrian side walks or cross walks so you just have to go and hope you don’t get hit by a motorbike or tuk-tuk. We found the ruins and began our tour at the Wat Mahatat.  

 We spent the majority of the day walking around the ruins which was absolutely amazing. We saw the famous Buddha head wrapped in the tree trunk, the largest Buddha in Ayutthaya and a giant reclining Buddha statue. We also wandered through a huge market and had some delicious snacks. I can’t wait to go back and see more of the temples and ruins we didn’t get a chance to see!

I can’t believe I got to spend my 25^th birthday in Thailand. So amazing.