Ayutthaya
Ashley, Jacey, and I decided to take a day trip out to the ancient city of Ayutthaya which I believe used to be the capital of Thailand. Ayutthaya.
There are a lot of ways to get to Ayutthaya as it is about an hour or two outside of Bangkok depending on how you go. Most people who decided to go took the train. For 15 baht (about 45 cents) you can take a rickety, no AC train all the way there and then rent bikes or motorbikes to get around which are also really cheap and gas in Thailand is next to nothing. We decided to take a fully expensive tourist route. It was possibly one of the most touristic things I've done yet in Thailand. We paid $54 US (kill me now) and got taken around in a charter bus with AC and a tour guide. Yes everyone on the bus was old and most of them were white.
The benefit of the AC, bus, and tour guide was not lost on me but I'm still not quite over the prices we paid...
The first stop we made was the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace. It was beautiful and had some fun topiary elephants and such.
We made a few more stops at temples and things in Ayutthaya like Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit, Wat Na Phra Men, and the Giant Lying Buddha. The ruins were beautiful and we got to see the tree under which Buddha gained enlightenment (and have touristy pictures taken of us there). We also paid donations to one of the temples and were blessed by a monk which consisted of some words, being hit on the head with I can only assume a blessing stick of sorts, and being given a bracelet. I really liked it and it was a fun and worthwhile experience.
Our day trip concluded with a river boat cruise back to Bangkok which was about 2.5 hours and included an all you can eat buffet of both Thai food and western food and a full dessert buffet. (Finally our $54 US was starting to pay off) We ate literally so much and watched the river go by.
All in all it was a really great experience. We met a really nice guy from Dubai on the boat and he sat with us as he was traveling alone and didn't want to eat alone. I had a categorical mistake where I was like we've seen this temple, that temple, the palace, the Giant Lying Buddha, but why didn't we see Ayutthaya? I got confused and thought that Ayutthaya was one location rather than the name of the entire area. It was a really fun trip though and in the end probably at least mostly worth the cost.
We learned a bit about Buddhism like the 7 steps to enlightenment and the 10 rules that Buddhists (monks only?) live by. I listed them below but I honestly googled them... I'm writing this about 2 weeks later so my memory isn't as good as if I had written it the next day like I should of. I got a bit behind in the last two weeks!
7 steps to enlightenment, Mindfulness, Investigation, Determination, Joy, Relaxation/Tranquility, Awareness, Letting Go
Buddhist 10 Rules, Don't kill living things, don't take what isn't yours, no sex, no lying or gossiping, no drugs or drinking, not too much food after midday, no dancing, singing or music, no personal adornment, no luxurious beds or seats, no money