Elephant Ruins

        After a couple more days in Bangkok touring, eating, walking and boating, Stef and I took the train up to the ruins of Ayutthaya. We spent our first day on a tuk tuk tour of the beautiful temple remains dating back to the 1300's when Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam (now known as Thailand). The ruins were huge and full of amazing Buddha images including one embedded in a tree trunk! We stayed at an amazing little guesthouse run by two older sisters. They could not have been more friendly and helpful. They were a highlight of the trip. We ate lots of delicious food, as always, and even ventured into tasting the market food! It is delicious, though we are still wary for the most part of most street vendors.
      This morning we had our most amazing encounter yet...with Boon Maa the elephant. When we woke up, we randomly decided to take a tuk-tuk to this far off temple to go for a run where there was some open space. When we got there we saw an elephant off in the distance. As we watched, it slowly began to lumber towards us with a young (teenage boy) riding it (Chah). He brought Boon Maa into the river next to us and started cleaning him in front of us for ten or so minutes. Of course we started trying to converse in our limited thai as best we could using phrases like Kun cheu a rai(what is your name) and sa bai dee (how are you)..it was short but effective. Soon after he asked us if we wanted to ride Boon Ma!! It was unbelievable. He came out of the river towering over us and knelt down beside us upon command from Chah. We climbed up on him bareback and rode him around for a while. We were litereally the only people in sight with a river on one side and temple ruins on the other. It was one of the most amazing experiences either of us have ever had! Luckily we have lots of pics taken by Chah to show you when we get back. For now we are back in Bangkok for a couple days with Pong, awaiting Lizzie and Dylans arrival on Sunday. Hope you're all doing well. Love, Mas  For those of you not following Stefs blog..you should..between us we are trying to cover as much as possible. Her blog is called Stef in Thailand and you can find it on my blog site.