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This was an elephant "farm" where 160 working elephants are housed, bathed, and fed. They have a particular affinity for these Corn-Pop tasting snacks that one may purchase. So for a mere 40cents you get to be chased by baby sugar-crazed pachyderms.
We rented a moto and zipped around town. Ayutthaya is famous because of the 30 or so wats dotted all over the city. These are some of the best-preserved "cathedrals" of the Siamese empire, dating from 1450. Most of them are sinking, have alreday been looted and serve no function now, but reconstructions allow you to see just how powerful and wealthy Siam was.
We serendipitously found a guesthouse that was not having luck attracting clients, so for 10 euros a night we stayed in a traditional, teak-wood, slanted-angle guest-house with a rare soft bed and a hand-made doorway that requires stepping up a stair and over a foot-high threshhold. We were also treated to daily interactions with the personable owner who had studied at Wright State University in Dayton, not 20 miles from Antioch, where I did University.
Later we ran into this monk who offered us an aster-flower drink (too sweet, Stef dumped it out later) and then when we knelt in front of him to receive his blessing me tied a string around our wrists, then proceeded to splash us in the face with frangipani-scented water. Which was rather welcome in the heat.
We ate the giant river shrimp famous in this area, and we had some of the best coffee in Thailand at a cafe/B&B run by a guy that Stef just happened to know from Bagkok. Of course, that allowed us royal treatment and a tour of the city in his air-con Nissan.
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