With Philip already in Nepal, escalating civil war in Libya and shocking news of a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan saturating the media, I flew to Bangkok to visit Chris, Kathy and the children in their new villa. I spent an idyllic three days with them before my friend, Leonie, arrived to join me. She was given a very warm welcome and we were both utterly spoiled by the family before we left on our own journey to Laos. This began with Philip accompanying us in a taxi to Ayutthya, the old capital of Siam north of Bangkok and on the Chao Phrya River. The sun was low and setting as we wandered around the beautiful ruins. Philip left us then to await our night train north to the Thai border on the Mekong River the next day where we crossed to Laos and the start of a new adventure. After spending time in Laos with Leonie, we flew back to Bangkok. Philip and I then went on a trip to Kanchunabri.

In 2014 Philip and I visited Ayutthaya together for an afternoon before travelling on to Chiang Mai. A two hour ride in a local 3rd class train to Ayutthaya, the old Thai capital, dirty, dusty, down at heel and very hot but with vast areas of beautiful ruins – the Royal Palace and numerous temples in advancing stages of decay. We crossed the river from the train station via small commuter ferry and booked a room in a riverside guest-house for a night, merely to be able to leave our luggage and for the opportunity to shower, freshen up and eat before our overnight train journey to Chiang Mai.

“Ayutthaya remained as the capital of Thailand for 417 years and has been registered as a World Heritage site by UNESCO since 1981. The royal palace was located here from the establishment in 1350 AD” - guide

It is disappointing that this is not maintained and presented as well as many World Heritage sites are in other countries. There is very little fee collection, no bins for rubbish, litter lies around and much of it is deteriorating so rapidly there is restoration work urgently needing to be done. 2014