Our day began with a final breakfast with Paul's parents before saying farewell to them. The next time we see them will be in Germany and we hope we will have covered a lot of ground between now and then. Their plan was to explore Ayutthaya a bit further before returning to Bangkok where they would return to Germany on Friday. We had a great few days exploring together and Nicky is resolved to keep practising her German!
It was shortly after 7am when we set off from Ayutthaya. The school traffic is just as crazy here as it is in any Melbourne suburb! We manoeuvred our way around mini vans and sleepy teenagers and out on to the main road that would lead us to our next destination - Lopburi. We were looking at a 64km ride and hoped to make it to Lopburi by lunch time to avoid the hottest part of the day.
(Riding past the lake in Ayutthaya)
(Long straight and flat roads ahead)
It was great to get out on the road and away from busy towns. We were greeted by smiles and waves and "hellos" all the way which was really special. Great to feel welcome in the area. It was a very flat ride with only a couple of busy intersections to cross along the way. We stopped once to make some adjustments to the bikes and again to buy bananas and more water. At our second stop, we became a real object of curiosity. One of the men standing nearby spoke some broken English and admired the bikes and, as we set off, he wished us good luck.
(The little boy sitting in the cart took a good long look at us)
(Roadside views)
(One of the many colourful roadside stalls we passed)
By 11am it was 36 degrees and we were 10km from Lopburi so we decided to push on before it got any hotter. We were feeling pretty low on energy at that point and keen to get some food. We had the address for the Lopburi Residence Hotel to stay at and were unable to find it at first so we pulled into a lovely little restaurant where we sat on the verandah and had some cold drinks and good food. The owner kindly drew us a map to the hotel which we were then able to find without any further issue. The hotel must have over 200 rooms so we had no trouble getting a room and breakfast at a very reasonable price. It's old and pretty tired looking but clean and we were able to lock the bikes in a room on the ground floor. It's good to know they're safe.
(Lunch time)
After a relaxing afternoon at the hotel, we headed out to explore the town. At 4.30pm it must have still been in the mid 30s. We were on a mission to find Prang Sam Yot and it's monkeys, so we set off with a poor copy of a local map given to us by the hotel. The town was bigger than expected and busy with people heading home from work and school. It had a nice buzz about it and there appeared to be plenty of shops to stock up on any basic supplies we might have needed. Admittedly, we got a little lost and finally arrived at the temple shortly before 6pm. At least we didn't give our legs a chance to stiffen up too much.
(Lopburi market)
(A small street in Lopburi)
(This man was cooking food on his cart. There are dried squid hanging below the umbrella)
(Prang Sam Yot and a lot of monkeys)
(Monkeys absolutely everywhere)
(Mum, Dad and baby)
(Walking back to the hotel at sunset)
As the sun was starting to set, we made our way back towards the hotel to find dinner and decided to return to the place we ate lunch at, having enjoyed the food so much. Dinner didn't disappoint either but when we decided to order dessert, guess what... we were caught out by the old strawberry jam on toast trick again!! This time it was cunningly disguised on the menu as 'lava bread', although I have to admit the bread bit should have given it away. It was tasty though and we demolished it pretty quickly.
(Jam on toast, Thai style)
Back at the hotel now and we're undecided about where to go tomorrow so a bit more research is required. Stay tuned for the next instalment.
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