Ayutthaya to Lop Buri - 74km

The overnight stay in Ayutthaya went well, the place seemed to attract actual travellers so I had no trouble finding decent conversation. I met an Australian couple who both spent the past year cashing up in Korea (teaching english), and like me they are now reinjecting the money back into the asian economy. They were into wildlife, and recently returned from a camping trip to Khao Yai National Park. They kind of got the exact opposite to my jungle experience, where we sighted just one macaque, and a dusky langur -  a herd of wild elephants had trampled their campsite in the middle of the night. The elephants stood on a few tents belonging to some Thai campers but suprisingly nobody was injured in the fiasco. I got the impression they had spent the best part of the last 10 years travelling, so they had some pretty good stories from all over. Madagascar sounded about as wild as it gets. I had more than enough Chang listening to all this, and wound up with a pretty bad headache this morning.

After a late start, and a bit of a mission to find the road to Lop Buri today turned out to be the most enjoyable stretch of riding since leaving Krabi. Most of the day I rode alongside a small river, straddled by lush green fields on both sides. The air actually smelt fresh, and mild temperatures made for pleasant cycling.  My hat that I reinforced with coils of wire is working now too, it stops the brim from blowing up at the front so I finished today without any sunburn on my face.

I made in to Lop Buri in the late afternoon, it was such a nice ride I was in no hurry to get there so I stopped regularly and soaked up some the country serenity. Lop Buri seems an agreeable place, the old town has a really laid back feel. According to my newly purchased guidebook - it's one of the oldest cities in Thailand. Theres numerous crumbling temples to be seen around the town, most notably a huge one in the centre overrun with angry macaques. I will have a better look around in the morning before I head up to Chai Nat tomorrow.