Ayutthaya

Yesterday (Sunday) we checked out of our comfy room, called our friend Amy in Portland (Happy birthday Amy!) and caught a motorcycle taxi to the local bus station.
There are many forms one can travel in Thailand besides airplane and train. The top of the tier (and most expensive) are the VIP buses, which are the double decker buses. They come with almost fully reclining seats, air, curtains, tv's and even little personal rooms. I haven't (and probably wont) tried one of these yet but I wanted to. After that you have the minivans, which include very tight seats and insanely fast driving. After that you have the local bus, which is dirt cheap but slow. Usually there are fans mounted on the ceiling and the bus sounds like it could fall apart any second. Also there are many stops along the way and you get to get comfy with the locals. Even cheaper then that are the open air trucks, which is basically a truck with seats and cover in the back. Taxis, motorcycle taxis and rickshaws.
We took the local bus and started off towards Ayutthaya. Unfortunately a bus doesn't run direct so we had to take a bus to another town first, then catch the bus to Ayutthaya from there. Mileage wise, this shouldn't have taken too long. But it did. It took about 5 hours. In all it cost us about 100 baht each.
When we finally arrived Ayutthaya we were both grumpy and tired from our loud bouncy smoky (from exhaust) ride. We hiked over to a guest house that was recommended in my Thai book, ate, had a couple beers and crashed hard. The guest house (Toni's) is decently comfy in the common areas, but the room leaves much to be desired and is relatively not cheap (500 baht).
Ayutthaya was the capitol of Thailand (Siam) for roughly 400 years with almost 60 kings ruling from here. There are temples and wats here that are over 500 years old. So lots of history to see. So today we plan to do a hike through the city and check out some of the sights. Then we are thinking of heading into Bangkok to check out the city for the last couple nights.
One thing to consider... Thailand's parliament is voting for a new prime minister right this minute. The Thai's here all watching. I was speaking with an Indian born Thai who says this could lead to more troubles. Hopefully there wont be many issues.