Day 4 - Ayutthaya (Wat Lokayasutha and Wat Yai Chai Mongkol - Reclining Buddhas)

We took a tuk tuk from the railway station to this place - Wat Lokayasutha at 100baht.  We wanted to go to this temple where there is a reclining buddha.  Actually we chanced upon here (Wat Lokayasutha)  by mistake.  I told the tuk tuk driver that we wanted to go to the place where we could see the reclining buddha and he brought us here.  During the tuk tuk ride, we already sensed that he was driving us to the wrong place as he was heading towards where we came from.  However, when we reached here, we were "wowed" by the scale of the reclining buddha and I think it was really beautiful.  No admission fee was required here and there were much fewer tourists here.  This place is also not commonly mentioned in guidebooks I think.

We asked the tuk tuk driver to bring us to the other temple where we could see the other reclining buddha.  He charged us another 100baht.  This temple is actually nearer to the railway station. 

Admission to this temple - Wat Yai Chai Mongkol is 20 baht.

 The more famous reclining buddha in Ayutthaya which I came across while researching on Ayutthaya before the trip.  

 I saw a shrine and inside, there were so many doraemon soft toys!!

 After we ended our own tour around this temple, the tuk tuk driver brought us back to the railway station.  We checked the train schedule and the staff told us that the train was delayed by 1 hour!!  There were some locals at the train station asking us whether we wanted to take the bus or mini van.  We asked for the cost and we decided on the mini van for just 60 baht per person back to Bangkok, so much cheaper than the short tuk tuk ride!  Furthermore, It was air-conditioned and it was a smooth and comfortable 45 minutes ride back to the city.  :)

We both took the front seat, next to the driver.

 Back to Bangkok, at Victory Monument.

Day 4 - Ayutthaya (Wat Ratchaburana & Wat Mahathat)

Upon reaching Ayutthaya, we took a short walk to take the ferry to bring us to the other side of the river bank.

It cost only 4baht per person and in less than 5 minutes, we reached the other side of the river.

Hubby decided not to take the tuk-tuk or van and decided to explore the place by walking.  It was tough to walk such a long distance under the hot sun.  Think we took almost an hour to reach the first temple.

Wat Ratchaburana

This place seemed like Cambodia, with all the ruins....

I was too tired to climb up the steps.

We climbed up to one of the prangs to get a better view of the area from the top.  Here, we saw a dark deep staircase leading down.  At first, hubby wanted to go down to check it out but I told him not to go all the way down, not too sure safe or not.  There was no proper sign and we didn't know what was underneath.  Also, we were the only two person on top of this tower at that time, so didn't want to "risk" our lives. 

I spotted a "Mickey Mouse" leaf!!

The second temple that we visited was Wat Mahathat.  This is the more famous temple in Ayutthaya as you can find a buddha head embedded under a tree.

Beautiful tree....

Entrance fee is 50 baht per person.

Many headless buddha statues.

After visiting just these 2 ruins, it was already 1pm.  We walked all the way back to the railway station as the next temple we wanted to visit is nearer to the station.

Back to the railway station.