Welcome to Ayutthaya

Left Kanchanaburi by minibus and 2.1/2 hrs later were being dropped off in the centre of Ayutthaya at our last guesthouse, Promtong Mansion.
Ayutthaya old city is an "island" create by the convergence of three rivers: the Chao Phraya river, the Lopburi river and the Pa Sak river. By 1700 Ayutthaya had become the largest city in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants and the capital of Thailand.  Merchants from Europe proclaimed Ayutthaya as the finest city they had ever seen. Dutch and French maps of the city show grandeur with gold-laden palaces, large ceremonies and a huge float of trading vessels from all over the world. All this came to a quick end when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in 1767 and almost completely burnt the city down to the ground. The capital was then moved to Bangkok.......here endeth another history lesson.
Today, only a few remains might give a glimpse of the impressive city they must have seen.
Our first full day, we set off at 9.00am after a full breakfast, to do a walking tour of the island which includes most of the temple remains. Seemed a good idea at the time as it was still overcast and not to hot. By 11.00 am we were beginning to wilt, and started to use the numerous tuk tuks which constantly tried to get your business. By early afternoon we gave in and headed back to our guesthouse, our excuse being that we were going on a boat trip at 4.30, which using the rivers would take us on a circular tour and visit 3 of the larger temples outside of the main city. The river trip was very interesting and the last temple was visited as the sun set over the remains. The boat dropped us at the night market where we met and had our evening meal with a couple from Derbyshire. They had been travelling for 7 months and in a few days were moving on for 2 months in India.