From Ayutthaya we motored north to Lopburi for a brief day trip. The train was packed so we were stuck riding in-between the cars. The ultimate air-conditioning – hanging off the side of a train. J
We were accompanied on the train by two girls from Vancouver Island who are following a similar itinerary. One of them happens to be going into midwifery which put a big smile on my face. With the holidays coming up, it was nice to talk about a topic that reminded me of home. They tagged along as we explored Lopburi’s ruins. Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat wasn’t anything spectacular after Ayutthaya, but it is several centuries older than anything we’ve seen to date.
As we were walking to one of the temples, we heard a screech from across the street. We looked up to see hundreds (maybe thousands) of monkeys climbing everything in site. Their home base seemed to be Phra Prang Sam Yod so we spent awhile there snapping pictures and trying not to have our pockets picked by the curious little creatures. I’m sorry if the monkey pictures are getting old, but they’re just so damn cute!
Tonight we catch a night train up to Chang Mai. We’ll have a full day to explore before we leave for a three day trek in the mountains. I never thought I’d be spending Christmas exploring the hillside villages of Thailand. Another very new, very exciting experience to add to my list.
