Ayutthaya was the capital of Thailand for about 415 years starting in 1350. It was finally sacked by the Burmese army in 1767. I tried to describe to the kids what it must have been like in the final battle - two armies mounted on elephants with full pageantry. Unfortunately we had recently ridden the pachyderm equivalent of trail horses in Chang Mai, so the kids had the wrong idea immediately. Mark's answer for the defense of Ayutthaya: "Just put bamboo leaves or peanuts on the ground in front of the elephants - it'll keep the elephants occupied for hours". 

The ruins are spread out all over the modern city of Ayutthaya, so we rented a tuk-tuk for a day.  It was the coolest looking tuk-tuk we'd seen in Thailand. 

Reminiscent of Roman ruins, there were building and column foundations scattered around large grassy fields.  Unlike Rome, there was no marble - all buildings were brick with a stucco exterior that had long since disappeared. Some of the ruins were overgrown by fairly large trees including this Buddha's head. 

After a hot day of touring, we took a standing room only second class train back to Bangkok. It was packed. 

The Guides were wonderful. We had some great meals and all the Senior Thai Guiding staff were keen on meeting our girls in their Canadian uniforms.