The Bicycle Tuk Tuk ride, Bus Ride and Train Ride and a Christmas Starbucks drink!

The gang on the sleeper train before our 8:30pm bedtime.

The girls on one of the city buses

Enjoying my Starbucks by one of the trees that popped up within a few days before Christmas, not like us at all who start in November!

Our Tuk Tuk driver before he got lost.

So we found this empty tuk tuk and thought it would be fun to take pictures in it when a 70 year old man approached us and said he'd take us for a ride. So we figured why not, and figured we negotiated a good deal with him and that he understood where we were staying. So off we went only to shortly arrive at a red light where he proceeded to get off the bicycle and then push us across the intersection and around the corner. Poor guy I thought with our weight, laundry and night shopping we were going to give him a heart attack but once the bike got it's rhythm he proceeded to hop back on and peddle madly. I seriously wanted to get off and push but luckily we got on a bit of a downhill slope. So he toured us around every once in a while pointing out something and blurting out some Thai words and then he stopped us at a nice park/temple to get off and take some pictures. I am thinking he wanted a break. Then back on our way and we thought he was taking us back home when after a while we where going into an unknown quiet end of town. We kept saying things like hey where are you taking us, where is this and he just replied with a little grin and a heehee noise and kept going. Would have been a bit scary if he was a young fit guy but we figured we could take him if need be. Finally we arrived at some fancy hotel where he motioned us to get off but we had to explain this wasn't ours and gave him the name of our hotel once again and off we went. Finally ended up with an almost hour long ride like he wanted to give us originally but we gave him a very good tip cause we felt so bad....then we wondered if this was planned all along....

Up early the next morning for a 4 hour bus ride with a broken seat, it was about as wild as the elephant ride especially every time the driver stepped on the brakes which was quite frequent.

Had a nice 5 hour break in Chiang Mai and enjoyed a Starbucks coffee while listening to Jack Johnson felt like I could have been in Canada, only in the summertime!

Then off to board the sleeper train, which everyone should experience at least once and if you're really lucky you'll get the bottom bunk. You have a little curtain that separates you from everyone else and a bathroom at the end, needless to say you sleep in your clothes, wear extra clothes cause of the air con and don't bother brushing your teeth cause the 'facilities' are dark, not to sure about the sanitation and with the train constantly lurching you'd probably end up with toothpaste on your feet or who knows where!

Up on Christmas morning as we arrived in Ayuthaya at 5am! Last time I was up that early on Christmas morning I shooed the kids back to bed, this time I was hopping off of the sleeper train onto a little tiny ferry boat with luggage and across to the island the old part of the city is located on. Then off to our rooms for a much needed shower and rest without moving or being jostled!