Day out to Bang Pa-In Palace

Today we decided to visit Bang Pa-In Palace, also known as the Summer Palace. Originally built by Ayutthayan King Prasat Thong in 1632 but abandoned after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, the site was partially restored by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in the 1850s. The site as it stands today, however, is largely the work of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who expanded the area into a garden filled with European-style buildings in 1872-1889.
Given instructions on how to get there by the owner of our guest house we set off in a tuk tuk to the local railway station. Just about managed to afford the cost of a ticket, 3bts (6p) for the 12 mile journey, and managed to climb aboard the right train. We were told it was only one stop, so at the first station we climbed down onto the platform. A man started to run towards us as the train pulled away..... he waved us back on the train which had now stopped. The train had apparently stopped at a unscheduled station, feeling rather embarrassed and with all the passengers watching we climbed back on.
The palace and its grounds are maintained in immaculate condition. We spent an enjoyable 3 hours walking around the large grounds with beautiful lakes. The palace buildings are very beautiful, with many of them open to explore.

In the evening went to the Chinese part of the city as they were still celebrating their New Year