Bangkok 10th to 16th July

There is quite a lot to see and do in Bangkok, and I really enjoyed visiting one of the main flower markets quite adjacent to the sprawling Chinatown district. Its a huge enclosed market with so many flower vendors, as well as others selling a huge variety of vegetables, some of which i'd never seen before. There were times I wished to have had a guide to explain what various items were! Marigolds seemed to feature quite heavily in Buddhist offerings at temples.

Marigolds

Roses

Transporting roses

Flower vendors

Conveying roses

I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the Chinatown district, where one market drifts fairly seamlessly into another. There's such an energy to these markets with all kinds of produce being sold, a series of small vendors crammed into the narrowest of places.

Textiles

Passing from one market to another

Durian fruit

I also took a day trip to the amazing ruins of Ayuthaya, the capital of Thailand for over 400 years, until it was overrun by Burmese invaders in 1767. It has a fantastic collection of temples that has been acknowledged by UNESCO, which declared it a World Heritage Site in 1991. It's located around 80 kilometres from Bangkok, and I went there for the day by a slow train that was outrageously cheap (about 15 pence each way). Arriving in Ayuthaya, I decided to hire a tuk tuk for the afternoon through a recommended travel agent, which meant that I was able to get around the main temples. On reflection it might have made better sense to have spent a day or so there, as there are other archaelogical sites quite nearby. Ayuthaya is quite a haunting place with these magnificent structure evoking a glorious past long since gone. The stone carvings on the temples were really impressive.

Wat Phanoenchung

Wat Chaiya Mongkol

Reclining Buddha

I also took a day trip to Kanchanaburi, home to the famous bridge over the river Kwai that was constructed by Allied prisoners of war in 1942. There's a war memorial there and Commonwealth War Graves cemetary, and it bears witness to the awful suffering that took place during the building of the so-called Death Railway. A very moving experience. The museum was also very well put together and provided quite a lot of historical detail explaining how the use of prisoners-of-war for construction purposes took hold, and the terrible consequences for those forced into slave labour.

Bridge over the river Kwai

War cemetary

I also visited Chatuchak Market over the weekend, a sprawling collection of stalls selling all kinds of things. It is the country's largest market, and yet I preferred the Chinese markets which seemed more atmospheric and less mundane.

Chatuchak Market

During the week I spent more time looking at different transport options for getting around the place, whereas earlier I'd largely relied on using the super-efficient Skytrain. However, I felt that using the buses - not as easy as might be imagined given the large number of routes - meant that it was possible to see more of regular life at street level.

I also started to use the boats that traversed the waterways of the Chaophraya river, which bisects the city. It was a comfortable and convenient way to get around once you'd gained a grasp of where the piers were located. In the evenings when lit up, it looked very picturesque, especially given the different kinds of vessels on the river.