On the way from Bangkok to the North..

On the way to the north of Thailand, we stopped at some historic places on the tourist line. When you go by train to the north you see poverty and ruined homes that surround the tracks within the suburbs of Bangkok. The people here are living in conditions you assume that rats cannot live here. But these people here are resistant and full of energy.
When you step away from the city and go north wetlands and homes that float on them start to appear. These provinces are known for the ancient kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, which once ruled this area. Remains from that period are visible at every step, surrounded by overgrown vegetation and by newly built homes and streets.

Ayutthaya is today a city built around the Chao Phraya River and the ancient ruins and remnants of the kingdom of Ayutthaya. This kingdom ruled from year 1350 till 1767.  A commonly used name for Thailand and in particular for the kingdom of Ayutthaya was Siam. To me this place was not even close to attractive and it was filled with tourists because of its history. The best thing you can do here is to take a bicycle for half an Euro, stroll around the city and eat the fruits. I would suggest to sleep somewhere else.

The remains of the ancient kingdom (see pictures above).

Gifts in the form of dried fish at the foot of the temple (see picture above).

The Buddha's head, a rest of the ancient kingdom, the Bodhi tree keeps it safe with its roots (see picture above) and the giant “Reclining Buddha" in a small gold-papered version and behind in the full length of 42 meters (see picture below).

Our bikes and us riding around the streets. A tourist thing, all over Thailand, riding on elephants (see picture above). The tuk-tuk here is special, and only in Ayutthaya it looks like this (see picture below).

But again we have to mention the great street food that we had here (see pictures below).

The markets are always the best way to experience a place (see pictures above), and the variation is endless.

Here you can eat curry dishes and many possibilities with rice and "noodles." Caution for those who are not used to spicy food because their "little bit spicy" means sometimes a true pain in the ass and sweating.

This example shows the variations of the so-called "sticky rice" or sweet sticky rice with beans that is barbequed (cooked in its juices) in bamboo (see picture above) or banana leaves (see picture below).

For those who want something fried there are all kinds of shish, with fish, chicken balls, but also variations with chicken legs and dried squid.

But again, there is an inexhaustible source of fruits and vegetables! Pineapple is sweet and melts in your mouth like honey. What I'm saying is really true. There is a big difference in the fruits that we buy in Europe and the fruits here which are every day freshly picked (see pictures below).

Here I present my personal “one of the best fruits I have ever seen” and can pass among the finest of the same. Its name is Pitahaya and it is also known as the "dragon fruit". You eat this white part with black dots, which can also be purple, and the flavour is similar to kiwi (see picture below).

These “balls” you see are all kinds of similar fruits called longan and lychee (see picture below).

Another city we visited was Lopburi (see pictures below). It a so-called monkey city as it is home to numerous macaque monkeys, but it also has the scattered ruins of the old city. This incredible horde of tricky monkeys rules the city and the local people who are angry at them cannot do anything because they believe in their spirit and they are sacred and protected. All over Thailand, we encountered monkeys. They macaque in the jungles are good and just watch from a distance, in the tourist areas on the coast they just steal food, but here they steal everything!

This is a comfortable place to sleep. Lopburi has a pleasant and calm pace of a small town, and in the evening you can indulge in a variation of food offered on the small night market. This is the place where we ate the cheapest noodle soup in Thailand for 10 baht (25 Euro cents).

And when you go to sleep the macaque go on their conquest around the city, smashing, jumping, banging and stealing. We even saw ten of them jumping and pulling on electrical cables on an electrical pole. After two minutes, they pulled out the cable, the power was gone somewhere but they have switched to wiggle the pole. One local told us that they smashed his car once and that it is a common occurrence when you hear "boom" as the monkey is killed by electricity cause pulling the electric cable.

They learned to drink from bottles, how to open various kinds of bottles, yogurt, any packaging. I heard a story that there are some who know how to smoke so they smoke cigars (see picture above).

Mateja helped this little macaque monkey to drink from the bottle (see picture above), and when she stopped holding the bottle the little one did not know what to do now (see picture below). :)

Do not touch the monkey pack leader who walks around and bangs everyone. Please note the happy face of the victim (see picture above).

Although they look cute, they sometimes scratch or bite, especially when it comes to food, or if you smile showing your teeth and they consider it aggression.

Mateja almost lost her glasses as a little monkey took them from her. With a skilful hit with the stick an old lady helped us and the monkey dropped the glasses. However, it is always advisable to have a stick, a slingshot or some candy. So when you get robbed by a monkey you can bribe him to give it back with a candy.

Although I was trying to scare them with my “stick” they eventually realized it as a toy (see picture above).

And although they still are very cute, in this example above a whole gang of monkey is trying to unstrap Mateja’s bag.

Below are some more pics from this region..

A large part of the Thai culture is watching Thai boxing or here called muay thai. On this picture the locals enjoy an afternoon fight with brutal energy, shouting and banging on the tables (see picture above).

At each step, all over Thailand, especially if you feel like some cookies or pastries from the Western world, you'll feel like home at the 7-Eleven store. As an info, in the year of 2011 around 6300 7-Eleven stores were in Thailand (see picture above).

And there we saw the sickest thing. Almost all the creams, deodorants, shaving creams, and even soap for intimate hygiene are "whitening". People in the west want to be darker and use tanning creams while these people here want to be white (see picture below). The world is crazy!

Catching fish in the river (see picture above).

Travelling by train in the third class (see picture above) and a local bus (see picture below).

The noodle soup for 10 baht or 25 Euro cents (see picture above).

Dried chilli (see picture above).

Life on the river, pay attention to the way of fishing (see picture above).

And as I was mentioning honey above, here is some home made honey from the street market.

The best creamy bananas growing literally at every step throughout Thailand.